Patent ID: 6657443
Filing Date: 2003-12-02
Classification: G01N

Abstract:
A method for digitizing portions of a waveform sent through a moisture-bearing medium comprising the steps of:a) providing a transmission line that passes through the medium to a latching comparator; b) launching a fast transitioning waveform onto said transmission line; and c) measuring the amplitude of a resultant waveform at a programmed point in time at said latching comparator by using a technique involving generation of timing strobes in conjunction with a measurement of amplitude by successive approximation, said technique comprising the steps of: c1) providing a programmable voltage reference to which said resultant waveform is compared by said latching comparator; c2) providing a programmable time offset for generation of a precisely-timed sampling strobe after the launching of said fast-transitioning waveform in order to sample said resultant waveform amplitude at said latching comparator; c3) launching a multiplicity of said fast-transitioning waveform onto said transmission line and adjusting said programmable voltage reference in the manner of said successive approximation until an amplitude representative of a composite of resultant waveform at the given point in time has been acquired; and c4) changing the programmable time offset to a next desired point in time and repeating steps c1 through c3 in order to acquire another amplitude representative of a multiplicity of resultant waveform at said next desired point in time until said portions of a waveform have been digitized.