1. A high time precision measurement method for pulse signal characteristic points is characterized by comprising the following steps:

step 1, selecting n threshold voltages V with characteristic feature points according to the amplitude range of a pulse signal to be detected_TH1，……，V_THnWherein n is more than or equal to 1; selecting a measurement time range according to the time span of the measurement task;

step 2, writing n threshold voltage information into a threshold voltage generating circuit through a threshold voltage configuration circuit; the measuring time range information is written into the range setting unit;

step 3, the threshold voltage generating circuit generates n threshold voltages V_TH1，……，V_THnAnd respectively output to a comparison input end of the n voltage comparators;

step 4, converting the TDC by n channel time-to-digital converters₁，……，TDC_nResetting the state of the time register corresponding to each channel, and resetting the time range timer of the range setting unit; the TDC₁，……，TDC_nThe output ends of the n voltage comparators are respectively corresponding to the output ends of the n voltage comparators;

step 5, respectively sending the pulse signals to be detected to the other comparison input ends of the n voltage comparators;

step 6, external trigger input signal arrival time, TDC₁，……，TDC_nStarting timing; meanwhile, a time range timer of the range setting unit starts timing;

step 7, after the timing is started, for each threshold voltage V_THiEach time the pulse signal to be measured crosses the threshold voltage V_THiThen, the corresponding voltage comparator generates a fast jump signal corresponding to the TDC of the i-channel_iRecording the time information T of the arrival of the fast jump signal_i-1，T_i-2… …, and a corresponding transition type, the time register corresponding to the i-channel storing the time information and the transition type, wherein i is 1, … …, n;

step 8, after the time range timer reaches the set measuring time range, the range setting unit moves to the TDC₁，……，TDC_nSimultaneously sending a measurement termination signal, TDC₁，……，TDC_nStopping timing;

and 9, calculating the duration time lengths of the n threshold voltages according to the rapid jump signal time information recorded by the n time registers and the corresponding jump types, and completing the measurement of the characteristic point arrival time and the characteristic width of the pulse signal to be measured.

2. The method for measuring a pulse signal feature point with high time accuracy according to claim 1, characterized in that: in step 3, the voltage comparator is an analog voltage comparator, a generated quick jump signal has a determined input-to-output delay, and the time jitter of the output signal is less than the measurement time precision;

in step 7, the TDC_iTime-to-digital conversion is performed with an accuracy on the order of picoseconds.

3. The method for measuring a pulse signal feature point with high time accuracy according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that: in step 3, the voltage comparator outputs a fast jump signal as a rising edge signal when the voltage of the pulse signal to be detected rises to be greater than a threshold voltage; when the voltage of the pulse signal to be detected is reduced to be less than the threshold voltage, outputting a fast jump signal as a falling edge signal;

in step 7, the jump type comprises an upward crossing and a downward crossing; the upward crossing is that the voltage of the pulse signal to be detected rises to be greater than the threshold voltage, and the downward crossing is that the voltage of the pulse signal to be detected falls to be less than the threshold voltage.

4. A high time precision measuring method for pulse signal synchronization time is characterized by comprising the following steps:

step 1, respectively selecting n threshold voltages V with characteristic jump points according to the number n of pulse signals to be detected and corresponding voltage ranges_TH1，……，V_THnWherein n is more than or equal to 2; selecting a measurement time range according to the time span of the measurement task;

step 2, writing n threshold voltage information into a threshold voltage generating circuit through a threshold voltage configuration circuit; the measuring time range information is written into the range setting unit;

step 3, the threshold voltage generating circuit generates n threshold voltages V_TH1，……，V_THnAnd respectively output to a comparison input end of the corresponding n voltage comparators;

step 4, converting the TDC by n channel time-to-digital converters₁，……，TDC_nResetting the state of the time register corresponding to each channel, and resetting the time range timer of the range setting unit; the TDC₁，……，TDC_nThe output ends of the n voltage comparators are respectively corresponding to the output ends of the n voltage comparators;

step 5, respectively sending the n pulse signals to be detected to the other comparison input end of the corresponding voltage comparator;

step 6, external trigger input signal arrival time, TDC₁，……，TDC_nStarting timing; meanwhile, a time range timer of the range setting unit starts timing;

7, after the timing is started, for each pulse signal i to be measured, crossing the corresponding threshold voltage V each time_THiThen, the corresponding voltage comparator generates a fast jump signal corresponding to the i-channel TDC_iRecording the time information T of the arrival of the fast jump signal_1-1，T_1-2… …, and a corresponding transition type, the corresponding time register storing the time information and the transition type, wherein i is 1, … …, n;

step 8, after the time range timer reaches the set measuring time range, the range setting unit moves to the TDC₁，……，TDC_nSimultaneously sending a measurement termination signal, TDC₁，……，TDC_nStopping timing;

and 9, calculating the duration time length of each threshold voltage according to the quick jump signal time information recorded by the n time registers and the corresponding jump type, and completing the measurement of the jump point arrival time and the jump point width of the n pulse signals to be measured.

