High-resolution frequency-modulated

continuous-wave laser ranging for

precision distance metrology
applications

Guang Shi
Fumin Zhang
Xinghua Qu
Xiangsong Meng

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 Optical Engineering 53(12), 122402 (December 2014)

High-resolution frequency-modulated
continuous-wave laser ranging for precision
distance metrology applications
Guang Shi, Fumin Zhang,* Xinghua Qu, and Xiangsong Meng
Tianjin University, State Key Laboratory of Precision Measuring Technology and Instruments, 92 Weijin Road, Tianjin 300072, China

Abstract. Frequency-modulated continuous wave (FMCW) laser ranging is one of the most interesting tech-
niques for precision distance metrology. In order to ensure the theoretical measurement range and precision, a
narrow linewidth external cavity tunable laser with large tuning range is chosen. In practical situations, the tuning
nonlinearity of the laser reduces the measurement precision, hence an auxiliary interferometer is used to mea-
sure the laser tuning rate and linearize the frequency ramp. Then, fast Fourier transform algorithm is applied to
the resampled signal of the main interferometer, and the full-width at half maximum of the frequency spectrum is
narrowed. In the end, the experiments are carried out using the FMCW laser ranging system and demonstrate
50-μm range resolution at 8.7 m. © 2014 Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE) [DOI: 10.1117/1.OE.53.12.122402]
Keywords: distance measurement; interferometry; tunable lasers; lasers frequency modulated.
Paper 131776SS received Nov. 22, 2013; revised manuscript received Jan. 17, 2014; accepted for publication Jan. 27, 2014; pub-
lished online May 6, 2014.

1 Introduction sweep nonlinearities in order to improve the measurement

Noncontact high-resolution absolute optical ranging is indis-
pensable for precision manufacturing, inspection,1 large-
scale manufacturing, tight-formation flying of satellites,2,3
and noncontact precision metrology. Frequency-modulated
continuous wave (FMCW) laser ranging is a well-known
method of active ranging, and it is suitable for absolute dis-
tance measurement at large standoff distances (10 to 100 m)
with high precision and accuracy in theory. Though it is not a
novel measuring method which was originally investigated
in electric radar systems,4 high-resolution FMCW laser rang-
ing system has not been successfully introduced to large-
scale free space precision ranging. Nowadays, it has been
used in optical coherence tomography for three-dimensional
medical imaging and optical frequency domain reflectometry
for characterizing optical fiber networks.5–7 However, the
measurement range, accuracy, and measuring speed limit
its applications in large-scale free space precision distance
measurement.
The key point of FMCW laser ranging implementation
requires the narrow linewidth laser sources providing a
fast and linear frequency tuning over a broad frequency
range. Selecting a narrow linewidth laser source can enlarge
the measurement range. However, the available lasers exhibit
in practice fluctuations in their optical frequency tuning rate.
These nonlinear tuning characteristics degrade the spatial
resolution of FMCW laser ranging. Many studies have
been taken to inhibit the nonlinear tuning. The most direct
approach is active linearization of laser frequency sweeps.8,9
But the active linearization system composition and the feed-
back control methods are quite complex. Another approach
is postprocessing techniques that rely upon the effective
measurement of sweep nonlinearities. Fabry–Perot interfer-
ometer2,3 and frequency comb10 are used to measure the
precision. However, these two methods are only suitable
in the laboratory environment. It is known that the sweep
nonlinearities also can be avoided by sampling the interfer-
ence signal at equidistant instantaneous optical frequency
points rather than equally spaced time intervals.11 This
method is chosen in this article. A dual interferometer
FMCW laser ranging system is designed and the auxiliary
interferometer is used to linearize the frequency ramp.
The system configuration is simple and the environmental
adaptability is better than that of other methods. It is
more suitable for large-scale free space distance measure-
ments, and the range resolution is satisfactory for industrial
applications.
2 Principle
Figure 1 is the basic configuration of a FMCW laser ranging
system. It is composed of an external cavity tunable laser
source, a two-beam interferometer, and a measured target
which is located in an arm of the interferometer. The
reflected laser from measured target interferes with the refer-
ence laser from the other arm of the interferometer on a
photodetector. When the optical frequency of the tunable
laser source is swept in triangular waveform, the interference
signal is obtained by the photodetector. The frequency of the
interference signal corresponding to the optical path differ-
ence (OPD) is equal to the frequency difference between
these two lights.
Figure 2 shows the measuring principle of FMCW laser
ranging, in which frequency of the interference signal f is
given as
B · OPD n·B·z
f¼2· ¼4· ; (1)
Tm · c Tm · c

