EP3591477B1 - Vorrichtung und verfahren zur messung der relativen signaleingangszeit - Google Patents

Vorrichtung und verfahren zur messung der relativen signaleingangszeit Download PDF

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Publication number
EP3591477B1
EP3591477B1 EP18181123.3A EP18181123A EP3591477B1 EP 3591477 B1 EP3591477 B1 EP 3591477B1 EP 18181123 A EP18181123 A EP 18181123A EP 3591477 B1 EP3591477 B1 EP 3591477B1
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Prior art keywords
tdc
clk
reference clock
event
time
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English (en)
French (fr)
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EP3591477C0 (de
EP3591477A1 (de
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Lorenzo Paolozzi
Pierpaolo Valerio
Giuseppe Iacobucci
Roberto Cardarelli
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Universite de Geneve
Instituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare INFN
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Universite de Geneve
Instituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare INFN
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Priority to PCT/EP2019/067101 priority patent/WO2020007692A1/en
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    • G—PHYSICS
    • G04—HOROLOGY
    • G04F—TIME-INTERVAL MEASURING
    • G04F10/00—Apparatus for measuring unknown time intervals by electric means
    • G04F10/005—Time-to-digital converters [TDC]

Definitions

  • the present invention pertains to a device for measuring the relative time of arrival of at least two signals, the device comprising at least one TDC, each TDC receiving a reference clock signal which determines a period of oscillation and comprising at least one channel each adapted to read a time of arrival of an event signal, respectively to a corresponding method for measuring the relative time of arrival of at least two signals.
  • the present invention concerns techniques for measuring the relative time of arrival of two or more signals with one or more independent electronic devices.
  • a time-to-digital converter which is a device for recognizing events and providing a digital representation of the time they occurred.
  • TDC might output the time of arrival for each incoming pulse.
  • Some applications require to measure the time interval between two events rather than an absolute time.
  • TDCs are used in many different applications where the time interval between two signal pulses, i.e. a start and a stop pulse, should be determined. Measurement is started and stopped when either the rising or the falling edge of a signal pulse crosses a set threshold.
  • TDCs are used in applications where measurement events happen infrequently, such as high energy physics experiments, where the sheer number of data channels in most detectors ensures that each channel will be excited only infrequently by incident particles.
  • a TDC is simply a high-frequency counter that increments every clock cycle.
  • the current contents of the counter represents the current time.
  • the counter's value is captured in an output register also referred to as latch.
  • the measurement is an integer number of clock cycles, so the measurement is quantized to a clock period.
  • TDCs typically use a crystal oscillator reference frequency for good long term stability.
  • High stability crystal oscillators usually have relative low frequency such as 10 MHz, corresponding to 100 ns resolution.
  • a frequency multiplier can be used to generate a faster clock.
  • PLL phase-locked loop
  • each device should contain its own PLL circuit which generates the time scale of the TDCs.
  • Different TDCs in the same or in different devices can thus run at the same frequency and with a constant relative phase.
  • the actual frequency of each TDC oscillates around the target value, with an oscillation period that may be comprised in the range of the measurement.
  • the feedback is sensitive to external noise sources which are directly affecting the time base of the TDCs, thus introducing a systematic error in the time measurement that may vary from one device to another.
  • the document US 2009/074124 discloses several embodiments of an apparatus comprising a circuit configured to determine a jitter of a first signal, which typically is the clock signal, to determine a time interval between a feature in a second signal and a feature in the first signal, the second signal being for example the time of arrival of an event, and to modify the determined time interval based on the determined jitter.
  • an apparatus which comprises a first TDC configured to receive the first and second signals and to generate a third signal representing the determined time interval and which also comprises a second TDC configured to receive the first signal and to generate a fourth signal representing the jitter on the first signal.
  • the second TDC is thus used as a tracking and estimation unit of the jitter on the clock signal, the proposed apparatus allowing to calibrate the output signal of the first TDC by measuring the jitter of the clock signal by means of the second TDC.
