References shift measurements using an intensity-modulated light beam, or
AllCLEAR User's Guide, Clear Software, Inc., Brookline, MA, 1990. (3) triangular position measurement using a tilted light beam.
Karnopp, D. C , Margolis, D. L., and Rosenberg, R. C , 1990. Sy.^tem Dynamics:
A Unified Approach, Wiley, New York, Second Edition.
Rosenberg, R. C , and Karnopp, D. C , 1972, " A Definition of the Bond
Graph Language," ASME JOURNAL OF DYNAMIC SYSTEMS, MEASUREMENT, AND
CONTROL, Sept. pp. 179-182.
Rosenberg, R. C., and Karnopp, D. C , 1983, Introduction to Physical System
Dynamics, McGraw-Hill, New York.
Rosenberg, R. C , 1991, The ENPORT Reference Manual, Rosencode Associ-
ates, Inc., Lansing, MI.
Optical Distance Meter Using a
Pulsed Laser Diode and Fast
Avalanche Photo Diodes for
Measurements of Molten Steel Levels
Tsutomu Araki* and Haruhiko Yoshida^
An optical distance meter with a wide dynamic range, is pro-
posed for measuring the level of molten steel in a steel mold.
The meter operates by measuring the flight time of a short
optical pulse that is propagated between the light source and
the target. A pulsed laser diode with a fast rise time is utilized
as a light source, and two avalanche photo-diodes are used as
detectors. The optical distance meter performs at a measure-
ment range and a standard deviation of the measurement error
of I m and 1 mm for the black paper target, respectively. To
test its reliability, the distance meter is used to monitor the
level of molten steel during a continuous casting process. The
results obtained were compared with those obtained using an
eddy current sensor and a y-ray sensor. The measurement
range of the optical method is ten times those attained using
other two sensors. Continuous monitoring of the steel level can
be done from the initiation of the casting process with the
proposed distance meter.
I Introduction
There is a considerable need for the level measurements at
millimetric accuracy, of molten steel during a continuous cast-
ing process (CCP). For this purpose, either the y-ray method
(typical value: measurement range = 1 0 0 mm, accuracy = ± 3
mm, response time = 0.5-1.5 s) or eddy current method (typi-
cal value: range = 1 5 0 mm, accuracy = ±1 mm, response time
= 0.1 s) are usually employed. However, high energy radiation
of the 7-ray is difficult to control, and they are effective only
over a narrow range of measurement distances.
Optical measurement is a possible method of extending the
distance range without introducing additional complexity in the
experimental set-up. Optical distance measurements without a
mirror reflector at the target, can be achieved either by: (1)
measuring the time of flight of a short optical pulse that is
propagated between the light source and the target, (2) phase
' Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Tokushima,
Tokushima 770, Japan.
^ Technical Research Institutes, Hitachi Zosen Corp., Funamachi, Taisho, Osaka
551, Japan.
Contributed by the Dynamic Systems and Control Division of THE AMERICAN
SOCIETY OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERS . Manuscript received by the DSCD March
31, 1995. Associate Technical Editor: C. W. de Silva.
800 / Vol. 118, DECEMBER 1996
Copyright © 1996 by ASME
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The phase method is most suitable when measurement accu-
racy in the range 100 /xm, is desired (Seta and Ohishi, 1985;
Araki et al., 1994). However, this method is ineffective in
situations involving confined space geometries where the probe
beam needs to undergo multiple pass reflections. In such cases,
the use of the triangle method is also equally cumbersome be-
cause of the arrangement needed for both the mirror and the
detector, to extend the range of distances that can be measured.
The pulse method is the most appropriate in the measurement
of molten steel levels in CCP because of the occurrence of
multi-pass reflections. Level measurements can be achieved by
detecting only the leading edge of the reflected pulse. The use
of high-intensity optical pulses also provides good signal-to-
noise ratio in the presence of high background radiation from
the molten steel.
To realize precise measurements in the pulse method, an
intense laser source that can be pulsed periodically and at short
duration, is essential. Among the many pulse sources available,
the laser diode (LD) driven by a repetitive short pulse current
is the most attractive, because of its compactness and low cost.
A pulsed LD-based distance meter (pulse duration = 2 ns, pulse
rise time = 1.5 ns) for use in molten steel level monitoring is
already available in the market (Sert "LADAR"). For highly-
reflecting targets, the achievable distance accuracy is + 3 mm.
Because the level meter employs the sampling method to obtain
the waveform of the reflected light pulse, a long response time
of about 1 sec is required to achieve a 3 mm-accuracy when
the target is weakly-reflecting. When operated at faster response
times (e.g., 0.1 sec) typical in CCP applications, the measure-
ment accuracy of the said optical distance meter, would decrease
from 50 to 100 mm.
The above-mentioned difficulties can be overcome when the
pulsed LD is utilized in combination with fast avalanche photo-
diodes (APD), precision timing electronics, and appropriate
optical design. The construction and evaluation of the new opti-
cal distance meter are described in this report.
II Principle
Short-duration optical pulses are generated from LD, repeti-
tively. The primary optical beam is split into a reference beam
and a sample beam. The reference beam is detected by APD-1
