J4 ›› 2015, Vol. 42 ›› Issue (6): 152-157.doi: 10.3969/j.issn.1001-2400.2015.06.026

• Original Articles • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Novel short time interval measurement technology with high precision

QU Baiyi1;ZHANG Rui1;ZHANG Xin1;SONG Huansheng1;FENG Xingle1;ZHOU Wei2   

  1. (1. School of Information Engineering, Chang'an Univ., Xi'an  710064, China;
    2. School of Mechano-electronic Engineering, Xidian Univ., Xi'an  710071, China)
  • Received:2014-06-30 Online:2015-12-20 Published:2016-01-25
  • Contact: QU Baiyi E-mail:qubayi@chd.edu.cn

Abstract:

To get a higher precision when measuring the short time interval which is less than the counting clock's cycle and has a non-periodic characteristic, a novel short time interval measurement technology with high precision is expounded, in which the short time interval will be measured by converting the time interval into the corresponding phase differences between the periodic signals by particular circuits, and the measurement will be proceeded based on phase comparison measurement technology. The paper gives the conversion circuits based on ring oscillators and phase-locked-loop technology, as well as the designing method of the phase comparison device with fine linearity and resolution. The time interval between 0 to 90ns can be measured by the current experimental system with an error of no more than 15ps. Experimental results also show that the random error caused by the noise floor of the system is as low as 20ps.

Key words: time digitalization, phase comparison, picoseconds, ring oscillator

CLC Number: 

  • TM935.15