*Address all correspondence to: Fumin Zhang, E-mail: zhangfumin@tju.edu.cn 0091-3286/2014/$25.00 © 2014 SPIE

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 Shi et al.: High-resolution frequency-modulated continuous-wave laser ranging. . .

where δf is the frequency resolution of the interference

signal.
Form Eq. (3), it can be seen that the frequency resolution
directly determines the spatial resolution. In practical appli-
cation, fast Fourier transform (FFT) analysis is used to ana-
lyze the beat signal. Then, the frequency resolution of FFT
equals the detection resolution of the beat frequency. The
frequency resolution of δFFT is given as
fs 1 1
δFFT ¼ ¼ ¼ ¼ δf; (4)
N NT s T

where f s is the sampling frequency of the analog to digital

converter (AD) converter, N is the sampling number, T s is
the sampling interval, and T is the sampling duration.
The beat signal is sampled in half period of the triangular
Fig. 1 Basic configuration of a frequency-modulated continuous waveform, given by
wave (FMCW) laser ranging system.
1
T¼ ·T : (5)
2 m
where n is the refractive index of the optical propagation
medium, T m and B are the scan period and the tuning From Eqs. (3)–(5) we obtain
range of the optical frequency sweep, respectively, OPD
is the optical path difference between the reference mirror c
δz ¼ : (6)
and the target, z is the range difference between the reference 2nB
mirror and the target, and c is the light speed in vacuum.
The range difference z can be gotten from From Eq. (6), it can be obtained that in ideal situations the
range resolution is inversely proportional to the tuning range
of the optical frequency sweep. However, in practical appli-
1 T ·c cation, the spatial resolution is defined as the full-width at
z¼ · OPD ¼ m · f: (2) half maximum (FWHM). Many factors make the spatial res-
2·n 4·n·B
olution much lower. The main impact factor is that the laser
source is not swept in ideal triangular waveform. The linear-
Then, the interference signal is characterized by the ity error makes the FWHM wider and reduces the resolution.
Fourier analysis of the interference signal. The spatial reso-
lution δz is given as 3 Method of Improving Measuring Resolution
In order to monitor the nonlinear frequency sweep of the tun-
Tm · c able laser and linearize the frequency ramp, an auxiliary
δz ¼ · δf; (3) interferometer with Mach–Zehnder configuration is added
4·n·B
into the system. The auxiliary interferometer schematic dia-
gram is shown in Fig. 3. Before the experiment, the theory of
the method is analyzed.

3.1 Monitor the Frequency Sweep Speed of the

Tunable Laser
To account for arbitrary nonlinear tuning of the laser source,
the electric field at the interferometer input can be defined as

EðtÞ ¼ E0 exp½jφðtÞ
; (7)

where E0 is the amplitude of the electric field and ϕðtÞ is a

time-varying phase.
The phase component can be written as
Z t
φðtÞ ¼ 2π νðuÞdu þ φ0 ; (8)
0

Fig. 2 Waveform of a FMCW laser ranging system. Fig. 3 Auxiliary interferometer. FC: Fiber coupler. PD: Photodetector.

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 Shi et al.: High-resolution frequency-modulated continuous-wave laser ranging. . .

where φ0 is the initial phase (t ¼ 0) of the light source and

νðtÞ is the instantaneous optical frequency of the laser.
The laser is split by a 3-dB fable coupler, and the two
parts are recombined after passing through different distance.
τ is the time difference given by

OPD
τ¼ : (9)
c
The lasers from difference light paths are EðtÞ and
Eðt þ τÞ. These two waves which have the same polarization
mode interfere on the photodetector, and the intensity of the
resulting electrical field can be written as
Fig. 4 Processing steps for characterizing the sweep speed of the
IðtÞ ¼ ηjEðtÞ þ Eðt þ τÞj2 ; (10) tunable laser.

