Scheme for miniature time difference measurement with a high resolution and a large range

This paper presents some solutions to the problems in the precise time interval measuring instrument such as the contradiction between high resolution and wide measurement range, the high temperature sensitivity, the low reliability and the big volume and power consumption. The reference signal is used to generate calibration signals to automatically calibrate the analog circuits which are greatly affected by the temperature. The calibration data are used to amend the conversion coefficient between voltage and time interval and the temperature sensitivity of the instrument is greatly reduced. To avoid the gross error in the measurement result caused by the false trigger of the counter, the double counter synchronous measurement technique is adopted and the logic algorithm is used for analyzing and correcting the measured results. Electronic counting method and time-to-voltage converter method are combined together to meet the requirements of the measurement range and resolution of the instrument. The circuit board’s area of the prototype is only 10cm². The prototype’s effective resolution is above 10ps and the standard deviation of multiple measurement results is below 15ps, the measurement range is wider than 20, 000 seconds, and its measurement results are highly reliable.