Importance

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Abstract

One aspect of the invention relates to a laser ranging system. In one embodiment, the invention includes a laser adapted to transmit a beam of laser radiation to a target area, a plurality of apertures for receiving reflected laser radiation from the target area, each aperture being coupled to a start tank circuit by a start optical fiber, the start optical fibers being substantially the same length for each aperture in the plurality, an oscillator, a receive phase comparator circuit that determines the phase difference between the output signals from the start tank circuit and the oscillator, a transmitter tank circuit that generates and output signal responsive to the transmission of the laser radiation, a transmit phase comparator circuit that determines the phase difference between the output signals from the transmitter tank circuit and the oscillator, a pulse counter circuit that counts the number of pulses generated by the oscillator between transmission of the laser beam and the receipt of the signal from the start tank circuit, and a distance measuring circuit that calculates the distance from laser ranging system to the target based upon the number of pulses counted by the pulse counter, the phase difference determined by the receive phase comparator circuit and the phase difference determined by the transmit phase comparator circuit.

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First Claim