2013 American Control Conference (ACC)

Washington, DC, USA, June 17-19, 2013

Developing LIDAR Pulse Code Detection System

Using PRF
M. Sarmad Mir1 , Jehan Zeb Shah2 , Abdul Majid3
Pakistan Institute of Engineering and Applied Sciences Islamabad, Pakistan
sarmad [email protected] , [email protected] , [email protected]

Abstract—Light Detection And Ranging (LIDAR) is a tech- Laser guided projectiles are programmed to respond to
nique to guide projectiles or other vehicles towards the target particular codes of laser pulses for security reasons. Usually
by illuminating it with a laser beam. The laser guided system these codes are in the form of count of the repetition of pulses
uses laser designator to mark the target. The reflected laser
from target is detected by seeker head, which sends signal to per second (PRF). Based on the detection of a true pulse
control system placed on weapon. Controls system then generate code, the tracking electronics are commanded to track the
appropriate signals for fins to guide weapon towards the target. object reflecting the laser energy with the true pulse code.
Weapon seeker heads and Laser designators have pulse coding In the current work a microcontroller is used to primarily
system which enables seekers to avoid deception or jamming and detect the true pulse code and differentiate it from the false
also differentiate between individual laser designators. The pulse
coding is usually based on Pulse Repetition Frequency (PRF). pulse code. False pulse may come from clutters, reflections by
In the proposed model, two microcontroller units (MCU) are trees, buildings etc or by the deceptive pulse code sent by the
used. First MCU generates laser pulses with low PRFs. Second enemy to mislead the missile [7]. The controller also generates
MCU detects the PRF and locks the system at particular PRF. a command sequence for tracking purposes and communicates
It also produces gate signal and anticipation signal. Moreover it with the mission computer to load a negotiated code into
serially communicates with computer to change locked frequency,
give current values of gimbal yaw and pitch angles and angular the projectile. Microcontroller is the major controlling and
velocities and also plot them in real time. System is implemented decision making component. The system is also interfaced
in Proteus Software, tested on hardware and its LabView with PC through serial interface and Labview software to
application is also developed. provide user friendly interface for the user. Fig. 1 shows
Index Terms—Pulse code detection, Laser guided systems, the block diagram for proposed pulse code detection (PCD)
Pulse repetition frequency, PIC microcontroller.
system.
I. I NTRODUCTION
In last two decades a lot of development has been carried out
in laser guided missiles technology. Current advancements in
LIDAR technology ensure warheads to have increasing role
in maintaining military superiority. On humanitarian ground
everyone wants each and every warhead to hit only its specific
target, and not the civilians [1]. It has many applications
including rangefinder, obstacle detection, submarine detection,
seismology, as a missile seeker head etc [2], [3].
Laser guided projectiles (LGP) can be self detonated, in
which only a single aircraft is required. Their range and
maneuverability has also been increased over the years. To
locate their target, laser guided projectiles uses laser pulses
of particular frequency, which produces an echo from the Fig. 1. Block diagram of Pulse Code Detection system
target. During a certain opportunity window the weapon must
be released. After it is launched, projectile uses its onboard The remaining part of the paper is organized as follows: In
instrumentation to detect the echo . The target is acquired when Section (II), Proposed Technique is discussed which includes
projectile locates the echo and then follows the direction from important Material Used and Code Algorithms, in Section (III)
which highest intensity laser echo is received. The projectile there are Simulations and Results, in section (IV) and (V)
has the capability to secure the target even if it is moving. The Labview Application and Hardware Implementation is shown
operation of LIDAR is functionally identical to conventional respectively and finally Conclusion is given in Section (VI).
radar [4]. In pulse code detection many patents are available
that describes the development of PRF detection and lock- II. P ROPOSED T ECHNIQUE
on systems [5], [6]. Most of the systems are developed using Proposed pulse code detection system is discussed in two
discrete/analog components. parts. One includes hardware materials used and other includes