from which the "start" pulse is generated, while the sample
beam is fed to the target. The fraction of the sample beam that
reflected at the target surface, is detected by APD-2, resulting
in the generation of the "stop" pulse. From the time interval /
between the start and stop pulses, the distance L of the target
from the beam splitter can be calculated as:
ctl2 (1)
where c is the light velocity in vacuum. The APD-2 output pulse
is shaped into a rectangular waveform by a timing discriminator.
To achieve a measurement resolution of 1 mm, the time
resolution of greater than 6 ps is required for the timing detec-
tion. Also pulsed light with short rise time is needed. Recently,
LD emissions of 100 ps duration have been reported (Tatum et
al., 1992; Schunke et al., 1993). However, the emitted powers
available from these short LD pulses are not sufficient to be
used practically in optical distance measurements. Therefore,
the rise time of the APD output for practical LD light is much
larger than 6 ps (typically 500 ps when the LD time spread
is taken into account), and the output level changes with the
reflectivity of the target. Slower rise time leads to undesirable
timing shifts that can depend on the peak heights of the analyti-
cal pulses. To minimize such shifts, a constant fraction timing
discriminator (CFTD) and an auto-gain control (AGC) circuit
are employed. The CFTD determines the timing of the pulse
arrival at a certain fractional period between the bottom and
Transactions of the ASME
 I 1 cable length = 30 n
Head
Controller
Fig. 1 Blocl< diagram of tlie optical distance meter where LD = iaser
diode, APD = avaianclie photo-diode, BS = beam splitter, RM = reflec-
tion mirror, CFTD = constant fraction timing discriminator, TAG = time-
to-amplitude converter, AGO = auto gain control, and ADC = 14 bit-
analog to digital converter
peak of the analytical pulse (Araki, 1995). By dynamically
adjusting the APD gain, the AGC ensures that the height of the
analytical pulse remains constant during the duration of the
measurement.
Ill Apparatus
A. Pulse Laser Diode. A commercially-available LD
chip (Hamamatsu Photonics L-4356-01, peak wavelength =
880 nm, spectral width = 4 nm, max. peak power = 20 W)
was driven by a periodic pulse current that is generated by a
cascade connection of avalanche transistors (Zetex ZTX-415).
The LD pulse driver (Araki, 1995) is capable of supplying a
large LD injection current (peak current = 15 A) at a repetition
rate of 10 KHz. Resultant emission peak power is 15 W.
B. Avalanche Photo-Diode. To detect the pulsed LD
emission, a fast APD (Hamamatsu Photonics S-2382) was used
in the reverse bias mode. The observed rise time (10-90% rise
time) and pulse width (full width at half maximum) of the
APD, were 0.6 ns and 3 ns, respectively. A 12 GHz sampling
oscilloscope (Iwatsu SAS-8130A) was employed in the wave-
form monitoring. The impulse response time (10-90% rise
time) of the APD, was calculated at 0.2 ns after correction of
the effect of time spread in the LD emission.
C. Timing Detection Circuit. The time interval between
two CFTD output pulses is given to a time-to-amplitude con-
verter (TAC), to transform the time interval into its equivalent
voltage level. The TAC output is digitized by a 14 bit A/D
converter, and then processed by a computer to determine the
corresponding distance of the target. The measurements were
repeated A^ times and the results averaged in the computer to
increase the accuracy of the measured distance value. In the
present measurement system, the A' value is set between 500
and 5000. The response time T of the distance meter is approxi-
mately;
using a servo circuit with response time of 50 ms. It was ob-
served that the APD rise time increased when the incident light
intensity was below a certain level (Araki, 1995). Unwanted
timing error caused by changes in the APD rise time, cannot
be eliminated even with CFTD and AGC. To correct this type
of timing error, numerical compensation was introduced based
on the relationship between the rise time and analytical light
intensity.
D. Practical Construction. The block diagram of the op-
tical distance meter and the actual apparatus that had been built,
are shown in Figs. 1 and 2, respectively. The pulsed laser beam
is split by a beam splitter (BS, 95 percent transmission and 4
percent reflection) to produce a reference beam and a sample
probe beam. The reference beam is detected by APD-1. The
sample beam is fed to the steel target through a hole using 45
deg-tilt reflection mirror (RM). Because temperature of the
molten steel is over 1500°C, the target surface radiates intense
light in visible and infrared region. At wavelength near 880 nm,
radiation power on the target is ~0.1 W/cm^ • ^m. To eliminate
such the background radiation from the target, an 880 nm-
bandpass filter (bandwidth = 15 nm) and an infrared-cut filter
(thermo-cut filter) are placed in front of the RM. The reflected
beam is detected by APD-2. The molten steel and its surround-
ings radiate strong thermal emission and electromagnetic noise
that can introduce errors in the distance measurements. To re-
duce such errors, the timing detection circuit including APD
controller circuit is separated from its APD sensor head using
a 30 m long optical cable. To minimize both the APD dark
noise and gain fluctuations as well as unwanted timing drifts,
the controller temperature (at 15°C for the APD section, and
40°C for the analog circuit section) was also stabilized using
an electro-thermo device.
IV Performance Evaluation
A. Measurement Range and Accuracy. The reliability
of the optical distance meter was evaluated using white and
Head
Controller