  • the solutions according to prior art for measuring the relative time of arrival of at least two signals still are affected by several drawbacks. It is the object of the present invention to overcome, at least partly, the above mentioned difficulties and to realize a device as well as a corresponding method for measuring the relative time of arrival of at least two signals, in particular a device and a corresponding method which allow referencing a large number of electronic devices to the same time scale and which are particularly effective for the measurement of the relative time of arrival of asynchronous signals with picosecond precision in the tens of nanoseconds range.
  • the device and the corresponding method should be appropriate for applications in the field of time of flight (TOF) measurement, such as positron emission tomography (PET) scanners, TOF cameras and light detection and ranging (LiDAR).
  • TOF field of time of flight
  • PET positron emission tomography
  • LiDAR light detection and ranging
  • the present invention proposes a device as defined in appended claim 1, a method as defined in appended claim 10 and advantageous uses as defined in claim 15.
  • each TDC comprises a free-running ring oscillator as well as at least one supplementary channel dedicated to said reference clock signal
  • each TDC is adapted to measure, concurrently to measuring said time of arrival of an event signal, at least two of preceding and/or subsequent edges of the reference clock signal such as to allow, event by event or at least periodically, to measure the current period of oscillation of the reference clock signal of each TDC by use of said at least one supplementary channel of each TDC dedicated to the reference clock signal.
  • the present invention relates to a device 100 for measuring the relative time of arrival of at least two signals.
  • the device 100 comprises at least one TDC 10, each TDC 10 receiving a reference clock signal CLK which determines a period of oscillation T CK .
  • the latter either comprises two TDCs 10 each comprising one channel which is adapted to read a time of arrival t A,1 , t A,2 of corresponding event signals S 1 , S 2 or comprises one TDC 10 comprising two channels each of which is adapted to read a time of arrival t A,1 , t A,2 of corresponding event signals S 1 , S 2 .
  • the device 100 comprises several TDCs, that the TDCs 10 of the device 100 have a different number of channels.
  • each TDC 10 comprises a free-running ring oscillator 2 as well as at least one supplementary channel Ch CLK dedicated to said reference clock signal CLK.
  • the free-running ring oscillator 2 like schematically illustrated in figure 1 , is a chain of an odd number of inverting logic gates connected in a loop configuration, the output of the last one being connected to the input of the first one.
  • the oscillation period of the ring oscillator 2 is equal to 2 x (number of inverting logic gates) x (inverting logic gate delay).
  • the free-running oscillator 2 is left free running, i.e. that the electronics is left to freely oscillate such that there isn't any correction of the frequency of oscillation by a feedback circuit like in PLL circuits of prior art TDCs, and that, on the other hand, the free-running oscillator 2 preferably is in continuous oscillation such that the oscillator 2 is not set in motion by a start signal or by arrival of an event signal, i.e.
  • phase open loop (POL) or “free phase loop (FPL)".
  • Said at least one supplementary channel Ch CLK dedicated to said reference clock signal CLK receives the clock signal CLK from a reference clock, which is identical for all TDCs 10, respectively for all devices 100, and which determines a reference period of oscillation T CK , i.e. it determines the time scale of each TDC and of each device.
  • each TDC 10 has two or several channels Ch CLK dedicated to said reference clock signal CLK in which case, for example, one of the dedicated channels is used to measure a first of said at least two edges t CK0 , t CK1 of the reference clock signal CLK and another one of the dedicated channels is used to measure a second of said at least two edges t CK0 , t CK1 of the reference clock signal CLK.
  • the wording "concurrently” in this context isn't used in the strict sense of "occuring simultaneous” but rather in the meaning of "sufficiently close in time that the variation of the frequency of oscillation of the free-running ring oscillator 2 is negligible".
  • this allows, event by event or at least periodically, to measure the current period of oscillation T' DT of the reference clock signal CLK of each TDC 10 by use of said at least one supplementary channel Ch CLK of each TDC 10 dedicated to the reference clock signal CLK, thus allowing to reference a large number of TDCs, respectively of different electronic devices each comprising at least one TDC, to the same time scale without using a PLL.