5. The method for measuring the time accuracy of the pulse signal synchronization time according to claim 4, wherein: in step 3, the fast jump signal generated by the voltage comparator has a determined delay from input to output, and the time jitter of the output signal is less than the measurement time precision;

in step 7, the TDC_iTime-to-digital conversion is performed with an accuracy on the order of picoseconds.

6. The method for measuring the time accuracy of the pulse signal synchronization time according to claim 4 or 5, wherein: in step 3, the voltage comparator outputs a fast jump signal as a rising edge signal when the voltage of the pulse signal to be detected rises to be greater than a threshold voltage; when the voltage of the pulse signal to be detected is reduced to be less than the threshold voltage, outputting a fast jump signal as a falling edge signal;

in step 7, the jump type comprises an upward crossing and a downward crossing; the upward crossing is that the voltage of the pulse signal to be detected rises to be greater than the threshold voltage, and the downward crossing is that the voltage of the pulse signal to be detected falls to be less than the threshold voltage.

7. A high time precision measuring system of pulse signals is characterized in that:

the device comprises a threshold voltage configuration circuit, a threshold voltage generation circuit, a range setting unit, n measuring units and a reading circuit; the device comprises a pulse signal characteristic point, a synchronization time and a time parameter, wherein n is 1 and is used for high-time-precision measurement of the pulse signal characteristic point, and n is greater than 1 and is used for high-time-precision measurement of the pulse signal characteristic point and the synchronization time;

the output end of the threshold voltage configuration circuit is connected with the input end of the threshold voltage generation circuit and is used for receiving an external setting signal and configuring the threshold voltage generation circuit;

the threshold voltage generating circuit is used for generating n threshold voltages V representing the characteristic point of the pulse signal to be detected or representing the jump point of the pulse signal to be detected_THn(ii) a N threshold voltages V outputted from the threshold voltage generating circuit_THnRespectively connected with n measuring units;

the measuring range setting unit is used for setting a measuring time range, starting timing at the arrival moment of an external trigger input signal, and generating measuring termination signals and respectively sending the signals to the n measuring units when the measuring time reaches the measuring time range setting moment;

the measuring unit comprises a voltage comparator, a time-to-digital converter (TDC) of a corresponding channel and a time register;

one input end of the voltage comparator is connected with the corresponding threshold voltage output end of the threshold voltage generating circuit, and the other input end of the voltage comparator is connected with an externally input pulse signal to be detected, and the voltage comparator is used for rapidly comparing the pulse signal to be detected with the corresponding threshold voltage and generating a rapid jump signal when the pulse to be detected crosses the threshold voltage;

the input end of the time-to-digital converter TDC is respectively connected with a corresponding voltage comparator, an external trigger input signal and a range setting unit, and is used for converting the arrival time of a quick jump signal generated by the voltage comparator into time information and recording the jump type of the quick jump signal; the time-to-digital converter TDC starts timing at the arrival moment of an external input trigger signal and stops timing at the moment of receiving a measurement termination signal of the range setting unit;

the input end of the time register is connected with the output end of the time-to-digital converter TDC and is used for storing the time information and the jump type of the quick jump signal;

and the n input ends of the reading circuit are respectively connected with the time registers of the corresponding measuring units and are used for reading the time information and the jump type recorded by the n time registers and calculating the lasting time length of the n threshold voltages.

8. The system for measuring a high temporal accuracy of a pulse signal according to claim 7, wherein: the other input ends of the n voltage comparators are connected with a pulse signal to be measured and used for measuring the arrival time and the characteristic width of each characteristic point of the pulse signal to be measured; or the other input ends of the n voltage comparators are respectively connected with the n pulse signals to be measured and used for measuring the jump point arrival time and the jump point width of each pulse signal to be measured.

9. A high time accuracy measurement system of a pulse signal according to claim 7 or 8, characterized in that: the voltage comparator generates an output signal having a determined input-to-output delay, the time jitter of the output signal being less than the measurement time accuracy.

10. A high time accuracy measurement system of a pulse signal according to claim 9, wherein: the threshold voltage configuration circuit, the range setting unit, the time-to-digital converter TDC, the time register and the reading circuit are all realized in the FPGA.

