Patent ID: 8625081

Claim:
A method of modeling a correction to a timing error in an apparatus for measuring a distance to a target, comprising: transmitting at least one optical pulse from a transmitter; varying an amplitude of the optical pulses in a known manner in order to cause variations in detection times of the plurality of adjacent optical pulses; and detecting, by a receiver channel, the at least one optical pulse at a predetermined amplitude threshold level, wherein the detection takes place at a detection time; the method further comprising: determining a comparison result between the at least one detection time of the at least one optical pulse and a reference value, wherein the comparison result is based on a time difference between the reference value and the detection time; determining at least one time domain parameter value from the at least one detected optical pulse at one or more threshold amplitude levels; and generating a conversion model by the at least one comparison result and the at least one time domain parameter value, the conversion model being for converting the time domain parameter value into a correction value applied in correcting a timing error in a future detection of an optical pulse by the same apparatus, wherein the timing error includes: a first error generated by a varying amplitude of the to-be-detected optical pulse; and a second error generated by an electric circuit of the receiver channel of the apparatus, wherein the second error depends on a bandwidth of the electric circuit and on the amplitude of the transmitted optical pulse, and has a value between 0 and a time constant of the electric circuit depending on the amplitude of the transmitted optical pulse.