  • each TDC 10 of a device 100 preferably, respectively normally, also comprises, in order to extend its time measurement range, a counter, which in a most preferred embodiment of the device 100 is a synchronous counter 3.
  • Each series has J 1-bit memories, in order to form a J-bit word.
  • the counter 3 itself not being the core of the present invention but rather forming part of prior art, it isn't required to give further explanations with this respect at this place.
  • the TDC 10' when an event signal arrives to the TDC 10', the statuses of the free-running ring oscillator 2 and of the counter 3, if present, are read by the respective channels of the TDC 10'.
  • the event signal when arriving to the TDC 10', is distributed to the latch of the corresponding channel in order to hold the status of the free-running ring oscillator 2 for readout and starts the counter 3.
  • the TDC 10' thus measures the time of arrival t' A,1 of the event signal, like schematically indicated in figures 2a to 2d .
  • the status of the TDC 10' i.e.
  • the statuses of its free-running ring oscillator 2 and of its counter 3 is read again at the first falling edge, see figures 2a and 2c , or at the rising edge, see figures 2b and 2d , of the reference clock by the at least one supplementary dedicated channel Ch CLK , said status corresponding to the time t' CK0 of the reference clock.
  • the subsequent falling edge, see figure 2a , or rising edge, see figures 2a to 2d , of the reference clock is read by the same channel or, if so desired, by another one of the at least one supplementary channels, this status corresponding to the time t' CK1 of the reference clock.
  • the effective time scale of the two free-running TDCs 10', 10 i.e. the measured values T' DT ,T" DT of the same period T CK O f the reference clock, will be different, such that T' DT # T" DT .
  • both TDCs 10', 10" are measuring the same clock signal CLK with identical frequency and thus idendical period of oscillation T CK , it is thus possible to use the measurements T' DT T"D T to calibrate, event by event or at least periodically, the time scales of both TDCs 10', 10".
  • the knowledge of the absolute period of oscillation T CK of the clock signal CLK which allows to determine constants k 1 , k 2 , allows for an absolute measurement of the difference between the times of arrival t' A,1 , t" A,2 , for example in a time of flight measurement.
  • the absolute period of oscillation T CK is not known, it is still possible to perform a measurement of the difference between the times of arrival t' A,1 , t" A,2 , the measurement referring in this case to the time scale of one of the TDCs 10', 10".
  • these explanations can be extended to any number of TDCs, respectively to any number of channels within these TDCs, by simple analogy, such that this principle of calibration allows for synchronization of an arbitrary number of TDCs receiving the same reference clock signal CLK and each having at least one channel each adapted to read a time of arrival.
  • figures 2a to 2c schematically represent such calibration done on an event-by-event basis and figure 2d represents such calibration done periodically.
  • this principle of calibration there exist several implementations of this principle of calibration, not all of which need to be described in all detail although lying within the scope of the present invention.
  • the statuses of the free-running ring oscillator 2 and of the counter 3, if present are read by the respective channels of the TDC 10' at the time when an event signal arrives to the TDC 10', such that the time of arrival t' A,1 of the event signal is measured.
  • the data required for calibration may be collected in diverse manners.
  • the status of the TDC 10' i.e.
  • the status of the TDC 10' i.e.
  • Another possible implementation is to perform a periodic calibration of the time scale of the TDCs, uncorrelated with the arrival of a given event signal.
  • the status of the TDC 10' i.e. the statuses of its free-running ring oscillator 2 and of its counter 3, being in this case read periodically, by the at least one supplementary dedicated channel Ch CLK , at two subsequent raising edges of a reference clock signal CLK which doesn't necessarily directly follow the arrival of the event of which the time of arrival t' A,1 has been read previously.
  • Such periodic calibration may also be based on measurement of at least two of preceding and/or subsequent falling and/or raising edges T CK0 , t CK1 of the reference clock signal CLK. It is important to note here that both in case of event by event calibration and, in particular, in case of periodic calibration such as described above, the conditions that must be fulfilled are that the time of arrival t' A,1 of an event is measured together with a reference edge of the clock signal CLK, i.e.