978-1-4799-0178-4/$31.00 ©2013 AACC 307

 Fig. 2. Proposed schematics for laser PCD system

software code algorithms. In proposed system PCD is imple- Hz. It also provides the functionality to change generated
mented in PIC microcontroller along with real time graphical frequency in runtime. When button ’1’ from keyboard is
display of yaw, pitch angles and velocities. Also multiple pressed it generates 19.96 Hz and when button ’2’ is pressed
returns are modeled and anticipation pulse is generated to it generates 19.92 Hz signal. Serial display 2 is used to
increase the efficiency of system and rectify useless returns communicate with second PIC controller. When press ’a’
outside the range of 10 Km. 19.96Hz frequency is locked and when press ’b’ 19.92 Hz
is locked in runtime. It also displays the value of detected
A. Material Used frequency i.e. Detected frequency = 19.92 Hz. Rest of the
Two PIC18f242 microcontrollers are used as shown in Fig communication protocol is summarized in Fig. 3.
2. One is used for generation of specific frequency pulses to
model the laser pulses in simulation environment. Second is
used for detection of pulse repetition frequency (PRF) of input
signal at its interrupt pin produced by first controller. It also
produces 70 µs pulse at pin 15 which is used to predict input
pulses at interrupt pin. Interrupts and timers in microcontroller
are used for production and detection of specific frequency
pulses. 40 MHz crystal is used as PIC18f242 allows up to
10MIPS operation [8]. Because of this limitation smallest
pulse width that PIC18f242 produces is 0.1 µs (100 ns).
Interrupt pin requires the input signal to be high for at least
2 machine cycles to detect the pulse. So at least 0.2 µs pulse
width is required for its detection at interrupt pin [9]. To be
on safe side 0.5 µs (500ns) pulses are used in simulations.
In Fig. 2 LED 3 (Status LED) indicates the status of the
system. It turns ON when the detected frequency is same as the
frequency at which system is locked. If they are not same, then
the status LED turns OFF, and hence differentiates between
true and false PRF. To achieve long unambiguous range low
PRF signals are used [10]. That is why two low PRF signals
19.96 Hz and 19.92 Hz are used for simulation purpose. Serial
display 1 is used to communicate with first PIC controller. It
shows the frequency generated by controller i.e. f = 19.96 Fig. 3. Communication protocol between Computer and controller

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 Oscilloscope is used for measuring the width and frequency If detected PRF is equal to locked PRF it turns status
of specific PRF signals generated at first controller and 70 LED ON otherwise it turns OFF the LED. Analog to digital
µs pulses generated at second controller. Transient analysis conversion (ADC) interrupt is used to convert input analogue
is used to accurately measure the widths and frequencies of voltage to digital voltage and map it to -50o - +50o degree
signal and proper placement of 70 µs anticipation signal. yaw/pitch gimbal angle. Yaw is defined as angle between
weapon’s line of travel and its longitudinal axis. Pitch angle
B. Code Algorithms also called angle of inclination is angle between horizontal
Most of the programming routines are operating in interrupt plane and weapon’s longitudinal axis. ADC interrupt service
mode. Fig. 4 shows code algorithm for PRF generation. This routine also calculates yaw/pitch rates. Yaw rate is speed of
code generates signals with PRF 19.96 Hz and 19.92 Hz and yaw angular rotation and pitch rate is angular speed of pitch
pulse width equals to 500ns at pin 24. By default it generates rotation [11]. Timer1 interrupt is used to generate 70µs pulse
19.96 Hz signal and has an ability to switch between 19.96 with PRF equals to PRF of input signal at interrupt pin. Timer1
and 19.92 Hz in runtime by serially sending character ’1’ or is used with 1:4 prescalar to decrease number of overflows.
’2’ respectively. Serial interrupt is used to display locked PRF, detected PRF,
yaw/pitch angles, yaw/pitch rates and also locked PRF can be
changed using serial commands.

Fig. 4. Flow diagram for PRF generation

Fig. 5 shows the code algorithm for detecting PRF and

processing information coming from different parts of weapon
including gimbal yaw/pitch angles and rates. It also locks the
system at different PRFs. At start system is initialized and Fig. 5. Flow diagram for freq detection and information generation
locks at 19.96 Hz. Then priorities are set with all interrupt at
high priority except for Timer1 interrupt which is low priority
interrupt. Pulses from first controller come at interrupt pin III. S IMULATIONS AND R ESULTS
21. It keeps on measuring the time between two pulses and Proteus virtual system modeling (VSM) is used for simu-
calculates frequency. Timer0 is used to measure time period. lation purpose [12]. Its unique features include availability of
It is used with 1:32 prescalar so that there is no overflow in animated components and microcontroller which helps to test
measuring low PRFs. With 40 MHz crystal, following C code the system virtually before making the final product. Using
statements are used to calculate PRF: Transient analysis tool in Proteus, frequency and width of
timervalue = (TMR0H*256 + TMR0L) ; different waveforms can be analyzed with very high precision
timeperiod=(timervalue/312500) ; and accuracy.
freq=(1/(timeperiod)); First task was to model laser pulses in simulated environ-
where TMR0H is timer0 high byte register and TMR0L is ment. For this purpose PIC microcontroller generates pulses
timer0 low byte register. with 0.5µs pulse width and PRF of 19.96 or 19.92 Hz. Fig. 6

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 Fig. 6. a) 0.5µs pulse b) Pulse with PRF 19.96 c) Original pulse and clutters