Background

The characteristic point measurement and the synchronous time measurement of the pulse signals are widely applied to the field of transient physical experiment research, the characteristic point measurement of the pulse signals is particularly applied to the field of pulse radiation source measurement or single particle measurement, and the synchronous time measurement of the pulse signals is more applied to the fields of pulse radiation field multi-image measurement, nanosecond optical framing imaging or multi-particle event synchronous measurement and the like. The pulse signal measuring technique commonly used at present mainly uses an oscilloscope with high sampling rate to continuously record the fast pulse signal output by a detector in high time resolution so as to achieve the purpose of measuring the time and the duration of a pulse characteristic point or a jump point. When the duration of a fast pulse signal to be measured is only nanosecond level, or the arrival time difference of a plurality of pulse signals is only a few nanoseconds, high-precision pulse characteristic point measurement or multi-pulse signal synchronous time measurement to be measured is required, the sampling precision of an oscilloscope can reach picosecond level, a high-end oscilloscope with extremely high sampling rate is required, and when the number of pulse signal channels to be measured is large and the synchronization relationship is complex, more oscilloscope channels are required, so that the hardware cost of a measurement system is very high. For the measurement task only concerning the arrival time and the duration width of the pulse characteristic point or the arrival synchronization time and the jump point width of the multi-pulse signal, a measurer does not concern most of information of the waveform recorded by the oscilloscope, and the time behavior of the pulse signal has the sparse characteristic, so that the waste of the high-frequency sampling function of the oscilloscope and the redundancy of data are caused.

Disclosure of Invention

The invention aims to solve the technical problems that in the prior art, when nanosecond-level pulse signals are measured, an oscilloscope with a very high sampling rate is required to be used, so that the hardware cost is high, and the sparse characteristic of pulse signal time causes the waste of the high-frequency sampling function and the data redundancy of the oscilloscope.

The technical idea of the invention is as follows: by utilizing the high Time precision characteristic of a Time-to-Digital Converter (TDC), the characteristic point or the jump point measurement of the pulse signal to be measured is converted into the Time record of outputting the jump signal by a plurality of comparators by setting a plurality of threshold voltages and introducing a rapid Digital comparison circuit, so that the picosecond-level Time precision measurement of the pulse signal is realized with lower system hardware cost.

In order to realize the purpose of the invention, the technical scheme adopted by the invention is as follows:

a high time precision measuring method of pulse signal characteristic points is characterized by comprising the following steps:

step 1, selecting n threshold voltages V with characteristic feature points according to the amplitude range of a pulse signal to be detected_TH1，……，V_THnWherein n is more than or equal to 1; selecting a measurement time range according to the time span of the measurement task;

step 2, writing n threshold voltage information into a threshold voltage generating circuit through a threshold voltage configuration circuit; the measuring time range information is written into the range setting unit;

step 3, the threshold voltage generating circuit generates n threshold voltages V_TH1，……，V_THnAnd respectively output to a comparison input end of the n voltage comparators;

step 4, converting the TDC by n channel time-to-digital converters₁，……，TDC_nAnd time register corresponding to each channelResetting the state of the device, and resetting a time range timer of the range setting unit; the TDC₁，……，TDC_nThe output ends of the n voltage comparators are respectively corresponding to the output ends of the n voltage comparators;

step 5, respectively sending the pulse signals to be detected to the other comparison input ends of the n voltage comparators;

step 6, external trigger input signal arrival time, TDC₁，……，TDC_nStarting timing; meanwhile, a time range timer of the range setting unit starts timing;

step 7, after the timing is started, for each threshold voltage V_THiEach time the pulse signal to be measured crosses the threshold voltage V_THiThen, the corresponding voltage comparator generates a fast jump signal corresponding to the TDC of the i-channel_iRecording the time information T of the arrival of the fast jump signal_i-1，T_i-2… …, and a corresponding transition type, the time register corresponding to the i-channel storing the time information and the transition type, wherein i is 1, … …, n;

step 8, after the time range timer reaches the set measuring time range, the range setting unit moves to the TDC₁，……，TDC_nSimultaneously sending a measurement termination signal, TDC₁，……，TDC_nStopping timing;

and 9, calculating the duration time lengths of the n threshold voltages according to the rapid jump signal time information recorded by the n time registers and the corresponding jump types, and completing the measurement of the characteristic point arrival time and the characteristic width of the pulse signal to be measured.

Further, in step 3, the voltage comparator is an analog voltage comparator, the generated fast jump signal has a certain input-to-output delay, and the time jitter of the output signal is smaller than the measurement time precision;

in step 7, the TDC_iTime-to-digital conversion is performed with an accuracy on the order of picoseconds.