  • TDC time division multiplexing
  • TDC raw data saved to a storage device One may add in this context that calibration of each TDC such as described here above may be done within the device 100 or may be done outside the device 100 by using TDC raw data saved to a storage device.
  • the present invention is also related to a system for measuring the relative time of arrival of at least two signals, wherein the system comprises at least two devices 100 such as described above.
  • the invention may be realized by a device 100, i.e. in particular by a chip or any type of integrated circuit, comprising only one or few TDCs 10 with a high number of channels, including the at least one supplementary channel Ch CLK dedicated to said reference clock signal CLK.
  • the invention may be realized by a device 100, i.e.
  • any number of such devices 100 may be combined into a system, which preferably may also be realized by a chip or any type of integrated circuit, and synchronization of this system may be done using the principle of calibration set out above in the context of the description of the device 100.
  • the present invention is also related to a corresponding method for measuring the relative time of arrival of at least two signals.
  • the method according to the present invention comprises the steps of
  • the method comprises the steps of
  • the method comprises the step of measuring in each TDC 10 two falling and/or raising edges t CK0 , t CK1 of the reference clock signal CLK each pre-defined number of reference clock signals, such as to allow to calibrate periodically the time scale of each TDC 10.
  • calibration of each TDC may be done within the device 100, i.e. on chip in case of realization of the device as an integrated circuit, or else outside the device 100, i.e. off chip, by using TDC raw data saved to a storage device.
  • the device or system, respectively the method, according to the present invention is particularly adequate for use in applications in the field of time of flight (TOF) measurement, such as positron emission tomography (PET) scanners, TOF cameras and LiDARs.
  • TOF time of flight
  • the device preferably is combined with a detector 201 composed by a matrix of pixel diodes, in particular to a silicon pixel detector.
  • the pixels of the detector 201 are connected to front end electronics 202 comprising a preamplifier 202a and a discriminator 202b.
  • the signal can either be sent directly to a device 100 according to the present invention, requiring one TDC 10 per channel, or be sent to a device 100 via a multiplexer 203, in order to use one single TDC channel to read the first pixel firing in a set of pixels.
  • the output of the device 100, respectively of its TDCs 10, is then sent to a decoder and corresponding logic component 204.
  • This configuration and corresponding applications are described in further detail in the article "A high-Precision Timing ASIC for TOF-PET Applications” (DOI: 10.22323/1.313.0043). The content of this article is herewith fully incorporated by reference in order to avoid recapitulation of information relating to the detector, the front end electronics and other components of the corresponding devices as well as the corresponding applications which don't directly relate to the present invention.
  • the free-running oscillator is left free running, i.e. that the electronics freely oscillates without any correction of the frequency of oscillation by a feedback circuit like in PLL of prior art TDCs.
  • the free-running oscillator preferably is in continuous oscillation such that the oscillator is not set in motion by a start signal or by arrival of an event signal, i.e. that any extra time jitter of the TDCs due to a stabilization of the oscillation frequency of the ring oscillator can be avoided.
  • a device and a corresponding method according to the present invention are particularly effective for the measurement of the relative time of arrival of asynchronous signals with picosecond precision in the tens of nanosecond range.
  • the device and the corresponding method are welll adapted for applications in the field of time of flight (TOF) measurement, such as positron emission tomography (PET) scanners, TOF cameras and light detection and ranging (LiDAR).
