Frequency-modulated continuous-wave laser radar using dual vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser diodes for real-time measurements of distance and radial velocity

Abstract

A frequency-modulated continuous-wave (FMCW) laser radar capable of real-time displaying the distance to a target object and its radial velocity as their corresponding frequency spectra is developed. The system employs a pair of oppositely frequency-swept vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser diodes (VCSELs). This makes possible simultaneous detection of beat signals induced by the increment (up-ramp) and decrement (down-ramp) in laser frequencies. By mixing these two beat signals, their sum and difference frequencies are directly obtained without arithmetic processing such as averaging and subtraction. Results of the test experiments adopting axially moving block gauges as target objects show that both the distance and given velocities are accurately determined from the spectrum of the frequency mixer.