AðtÞ is the amplitude variation and can be obtained by

IðtÞ ¼ η½jEðtÞj2 þ jEðt þ τÞj2 þ jEðtÞ · Eðt þ τÞ j envelope detection. Then, time-varying tuning rate of
the optical frequency γðtÞ is obtained as follows:
þ jEðtÞ · Eðt þ τÞj
; (11)

dνðtÞ AðtÞ
γðtÞ ¼ ¼ : (18)
IðtÞ ¼ 2ηE20 ½1 þ cosðφðt þ τÞ − φðtÞÞ
; (12) dt 2πτ

where η is a constant that depends on the environmental

factors and the loss of optical devices. Figure 4 is a plot of processing steps for characterizing the
By Taylor expanding the phase ϕðt þ τÞ about t, it can be sweep speed of the tunable laser. The sweep speed of the
obtained that tunable laser is set 2 nm∕s, and the time difference τ is
about 13 ns. Thus, Eq. (15) is satisfied, and this beat signal
X
∞ n
τ is well described by Eq. (14). Then, the sweep speed is
φðt þ τÞ − φðtÞ ¼ 2πνðtÞτ þ 2π νðn−1Þ ðtÞ: (13)
n¼2
n! obtained using Eq. (18). Figure 4 shows the normalized
beat signal uN ðtÞ, the differential of uN ðtÞ, and the sweep
Then, neglect the second and higher order terms and sub- speed γðtÞ.
stitute it back into Eq. (12). Equation (12) is simplified to From Eq. (14), it is obtained that the frequency spacing
between triggers takes on the uniform value of Δν ¼ τ−1 . If τ
IðtÞ ¼ 2ηE20 ½1 þ cosð2πνðtÞτÞ
: (14) is fixed, uðtÞ is the function about νðtÞ. When the laser
source is swept in ideal linear (the time-varying tuning
This approximation is valid when interferometer path rate of the optical frequency γðtÞ ¼ dνðτÞ∕dt is constant),
length difference is short or laser tuning rates are slow, the beat signal is an ideal cosine function, and the resolution
given by only depends on the sample duration. However, in actual sit-
uation, it can be seen in Fig. 4 that the sweep speed γðtÞ is not
τ dυðtÞ constant. Then, FFT transformation is used to the beat signal.
· ≪ 1: (15) Figure 5 shows the beat spectrum of the interferometer. The
2υðtÞ dt
FWHM of the spectrum is too wide and the signal-to-noise
Then, the optical frequency quantification can be obtained ratio is very low.
by applying the following data processing steps.
(1) Normalize the detected signal uðtÞ given by

uðtÞ
uN ðtÞ ¼ ; (16)
U0

where U0 is the peak amplitude of uðtÞ.

(2) The time-varying optical frequency is then converted
to amplitude variations by taking the differential of
the normalized signal uN ðtÞ:

duN ðtÞ dνðtÞ

¼ −2πτ sin½2πτυðtÞ

dt dt
¼ AðtÞ sin½2πτυðtÞ
: (17) Fig. 5 Beat spectrum of the interferometer.

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 Shi et al.: High-resolution frequency-modulated continuous-wave laser ranging. . .

Fig. 6 Schematic diagram of the dual interferometry FMCW laser ranging system. FC: Fiber coupler. PD:
Photodetector. L: plane-convex lens. P1, P3: 1∕2λ plate. P2: 1∕4λ plate. P4: Polarizer. PBS: Polarization
beam splitter.

3.2 Resample the Interferometer Signal chosen external tunable laser source is 200 kHz. When
FFT imposes the requirement that data be sampled at equal sweep speed is set 8 nm∕s and the sweep range is set to
intervals of the independent variable. It has been analyzed 28 nm, the original beat signal and resampled signal are
that the independent variable of interest in these measure- shown in Fig. 7. The original beat signal is not equal
ments is not time, rather the instantaneous optical frequency time intervals, while the resampled signal is equal optical
of the laser source νðtÞ. In this article, an auxiliary interfer- frequency intervals. Then, FFT transformation is used to
ometer is used to resample the beat signal of the main inter- the original signal and the resampled signal respectively.
ferometer from a grid of equal time intervals to a grid of Figure 8(a) shows the measured beat spectrum of the original
equal optical frequency intervals. signal which is broadened and the peak is submerged.
This system is shown in Fig. 6. The auxiliary interferom- Figure 8(b) shows the spectrum of the resampled signal,
eter is all-fiber optical Mach–Zehnder configuration, and the and the spectrum becomes narrow and the FWHM resolution
delay distance is 2 times longer than OPD of main interfer- on the reflection peaks becomes about 50 μm, which is close
ometer at least. Because it provides the reference length, the to the theory spatial resolution of 43 μm.
length of the fiber must remain constant. The main interfer-
ometer is a modified Michelson interferometer in order to
reduce the interference between the two beams. These
two beat signals are synchronous sampled by an AD con-
verter. At the time points of every peak and bottom of the
auxiliary interferometer signal, the beating signal from the
main interferometer is resampled. Then, the resampled beat-
ing signal is equal optical frequency intervals. Therefore, the
requirement of the FFT algorithm that data has to be sampled
at equal intervals of the independent variable is satisfied;
hence, the error due to nonlinear optical frequency sweep
is eliminated.