  • TOF field of time of flight

Claims (15)

  1. Vorrichtung (100) zum Messen der relativen Ankunftszeit von mindestens zwei Signalen, wobei die Vorrichtung mindestens einen TDC (10) aufweist, wobei jeder TDC (10) ein Referenztaktsignal (CLK) empfängt, das eine Schwingungsperiode (TCK) bestimmt, und mindestens einen Kanal aufweist, der jeweils dazu geeignet ist, eine Ankunftszeit (t'A,n=1-N, t"A,n=1-N) eines Ereignissignals (Sn=1-N) auszulesen, wobei jeder TDC (10) einen freilaufenden Ringoszillator (2) sowie mindestens einen Zusatzkanal (ChCLK), der dem Referenztaktsignal (CLK) gewidmet ist, aufweist, und wobei jeder TDC (10) dazu geeignet ist, gleichzeitig zum Messen der besagten Ankunftszeit (t'A,n=1-N, t"A,n=1-N) eines Ereignissignals (Sn=1-N) und unter Verwendung des besagten freilaufenden Ringoszillators (2) mindestens zwei der vorhergehenden und/oder nachfolgenden Flanken (tCK0, tCK1) des Referenztaktsignals (CLK) zu messen, um es Ereignis für Ereignis oder zumindest periodisch zu erlauben, die gegenwärtige Schwingungsperiode (T'DT) des Referenztaktsignals (CLK) jedes TDC (10) unter Verwendung des besagten mindestens einen Zusatzkanals (CHCLK) jedes TDC (10), der dem Referenztaktsignal (CLK) gewidmet ist, zu messen.
  2. Vorrichtung gemäß dem vorhergehenden Anspruch, wobei jeder TDC (10) mindestens zwei fallende und/oder steigende Flanken (tCK0, tCK1) des Referenztaktsignals (CLK) vor und/oder nach der besagten Ankunftszeit (t'A,n=1-N, t"A,n=1-N) eines Ereignissignals (Sn=1-N) mißt, um Ereignis für Ereignis die Kalibrierung der Zeitskala jedes TDC (10) zu erlauben.
  3. Vorrichtung gemäß dem vorhergehenden Anspruch 1, wobei jeder TDC (10) mindestens zwei fallende und/oder ansteigende Flanken (tCK0, tCK1) des Referenztaktsignals (CLK) jeweils nach einer vordefinierten Anzahl von Referenztaktsignalen mißt, um periodisch die Kalibrierung der Zeitskala jedes TDC (10) zu erlauben.
  4. Vorrichtung gemäß einem der vorhergehenden Ansprüche, wobei jeder TDC (10) geeignet ist, innerhalb der Vorrichtung (100) kalibriert zu werden.
  5. Vorrichtung gemäß einem der vorhergehenden Ansprüche 1 bis 4, wobei jeder TDC (10) geeignet ist, unter Verwendung von TDC-Rohdaten, die in einem Speichergerät gespeichert sind, außerhalb der Vorrichtung (100) kalibriert zu werden.
  6. Vorrichtung gemäß einem der vorhergehenden Ansprüche, wobei jeder TDC (10) einen Synchronzähler (3) aufweist.
  7. Vorrichtung gemäß einem der vorhergehenden Ansprüche, verwirklicht durch einen Chip oder einer beliebigen Art eines integrierten Schaltkreises.
  8. System zur Messung der relativen Ankunftszeit von mindestens zwei Signalen, wobei das System mindestens zwei Vorrichtungen (100) gemäß einem der vorhergehenden Ansprüche aufweist.
  9. System gemäß dem vorhergehenden Anspruch, verwirklicht durch einen Chip oder einer beliebigen Art eines integrierten Schaltkreises.