Further, in step 3, when the voltage of the pulse signal to be detected rises to be greater than the threshold voltage, the voltage comparator outputs a fast jump signal as a rising edge signal; when the voltage of the pulse signal to be detected is reduced to be less than the threshold voltage, outputting a fast jump signal as a falling edge signal;

in step 7, the jump type comprises an upward crossing and a downward crossing; the upward crossing is that the voltage of the pulse signal to be detected rises to be greater than the threshold voltage, and the downward crossing is that the voltage of the pulse signal to be detected falls to be less than the threshold voltage.

The invention also provides a high time precision measuring method of the pulse signal synchronization time, which is characterized by comprising the following steps:

step 1, respectively selecting n threshold voltages V with characteristic jump points according to the number n of pulse signals to be detected and corresponding voltage ranges_TH1，……，V_THnWherein n is more than or equal to 2; selecting a measurement time range according to the time span of the measurement task;

step 2, writing n threshold voltage information into a threshold voltage generating circuit through a threshold voltage configuration circuit; the measuring time range information is written into the range setting unit;

step 3, the threshold voltage generating circuit generates n threshold voltages V_TH1，……，V_THnAnd respectively output to a comparison input end of the corresponding n voltage comparators;

step 4, converting the TDC by n channel time-to-digital converters₁，……，TDC_nResetting the state of the time register corresponding to each channel, and resetting the time range timer of the range setting unit; the TDC₁，……，TDC_nThe output ends of the n voltage comparators are respectively corresponding to the output ends of the n voltage comparators;

step 5, respectively sending the n pulse signals to be detected to the other comparison input end of the corresponding voltage comparator;

step 6, external trigger input signal arrival time, TDC₁，……，TDC_nStarting timing; meanwhile, a time range timer of the range setting unit starts timing;

7, after the timing is started, for each pulse signal i to be measured, crossing the corresponding threshold voltage V each time_THiTime, corresponding voltageThe comparator generates a fast jump signal corresponding to the i-channel TDC_iRecording the time information T of the arrival of the fast jump signal_1-1，T_1-2… …, and a corresponding transition type, the corresponding time register storing the time information and the transition type, wherein i is 1, … …, n;

step 8, after the time range timer reaches the set measuring time range, the range setting unit moves to the TDC₁，……，TDC_nSimultaneously sending a measurement termination signal, TDC₁，……，TDC_nStopping timing;

and 9, calculating the duration time length of each threshold voltage according to the quick jump signal time information recorded by the n time registers and the corresponding jump type, and completing the measurement of the jump point arrival time and the jump point width of the n pulse signals to be measured.

Further, in step 3, the fast jump signal generated by the voltage comparator has a determined input-to-output delay, and the time jitter of the output signal is less than the measurement time precision;

in step 7, the TDC_iTime-to-digital conversion is performed with an accuracy on the order of picoseconds.

Further, in step 3, when the voltage of the pulse signal to be detected rises to be greater than the threshold voltage, the voltage comparator outputs a fast jump signal as a rising edge signal; when the voltage of the pulse signal to be detected is reduced to be less than the threshold voltage, outputting a fast jump signal as a falling edge signal;

in step 7, the jump type comprises an upward crossing and a downward crossing; the upward crossing is that the voltage of the pulse signal to be detected rises to be greater than the threshold voltage, and the downward crossing is that the voltage of the pulse signal to be detected falls to be less than the threshold voltage.

In addition, the invention also provides a high-time-precision measuring system of the pulse signal, which is characterized in that:

the device comprises a threshold voltage configuration circuit, a threshold voltage generation circuit, a range setting unit, n measurement units and a reading circuit, wherein n is 1 and is used for high-time-precision measurement of a pulse signal characteristic point, and n is greater than 1 and is used for high-time-precision measurement of the pulse signal characteristic point and synchronization time;

the output end of the threshold voltage configuration circuit is connected with the input end of the threshold voltage generation circuit and is used for receiving an external setting signal and configuring the threshold voltage generation circuit;

the threshold voltage generating circuit is used for generating n threshold voltages V representing the characteristic point of the pulse signal to be detected or representing the jump point of the pulse signal to be detected_THn(ii) a N threshold voltages V outputted from the threshold voltage generating circuit_THnRespectively connected with n measuring units;

the measuring range setting unit is used for setting a measuring time range, starting timing at the arrival moment of an external trigger input signal, and generating measuring termination signals and respectively sending the signals to the n measuring units when the measuring time reaches the measuring time range setting moment;

the measuring unit comprises a voltage comparator, a time-to-digital converter (TDC) of a corresponding channel and a time register;

