The Ability to Measure to a Target using A Laser Sensor

The Ability to Measure to a Target using A Laser Sensor

Laser Technology Laser Sensors Designed For Tough Situations LTI realized there was a need for laser sensors that could handle challenging environmental conditions from dusty conditions to measuring a moving target or liquids, and engineered some laser force sensors measurement tools that can do just that. To better understand what it takes to get measurements using a laser, we need to go thru the steps of what determines the ability to measure to a target using a laser sensor. TruSense 200 Laser Sensor What determines the ability to measure to a target using a laser? There are many things happening and many conditions exist when a measurement is taken. First consider the laser sensor's power.

The stronger the laser power the stronger the signal and therefore the ability to gas sensors range further. There is a tradeoff though between the laser power, laser pulse rate and the eye safety rating. Beam divergence is another consideration. All light diverges or converges despite best efforts to minimize this through the use of optics. The larger the divergence the more dispersion the beam is undergoing which will lessen the overall range of the laser. For example, a laser beam diverging at 3mrad with a free aperture of 5 cm will measure 35cm at 100m. The pulse rate frequency will dictate how fast a target is acquired. A faster pulsed laser sensor will acquire a target much faster because of the increased number of pulses reflected from the target and retued back to the sensor. The receive performance is important as well as the photodiode needs to be able sufficiently acquire and process the retued signal. Ambient conditions such as fog or dust in the air may inhibit a laser measurement. The ability of the laser sensor to overcome this interference is important.

The TruSense S-Series are just one of the laser sensor products designed by LTI that are user configurable. This allows you to set the laser with the best optimization to handle the specific application you need to measure. LTI's laser sensors have different modes capabilities. Target discrimination modes allow the sensor to "choose" the correct target. For example, when utilizing Last Target mode, the laser sensor will compare many retued signals and output the farthest range.

When measuring to a target it is important to remember that the target characteristics, ambient conditions, and laser performance all play a role in measurement accuracy and the ability and speed to wholesale industrial products acquire the target.