  10. Verfahren zum Messen der relativen Ankunftszeit von mindestens zwei Signalen, wobei das Verfahren die Schritte aufweist
    - Bereitstellen einer Vorrichtung (100) zum Messen der relativen Ankunftszeit von mindestens zwei Signalen, wobei die Vorrichtung mindestens einen TDC (10) aufweist, wobei jeder TDC (10) mindestens einen Kanal, der jeweils zum Auslesen einer Ankunftszeit (t'A,n=1-N, t"A,n=1-N) eines Ereignissignals (Sn=1-N) geeignet ist, aufweist,
    - Empfangen eines Referenztaktsignals (CLK), das eine Schwingungsperiode(TCK) bestimmt, in jedem TDC (10),
    - Bereitstellen eines freilaufenden Ringoszillators (2) in jedem TDC (10),
    - Bereitstellen mindestens eines Zusatzkanals (ChCLK), der dem Referenztaktsignal (CLK) gewidmet ist, in jedem TDC (10),
    - Messen einer Ankunftszeit (t'A,n=1-N, t"A,n=1-N) eines Ereignissignals (Sn=1-N) in jedem TDC (10) unter Verwendung der besagten Kanäle, die geeignet sind, eine Ankunftszeit (t'A,n=1-N, t"A,n=1-N) auszulesen,
    - gleichzeitig zum Messen der besagten Ankunftszeit (t'A,n=1-N, t"A,n=1-N) eines Ereignissignals (Sn=1-N) und unter Verwendung des besagten freilaufenden Ringoszillators (2) Messen mindestens zweier der vorhergehenden und/oder nachfolgenden Flanken (tCK0, tCK1,) des Referenztaktsignals (CLK) in jedem TDC (10), um Ereignis für Ereignis oder zumindest periodisch die Messung der gegenwärtigen Schwingungsperiode (T'DT) des Referenztaktsignals (CLK) jedes TDCs (10) unter Verwendung des besagten mindestens einen Zusatzkanals (ChCLK) jedes TDCs (10), der dem Referenztaktsignal (CLK) gewidmet ist, zu erlauben.
  11. Verfahren gemäß dem vorhergehenden Anspruch, weiterhin aufweisend den Schritt
    - Messen von mindestens zwei fallenden und/oder steigenden Flanken (tCK0, tCK1) des Referenztaktsignals (CLK) vor und/oder nach der besagten Ankunftszeit (t'A,n=1-N, t"A,n=1-N) eines Ereignissignals (Sn=1-N) in jedem TDC (10), um Ereignis für Ereignis die Kalibrierung der Zeitskala jedes TDCs (10) zu erlauben.
  12. Verfahren gemäß dem vorhergehenden Anspruch 10, weiterhin aufweisend den Schritt
    - Messen von mindestens zwei fallenden und/oder steigenden Flanken (tCK0, tCK1) des Referenztaktsignals (CLK) jeweils nach einer vordefinierten Anzahl von Referenztaktsignalen in jedem TDC (10), um periodisch die Kalibrierung der Zeitskala jedes TDCs (10) zu erlauben.
  13. Verfahren gemäß einem der vorhergehenden Ansprüche 10 bis 12, wobei die Kalibrierung jedes TDCs innerhalb der Vorrichtung (100) erfolgt.
  14. Verfahren gemäß einem der vorhergehenden Ansprüche 10 bis 12, wobei die Kalibrierung jedes TDCs unter Verwendung von TDC-Rohdaten, die in einem Speichergerät gespeichert sind, außerhalb des Geräts (100) erfolgt.
  15. Verwendung der Vorrichtung gemäß einem der vorhergehenden Ansprüche 1 bis 7, des Systems gemäß einem der vorhergehenden Ansprüche 8 bis 9 und/oder des Verfahrens gemäß einem der vorhergehenden Ansprüche 10 bis 14 für eine Flugzeitmessung (TOF), insbesondere für eine Anwendung ausgewählt aus der Gruppe aufweisend Positronen-Emissions-Tomographie (PET), TOF-Kamera, Lichterkennung und Entfernungsmessung (LiDAR).
EP18181123.3A 2018-07-02 2018-07-02 Vorrichtung und verfahren zur messung der relativen signaleingangszeit Active EP3591477B1 (de)

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EP18181123.3A EP3591477B1 (de) 2018-07-02 2018-07-02 Vorrichtung und verfahren zur messung der relativen signaleingangszeit
PCT/EP2019/067101 WO2020007692A1 (en) 2018-07-02 2019-06-26 Device and method for measuring the relative time of arrival of signals

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Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US6850051B2 (en) * 2001-03-26 2005-02-01 Mcgill University Timing measurement device using a component-invariant vernier delay line
US8064561B2 (en) * 2007-09-16 2011-11-22 Infineon Technologies Ag Determining a time interval based on a first signal, a second signal, and a jitter of the first signal
US8228219B2 (en) * 2010-06-15 2012-07-24 Infineon Technologies Ag Time-to-digital converter with calibration

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