The main issue in pulsed non-coherent laser rangefinder based on linear photodetectors is the time of arrival (delay) estimation of received optical pulses. Estimation accuracy has been a significant research concept from the early days using these detectors. Three dominating factors are timer, jitter and walk errors. Previous works on this issue with separate approachs, try to reduce each error independent from the others, and are mainly focused on averaging and integrated circuit design. In this thesis, using parametric estimation methods, we attempt to estimate time of arrival of the received optical pulses and reduce these three errors simultaneously through pulse repetition technique. In this approach, assuming triangular and exponential waveforms for receiver output, we estimate time of arrival of the incident optical pulses on a linear photodetector surface, and obtain Cramer-Rao lower bound for the error. Another important issue in pulsed direct laser rangefinder is the detection of echo pulses from target. The output signal of photodetectors is random. Existing works are often based on photon counting photodetectors. While in the linear structure, matched filter and pulse integration are used assuming deterministic output signals. In this thesis, we derive the relation between signal and noise, as well as, pdfs for a linear PIN photodiode. Then we obtain optimal statistical detector under Neyman-Pearson criteria. Due to the unknown parameters in the probability density functions, Neyman-Pearson detector cannot be used effectively. Therefore, we had to use a GLR detector and compare its performance with that of Neyman-Pearson. Keywords: 1-Laser rangefinder 2-time of flight 3-linear photodetector 4-GLR detector 5-parametric estimation