one input end of the voltage comparator is connected with the corresponding threshold voltage output end of the threshold voltage generating circuit, and the other input end of the voltage comparator is connected with an externally input pulse signal to be detected, and the voltage comparator is used for rapidly comparing the pulse signal to be detected with the corresponding threshold voltage and generating a rapid jump signal when the pulse to be detected crosses the threshold voltage;

the input end of the time-to-digital converter TDC is respectively connected with a corresponding voltage comparator, an external trigger input signal and a range setting unit, and is used for converting the arrival time of a quick jump signal generated by the voltage comparator into time information and recording the jump type of the quick jump signal; the time-to-digital converter TDC starts timing at the arrival moment of an external input trigger signal and stops timing at the moment of receiving a measurement termination signal of the range setting unit;

the input end of the time register is connected with the output end of the time-to-digital converter TDC and is used for storing the time information and the jump type of the quick jump signal;

and the n input ends of the reading circuit are respectively connected with the time registers of the corresponding measuring units and are used for reading the time information and the jump type recorded by the n time registers and calculating the lasting time length of the n threshold voltages.

Furthermore, the other input ends of the n voltage comparators are connected with a pulse signal to be measured, and are used for measuring the arrival time and the characteristic width of each characteristic point of the pulse signal to be measured; or the other input ends of the n voltage comparators are respectively connected with the n pulse signals to be measured and used for measuring the jump point arrival time and the jump point width of each pulse signal to be measured.

Further, the voltage comparator generates an output signal with a determined input-to-output delay, the time jitter of the output signal being less than the measurement time accuracy.

Furthermore, the threshold voltage configuration circuit, the range setting unit, the time-to-digital converter TDC, the time register, and the readout circuit are all implemented in an FPGA.

The invention has the beneficial effects that:

1) the high time precision measuring method of the pulse signal characteristic point and the synchronous time utilizes the time-to-digital conversion technology to carry out high time precision measurement on the characteristic point of the pulse signal to be measured or the jump point of the synchronous time of a plurality of pulse signals to be measured, and can realize the pulse signal measuring capability of picosecond-level time precision under the lower system hardware cost.

2) The high time precision measuring method of the pulse signal characteristic point and the synchronous time flexibly sets the threshold voltage quantity and the threshold voltage value according to the characteristic point or the jump point of the pulse signal to be measured, and flexibly sets the time register according to the measuring precision and the measuring time length of the pulse signal to be measured, so that the method has strong adaptability.

3) The high time precision measuring method of the pulse signal characteristic point and the synchronous time realizes the high time precision measurement of the pulse signal characteristic point or the jump point by utilizing the high time precision characteristic of the time-to-digital conversion TDC technology, and each channel of the time-to-digital converter carries out time-to-digital conversion with the precision of picosecond magnitude, thereby realizing the time recording function of picosecond magnitude.

4) The high-time-precision measurement system for the pulse signal characteristic point and the synchronous time adopts the analog voltage comparator to generate the rapid jump signal with determined delay from input to output, the time jitter of the output signal is less than the measurement time precision, and the measurement precision is ensured.

5) The threshold voltage configuration circuit, the range setting unit, the time-to-digital converter TDC, the time register, the reading circuit and the like in the high-time-precision measurement system of the pulse signal characteristic point and the synchronous time are realized based on the FPGA, thereby facilitating the scale expansion of the system and realizing the parallel high-time-precision measurement of a plurality of paths of pulse signals.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a schematic view of a measurement principle of a high-time-precision measurement method of a pulse signal feature point according to embodiment 1 of the present invention;

fig. 2 is a block diagram of a high time precision measurement system of a pulse signal feature point according to embodiment 1 of the present invention;

fig. 3 is a schematic view of a measurement principle of a high-time-precision measurement method of pulse signal synchronization time according to an embodiment 2 of the present invention;

fig. 4 is a block diagram of a high-time-precision measurement system for pulse signal synchronization time according to embodiment 2 of the present invention.

Detailed Description

In order to more clearly explain the technical solution of the present invention, the following detailed description of the present invention is made with reference to the accompanying drawings and specific examples.

The invention realizes high time precision measurement of the pulse signal characteristic point and the jump point by utilizing a time-to-digital conversion (TDC) technology. The time-to-digital conversion technology is a technology for converting the arrival time of a signal into digital information, and can realize a picosecond-level time recording function by utilizing the technology based on a common FPGA chip.