4 Experiment
In order to demonstrate this nonlinear frequency suppression
approach, an experimental FMCW laser ranging system
shown in Fig. 6 is designed. The OPD of the auxiliary inter-
ferometer is 30 m, and the target mirror is about 8.7 m away
from the system. A prerequisite for the coherent FMCW
laser ranging system is a tunable laser source with narrow Fig. 7 The original beat signal and the resampled signal of the FMCW
linewidth and long coherence length. The linewidth of the laser ranging system.

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 Shi et al.: High-resolution frequency-modulated continuous-wave laser ranging. . .
Fig. 8 (a) Measured beat spectrum of the main interferometer without the auxiliary interferometer.
(b) Measured beat spectrum of the main interferometer with the auxiliary interferometer resampling
the beat signal.
Fig. 9 Results of the spatial resolution experiment.
In order to provide a quantitative estimation of the reso-
lution enhancement with the proposed technique, the spatial
resolution experiment is performed. First, we measure the
target mirror at the distance of 8702 mm. Then, we move
the mirror 50-μm closer and measure for the second time.
Last, FFT transformation is used to these two sets of data,
and the result is shown in Fig. 9. It can be seen clearly
that the distance differences are clearly resolved. The results
indicate that the distance resolution is 50 μm.
From the experiments, it is proved that the resolution of
our FMCW laser ranging system is 50 μm. However, it does
not reach the theory resolution, because under the influence
of environmental factors, the length of delay fiber changes.
This means τ in Eq. (16) changes and the resample signal
does not strictly equal optical frequency intervals. Then,
the FWHM of the spectrum is broadened and the resolution
drops down. In order to obtain higher resolution, besides
increasing the frequency sweeping range of the laser, the
reference fiber should be isolated from the environment to
ensure the length is unchanged.
5 Conclusion
In this article, a method for improving the measuring resolu-
tion of FMCW laser ranging for absolute distance metrology
is presented. This system comprises a main interferometer and
an auxiliary interferometer, which is all fiber Mach–Zehnder
configuration. The auxiliary interferometer is used as a
Optical Engineering
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monitoring system, and the interferometer signal is used to
resample the beat signal of the main interferometer. It has
been verified by the experiments that this method is able to
suppress the influence of the nonlinear scanning of the
laser source and improve the range resolution. In the experi-
ments, 50-μm range resolution at 8.7 m is demonstrated. The
measuring range depending on the power and coherence
length of the source can reach more than 20 m. And the res-
olution is better than pulsed time-of-flight system, even better
than phase ranging system, with further design. It is attractive
that this system is applicable in large-scale precision industrial
metrology.
Acknowledgments
This project was supported by National Natural Science
Foundation of China (Grant No. 51327006 and No.
51105274), Research Fund for the Doctoral Program of
Higher Education of China (RFDP 20120032130002).
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122402-5 December 2014 • Vol. 53(12)
 Shi et al.: High-resolution frequency-modulated continuous-wave laser ranging. . .

Guang Shi is a PhD student of Tianjin University, China. He received Qu Xinghua is a professor of Tianjin University, China. He received
his BSc from Hefei University of Technology, China, in 2009. his BSc, MSc, and PhD from Tianjin University, China, in 1982, 1988,
His research interests are large volume measurement and laser and 2003, respectively. His research interests include vision on-line
ranging. metrology.

Zhang Fumin is a lecturer of Tianjin University, China. He received Xiangsong Meng is a PhD student at Tianjin University, China. He
his BSc from Harbin Institute of Technology, China, in 2004. He received his BSc from Chongqing University, China, in 2010. His
received PhD from Tianjin University, China, in 2009. His research research interests include large-volume measurement and laser
interests are large volume measurement and laser ranging. ranging.

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