Fig. 7. 70µs anticipation signal

Fig. 8. Case (a) Generated PRF = Detected PRF

(a) shows that pulse having 0.5µs width and (b) shows same that it anticipates next 0.5µs pulse at input. Its purpose is to
pulse with repetition frequency of 19.96 Hz. In practical cases trigger the electronic circuitry at its rising edge to make them
there are unwanted reflections from nearby objects including active to detect coming 0.5µs pulse. Also echoes from 10km
buildings, trees etc called clutters. So multiple random pulses range (shown in eq. 1) comes in this 70µs pulse and last pulse
are received at receiver which is modeled in (c) using rand() logic is used to detect the true pulse [14]. Fig. 7 shows this
function available in MPLAB C18 library [13]. 70µs (red) pulse which confines 0.5µs pulses (black) including
original pulse and clutters.
Frequency detection microcontroller produces 70 µs pulses
with frequency equivalent to the frequency of 0.5µs input c∗t 3 ∗ 105 ∗ 70µs
Distance = = (1)
signal at interrupt pin. First two 0.5µs pulses are used to detect 2 2
the frequency of input signal and from third pulse anticipation = 10.5 km
waveform begins. This 70µs pulse is placed in such a way where c = Speed of light in km/s

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 Fig. 9. Virtual terminal output

Now different scenarios arises depending upon value of other development environments is its vast support to access
detected PRF and locked PRF. System can be designed for instrumentation hardware. The Virtual Instrument Software
number of different frequencies but for simulation purposesArchitecture (VISA) serial block which is a standard for
system is designed for two PRFs 19.96 Hz and 19.92 Hz. So configuring and programming is used in block diagram to
four different cases arise. One of the cases is shown in Fig.
establish serial communication [15].
8 in which detected frequency at interrupt pin is 19.96 Hz Fig. 10 shows the front panel for the system. It contains
and system is also locked at 19.96 Hz. As locked PRF equalsboolean buttons to enable serial communication and select
detected PRF so status LED turns ON as shown in Fig. 8. graphs. It also contains write buffer to send serial commands
Similarly in second case if we send ’b’ serially using serial
to microcontroller and read buffer to display data coming from
display 2 the system becomes locked on 19.92 Hz and status microcontroller. Five different real time graphs can be obtained
LED switches OFF. In third case if we send ’2’ serially using
depending upon the serial command given. At start baud rate
serial display 1 window the PRF generated is now 19.92 Hz is set to be 19200 bps and file is set to execution. Now if we
and hence detected PRF and locked PRF both becomes 19.92 write ’y’ in write buffer and enabling serial communication
Hz and status LED switches ON. In the last case if we serially
we get plot of Yaw angle in degrees as shown in Fig. 10.
send ’a’ via serial display 2 window the system is locked at
AN1 is the analogue voltage given from a sine wave source
19.96 Hz. Now detected PRF is 19.92 Hz and locked PRF is with voltage 0-5 V and frequency 1 Hz to model yaw angle
19.96 Hz, as both are different so status LED turns OFF. voltage from angle sensor. This voltage is then mapped to -50o
to +50o . In graph sine wave is exactly tracked moving between
Fig. 9 shows the virtual terminal output with different inputs
from keyboard. When pressed ’a’ it shows value of detected -50o to +50o which ensures proper modeling of gimbal yaw
and lock system to 19.96 Hz. When ’y’ is pressed it shows angle. Similarly when we write ’p’ we get the real time graph
the current value of yaw angle. In actual analogue input comes
of gimbal pitch angle in degrees. AN2 the analogue input
from accelerometer and gyros but for simulation purpose yawgiven from a potentiometer (constant voltage in simulation) to
input is taken as sine wave with amplitude 0-5 Volts and model pitch angle voltage which in actual comes from angle
sensor. This voltage is then mapped to -50o to +50o and we
frequency equals to 1 Hz as shown in Fig. 2 as Analogue input
1 (AN1). Similarly when pressed ’p’ it outputs pitch angle get constant 24.90o angle as shown in ’Pitch waveform’ graph.
and in simulation AN2 is given from potentiometer. AnaloguePlot 3 shows the real time graph of status signal when ’s’ is
inputs are sampled at 75ms sampling rate. This rate can be written in write buffer. When locked PRF equals detected PRF
varied by changing the delay given in ADC interrupt serviceit becomes high; else it remains low. Plot 4 shows Yaw rate
routine. When pressed ’r’ or ’t’ it gives value of yaw or pitch
(deg/sec) when ’r’ is pressed. Yaw rate is calculated using
rate respectively using following relation: equation 2 and displayed in the form of graph in real time.
When ’t’ is written, we get real time graph of Pitch rate
Y aw/P itch(n) − Y aw/P itch(n − 1) (deg/sec) using equation 2. As pitch angle is constant so we
Y aw/P itch rate(n) = get zero pitch rate according to equation 2.
Ts
(2)
where Ts is sampling time and n = 1,2,3.... V. H ARDWARE I MPLEMENTATION
IV. L ABVIEW A PPLICATION Same system is implemented on hardware and serially
Labview is used to serial interface hardware and command connected with Labview. Similar results are obtained as in
computer. By using virtual serial ports it also communicates simulations. Fig. 11 shows the hardware implementation of
with Proteus software. The major advantage of Labview over PCD system.

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 Fig. 10. Labview Front Panel

last pulse (from multiple returns) which is actually the correct

echo coming from the last (true) target on the ground.
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