Patent ID: 8794968

Claim:
A system for making laser-based cooperative time of flight backrange measurements, comprising: first laser backrange finder having a first clock signal and operable to emit a laser pulse upon occurrence of a predefined trigger event for a given engagement; and a receiver located an unspecified range from the first laser backrange finder, the receiver having a second clock signal and operable to detect the laser pulse from the first laser rangefinder, the receiver having a range counter therein and configured to start the range counter upon occurrence of a predefined start counter event and to stop the range counter upon occurrence of a predefined stop counter event; wherein the first clock signal in the first laser backrange finder and the second clock signal in the receiver are synchronized relative to each other such that a preselected portion of a clock signal waveform of the first clock signal occurs at the same moment as either the predefined start counter event at the receiver or the predefined stop counter event at the second laser rangefinder; and wherein a count reached by the range counter of the receiver upon occurrence of the predefined stop counter event determines a backrange from the receiver to the first laser rangefinder first laser backrange finder for the given engagement.