Example 1

The pulse signal characteristic point measurement refers to the measurement of a specific voltage point of a pulse signal, and the main task of the measurement is to record the time when the pulse signal reaches the characteristic point and the duration of the pulse signal (characteristic width). Such asAs shown in FIG. 1, using a threshold voltage V_TH1，V_TH2，V_TH3...V_THnThe characteristic points of the pulse signals to be measured are represented, and the arrival time and the characteristic width of the characteristic points of the pulse signals need to be measured.

The measuring system adopted by the invention mainly comprises: the circuit comprises a threshold voltage configuration circuit, a threshold voltage generation circuit, a voltage comparator, a time-to-digital conversion circuit, a time register, a range setting unit, a reading circuit and the like.

The threshold voltage configuration circuit is used for receiving external settings and configuring the threshold voltage generation circuit;

the threshold voltage generation circuit is used for generating n threshold voltages V representing the characteristic points of the pulse signal_TH1，…，V_THn(n is more than or equal to 1); the n threshold voltages respectively correspond to the n measuring channels; the n threshold voltages are respectively connected with the input ends of the n voltage comparators;

externally input pulse signals to be detected are sent to one input end of n voltage comparators;

the other input end of the n voltage comparators is connected with the corresponding threshold voltage output end of the threshold voltage generating circuit and is used for quickly comparing the pulse signal to be detected with the corresponding threshold voltage, and when the input pulse exceeds the threshold voltage, the voltage comparators generate a quick jump signal; the voltage comparator adopts an analog comparator, and the higher the speed is, the higher the measurement precision is; requiring the output signal of the voltage comparator to have a certain input-to-output delay, the time jitter of the output signal being less than the measurement time accuracy;

the n channel time-to-digital conversion circuits TDC are used for converting the arrival time of the corresponding fast jump signal into digital quantity time information and recording the jump type of the fast jump signal;

the n time registers are used for storing signal jump time information and signal jump types recorded by corresponding TDC channels;

the range setting unit is used for setting the duration time length (measurement time range) of single measurement, starting timing at the arrival moment of the external trigger input signal, generating a measurement termination signal when the measurement time reaches the measurement time range, and respectively sending the measurement termination signal to each TDC channel;

the n input ends of the reading circuit are respectively connected with the corresponding time registers and are used for reading the time information (the arrival time of the characteristic point) and the jump type recorded by the n time registers and calculating the lasting time length (the characteristic width) of the n threshold voltages.

The threshold voltage configuration circuit, the range setting unit, the time-to-digital converter TDC, the time register and the readout circuit are all realized in the FPGA.

The high time precision measuring method of the pulse signal characteristic point comprises the following steps:

1) for the pulse signal to be detected, selecting a threshold voltage V representing the characteristic point between the lowest voltage point and the highest voltage point of the pulse signal to be detected according to the waveform of the pulse signal to be detected_TH1，V_TH2，V_TH3，…，V_THn(ii) a Characteristic point width, i.e., the time during which the pulse signal voltage is greater than (positive pulse) or less than (negative pulse) the threshold voltage;

selecting a proper time range of the measurement task according to the time span of the measurement task; performing high-time precision measurement on the pulse signal within a given time range;

2) writing the selected characteristic point threshold voltage information into a threshold voltage generating circuit through a threshold voltage configuration circuit; the measuring time range information is written into the range setting unit;

3) the threshold voltage generating circuit generates threshold voltages and outputs the threshold voltages to the comparison input ends of the corresponding voltage comparators respectively; when the voltage of the input pulse signal rises to be more than a threshold voltage (positive pulse) or falls to be less than the threshold voltage (negative pulse), the voltage comparator generates a fast jump (rising edge or falling edge) signal; a voltage comparator generating a fast-jump (rising or falling) signal with a determined input-to-output delay, the time jitter of the output signal being less than the measurement time accuracy;

4) before starting measurement, the states of a time register of a system and a time-to-digital converter TDC of each channel are cleared, and meanwhile, a time-range timer of a range setting unit is cleared to wait for an external trigger input signal; the TDC of each channel takes the external pulse trigger input time as the reference of the starting time, and the TDC of each channel can carry out time-to-digital conversion with the accuracy of picosecond magnitude;

5) setting the arrival time of external pulse trigger input as T₀Starting a timing function of the TDC, starting time-range timing by the range setting unit at the same time, and waiting for the arrival of the moment when the pulse signal crosses the threshold voltage; at this time, the TDC of each channel is T₀The time is used as the reference of the starting time;

6) the pulse signal to be measured firstly crosses the threshold voltage V_TH1Then the corresponding voltage comparator will output a fast jump signal to TDC₁Through TDC₁The arrival time T of the fast jump signal_1-1Recording, and outputting the time information and the jump type to a corresponding time register for storage;

