Ideal for ultrasonic flow meters and portable laser rangefinders, its 5x5mm size, QFN 32 package and low power consumption minimize footprint and battery consumption Cincinnati, OH, October 2, 2006 - The new GP2 time-to-digital converter (TDC) integrates a fire-pulse generator, clock calibration unit and temperature measurement unit into a 5x5mm QFN 32 package that provides 50-picosecond resolution rms on two channels. Designed as an engine for ultrasonic flow meters, laser rangefinders, topography scanners, magnetostrictive transducers and other instruments that rely on time-of-flight measurement, the GP2 is one-sixth the size of its predecessor (the GP1) and provides twice the resolution - all at significantly lower cost.
Developed by Acam-Messelectronic GmbH and available in North America exclusively through Transducers Direct, the GP2 draws only a fraction of a micro-amp in quiescent mode, making it ideal for battery-driven binocular range finders, golf rangefinders, and other general-purpose laser measuring devices. The GP2 offers two measurement ranges. Range one provides two channels with 65 picosecond resolution, 2 nanoseconds-1.8 µsec range, and 15-nanosecond pulse-pair resolution with fourfold multi-hit capability. Up to four events can be measured arbitrarily against each other.
In range two the GPS provides one channel with 65-picosecond resolution, a measurement range of 500 nanoseconds to 4 msec and 500-nanosecond pulse-pair resolution with 3-fold multi-hit capability. For temperature measurement, the GP2 handles two or four sensor inputs, and provides resolution of 0.004°C.The integrated fire-pulse generator allows a high level of customization for driving ceramic oscillators in ultrasonic flow meters. The fire-pulse generator has two outputs and is programmable for frequency, phase and number of pulses.
The driver strength of each output is 48mA at 5V, or the two outputs can be paralleled for 96mA. Either output signal can also be inverted to double the signal amplitude.An internal clock calibration feature allows the GP2's high-speed ceramic oscillator to be precisely calibrated against its own highly stable 32.768 kHz clock. This allows compensation for temperature drift in applications with ultrasonic flow meters or heat meters.