7) the pulse signal to be measured crosses the threshold voltage V again_TH1The voltage comparator will output a jump signal opposite to the first threshold voltage crossing, passing through the TDC₁The arrival time T of the fast jump signal_1-2Recording again, and outputting the time information and the jump type to a corresponding time register again for storage;

8) repeating steps 6) -7), for each threshold voltage channel i, passing through the TDC_iRecording the arrival time T of the corresponding voltage comparator output rapid jump signal when the pulse signal to be detected crosses the threshold voltage each time_i-1，T_i-2…, and outputting the time information and the jump type to the corresponding time register to be stored until the timer reaches the set range; the jump type comprises an upward crossing and a downward crossing, the upward crossing is defined when the voltage of the pulse signal to be tested rises to be larger than a threshold voltage, and the downward crossing is defined when the voltage of the pulse signal to be tested drops to be smaller than the threshold voltage, wherein i is 1, … …, n;

9) and when the time range timer reaches a set time range, stopping timing functions of all TDC channels, reading the arrival time and the jump type of the jump signal recorded by each threshold voltage channel through a reading circuit, and calculating the duration time length of each threshold voltage to complete the measurement of the arrival time and the feature width of the feature point of the pulse signal to be measured.

For each threshold voltage V_THiAccording to the time T of arrival of the fast-hopping signal_i-1，T_i-2…, and the type of transition, the length of time (characteristic width) that each threshold voltage lasts is calculated:

when the pulse to be detected is a positive pulse, the first characteristic width is the duration length between the recorded first upward crossing time information and the recorded first downward crossing time information; by analogy, the mth feature width is the duration length between the recorded mth upward-crossing time information and the mth downward-crossing time information;

when the pulse to be detected is a negative pulse, the first characteristic width is the duration length between the recorded first downward crossing time information and the recorded first upward crossing time information; by analogy, the mth feature width is the duration length between the recorded mth downward-crossing time information and the mth upward-crossing time information;

wherein m is more than or equal to 1 and less than or equal to a, and a is the number of continuous pulses sent by the pulse signal to be measured in the measuring time range.

Example 2

For the synchronous time relationship measurement of a plurality of pulse signals, as shown in fig. 3, the jump point refers to a specific voltage point representing the arrival of the pulse signal, and the main task of the measurement is to record the time and duration of the arrival of the plurality of pulse signals (at least 2 pulse signals) at the jump point.

As shown in fig. 4, the high time precision measurement system for pulse signal synchronization time of the present invention mainly includes: the device comprises a threshold voltage configuration circuit, a threshold voltage generation circuit, a voltage comparator, a time-to-digital conversion circuit, a time register, a range setting unit, a reading circuit and the like, wherein in the figure, Pulse1, Pulse2 and Pulse3 are 3 Pulse signals to be detected, and the threshold voltage configuration circuit, the range setting unit, a time-to-digital converter TDC, the time register and the reading circuit are realized in an FPGA;

the threshold voltage configuration circuit is used for receiving external settings and configuring the threshold voltage generation circuit;

the threshold voltage generation circuit is used for generating 3 threshold voltages V representing the trip points of the 3 pulse signals_TH1、V_TH2、V_TH3(ii) a The 3 threshold voltages respectively correspond to the 3 measurement channels; the 3 threshold voltages are respectively connected with the input ends of the 3 voltage comparators;

the 3 voltage comparators respectively carry out rapid comparison on the input 3 pulse signals to be detected and the 3 threshold voltages, and when the input pulse exceeds the threshold voltage, the voltage comparators generate a rapid jump signal;

the TDC channels of the 3 time-to-digital conversion circuits are respectively TDC₁、TDC₂、TDC₃Converting the arrival time of the corresponding input fast jump signal into time information of digital quantity, and recording the corresponding jump type;

the 3 time registers are used for storing the time information and the jump type of the fast jump signals recorded by the 3 TDC channels;

the range setting unit is used for setting the duration time length (measurement time range) of single measurement, starting timing at the arrival moment of the external trigger input signal, generating a measurement termination signal when the measurement time reaches the measurement time range, and respectively sending the measurement termination signal to each TDC channel;

the 3 input ends of the reading circuit are respectively connected with the corresponding time registers and are used for reading the time information (the arrival time of the jump point) and the jump type recorded by the 3 time registers and calculating the duration time length (the width of the jump point) of the 3 threshold voltages.

In the embodiment of the invention, the high-time precision measurement is carried out on the synchronous time of 3 pulse signals to be measured, the 3 pulse signals to be measured are all single pulse signals, and the measurement steps are as follows:

1) respectively selecting threshold voltage V representing the jumping point of 3 pulse signals to be measured_TH1，V_TH1，V_TH2(ii) a According to the time span of the measurement task, selecting a proper measurement time range, which can be in a given time rangeHigh-precision measurement of pulse signal synchronization time is carried out in the enclosure;

2) writing the selected trip point threshold voltage information into a threshold voltage generating circuit through a threshold voltage configuration circuit; the measuring time range information is written into the range setting unit;

3) the threshold voltage generating circuit generates a threshold voltage and outputs the threshold voltage to a comparison input end of the voltage comparator; when the voltage of the input pulse signal rises to be more than a threshold voltage (positive pulse) or falls to be less than the threshold voltage (negative pulse), the voltage comparator generates a fast jump (rising edge or falling edge) signal; the voltage comparator generates a fast jump (rising edge or falling edge) signal with a determined input-to-output delay, and the time jitter of the output signal is less than the measurement time precision; wherein the hopping type includes an up-pass and a down-pass; defining that the voltage of the pulse signal to be detected is over when the voltage of the pulse signal to be detected is increased to be larger than the threshold voltage, and the voltage of the pulse signal to be detected is over when the voltage of the pulse signal to be detected is reduced to be smaller than the threshold voltage;

4) before starting measurement, the states of a time register and a time digital converter TDC of a system are cleared, and meanwhile, a time range timer of a range setting unit is cleared to wait for triggering an input signal; the TDC of each channel takes trigger input as the reference of starting time; the TDC of each channel can perform time-to-digital conversion with the accuracy of picosecond magnitude;

5) setting the arrival time of the trigger signal as T₀At this time, the timing function of TDC is started, and the TDC of each channel is set to be T₀The time is used as the reference of the starting time; meanwhile, the range setting unit starts time range timing and waits for the arrival of the moment when the pulse signal crosses the threshold voltage;

6) the pulse signal 1 to be measured firstly crosses the threshold voltage V_TH1The voltage comparator outputs a fast jump signal to the TDC₁Through TDC₁The arrival time T of the fast jump signal_1-1Recording, and outputting the time information and the jump type to a time register for storage;

7) the pulse signal 1 to be measured crosses the threshold voltage V again_TH1The voltage comparator will output a signalThe first time the threshold voltage is crossed, the reverse jump signal passes through the TDC₁The arrival time T of the jump signal_1-2Recording again, and outputting the time information and the jump type to the time register again for storage;

8) repeating the steps 6) to 7), wherein for each pulse signal i to be measured, the corresponding threshold voltage is V_THiThrough TDC_iRecording the crossing of the threshold voltage V of the pulse signal i to be measured each time_THiGenerating a fast jump signal arrival time T_i-1、T_i-2… …, and outputting the time information and the jump type to a time register for storage until the timer reaches a set range of measurement range, i is 1, 2, or 3 in this embodiment;

9) and when the time measurement timer reaches a set measurement time range, stopping the timing function of all the TDCs, reading the arrival time and the jump type of the jump signal recorded by each threshold voltage channel through a reading circuit, and calculating the duration time length of each threshold voltage to finish the high-precision measurement of the arrival time and the width of the jump point of each pulse signal to be measured.

Defining the number of continuous pulses emitted by a pulse signal i to be measured in a measurement time range as a_iFor the pulse signal i to be measured, according to the arrival time T of the fast jump signal_i-1、T_i-2… …, and the recorded jump type, calculating the threshold voltage V of its trip point_THiDuration length (takeoff width):

when the pulse to be detected is a positive pulse, the width of the first jump point is the duration length between the recorded first upward crossing time information and the recorded first downward crossing time information; and in analogy, the width of the s-th jump point is the duration length between the recorded time information of the s-th upward crossing and the recorded time information of the s-th downward crossing, wherein s is more than or equal to 1 and less than or equal to a_i；

When the pulse to be detected is a negative pulse, the width of the first jump point is the duration length between the recorded first downward crossing time information and the recorded first upward crossing time information; and so on, the s-th jumping point width is the duration length between the recorded s-th downward-crossing time information and the s-th upward-crossing time information.

The method can carry out high-precision measurement of the pulse signal within a given time range or carry out high-precision measurement of the pulse signal synchronization time within a given time range; the time that the pulse signal to be measured crosses the same threshold voltage for multiple times can be measured with high time precision, and the time that the pulse signal to be measured rapidly crosses multiple threshold voltages in a very short time can also be measured with high time precision.

The above description is only for the purpose of describing the preferred embodiments of the present invention and is not intended to limit the technical solutions of the present invention, and any known modifications made by those skilled in the art based on the main technical concepts of the present invention are within the technical scope of the present invention.