r = NIf (2)
where / i s repetition frequency of the laser ( / = 10 KHz in the
present set-up). The effective response time is between 50 and
500 ms.
The APD gain (G) increases with the bias voltage (G = 100
at 140 V, G = 1000 at 180 V), but its response time remains
unchanged. This characteristic was applied to AGC. To keep
the height of the analytical pulse constant, the APD gain was
adjusted by controlling its bias voltage between 140 and 180 V Fig. 2 The optical distance meter that has been built

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 3000 I I I I I I

2500

E
E
2000

I/) Optical
b

S 300
ra (1)

1000

200
_L_I I I I

500 Time -6s-

500 1000 1500 2000 2500 3000
Fig. 5 Curves describing the molten steel level in continuous casting
Actual Distance (mm) process, that were obtained using the optical distance meter and the y-
ray level meter. The casting started from the level at 200 mm from the
Fig. 3 Results of distance measurements using the white paper as tar- bottom of mold. The curves can depict the following occurrences: (1)
get. The target surface is perpendicular to the laser beam and is dis- start of the casing, (2) transient due to splash of molten steel, and (3)
placed starting from a distance of 500 mm from the sensor head to as application of powder, and (4) start of level control.
far as 3000 mm at 10 mm intervals.

formly displacing the white and black paper targets at 5 mm-

black paper targets, with the repetition time A' for one point
measurement set at N = 2048. Figure 3 shows the relationship
between the actual target distance and the measured distance
when the white paper target was placed from 0.5 m to 3.0 m
from the sensor head. Within this range, the measurement error
was less than 2 mm (standard deviation of the error < 2 mm).
For the black paper target, the maximum distance has decreased
due to reduction in the amount of reflected light intensity.
During a casting process, the major measurement distance
ranges within 1.1 m from the sensor head. A grayish-black
(weakly-reflecting) powder was applied to the molten steel sur-
face to achieve thermal insulation during processing. Therefore,
accuracy was determined from the relation obtained by uni-
^ 6
E
E 4
(A) White Paper
SD=0.953 mm
<u
900 1000 1050
distance within a range from 0.9 m to 1.1 m (see Fig. 4 ) . The
correlation coefficient (X) between the true and the measured
distances, and standard deviation (SD) of the measurement er-
ror are: X = 0.9998 (white paper), 0.9997 (black paper) and
SD = 0.953 mm (white paper), 1.033 mm (black paper). This
indicates that 1 mm-accuracy can be realized in the practical
CCP measurement.
B. Measurement of Molten Steel Levels. The optical
distance meter was used to measure the level of molten steel
contained within a CCP mold (130 X 130 mm in cross-section
and 700 mm in height, see Fig. 1). The sensor head was posi-
tioned 600 mm away from top of the mold. Fifteen samples
were measured in this CCP experiment. For comparison, a y-
ray sensor was also employed together with the optical distance
meter. Figure 5 shows the trace curves obtained by the optical
distance meter and the y-ray sensor. The curves clearly depict
the (1) start of casting, (2) steep peak of the optical measure-
ment, (3) application of the powder on the molten steel surface
for heat insulation and (4) start of the level control in CCP.
The results show that the optical method is capable of tracing
the molten steel level continuously. On the other hand, the y-
ray sensor is ineffective before the steel surface reaches to the
certain level [part (3) in Fig. 5 ] . However, unwanted transient
[part (2) in Fig. 5 ], possibly arising from a change in the target

~i—I—I—I—I—I—I—I—r
590 Eddy Current

-55 580

powder application
-2 -
Optical \
SD=1.033mm 590

-6 o
900 950 1000 1050 1100 580

Actual Distance (mm) I I I I I I I

Fig. 4 Graphs between the measured distance values and the measure-
ment error values. The white and black paper targets were moved at 5
mm-intervals over a total distance of 200 mm. The targets were initially
positioned 900 mm away.
Time 30 s
Fig. 6 Comparison of the molten steel level curves that were obtained
using the optical distance meter and the eddy current-level sensor, r
value of the optical distance meter was set at 0.2 s.

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Fig. 7 Effect of numerical compensation on the measured curves repre-
senting the molten steel level in CCP as measured by the optical distance
meter with T value at 0.1 s: (A) before compensation and (B) after com-
pensation of transient. The curves obtained using the y-ray level meter,
are also shown for comparison. Timing at the powder application is
indicated as *. The optical distance meter detected center of the target
surface, while y-ray detected mean level of the target surface.
distance due to a splash of the molten steel, appears in the
optical method. The rapid increase of the recorded curve [parts
( 3 ) - ( 4 ) in Fig. 5] is caused by the bias of the powder.
Unexpected reflection of the optical beam arising from the
application of the powder also leads to erroneous fluctuations
in the measured level. On the other hand, the level recorded by
the y ray sensor increased gradually between parts (3) and (4)
because the sensor is unaffected by the powder application.
Both the optical method and the y-ray method showed similar
traces of the steel level, after the powder has been applied.
For further evaluation of the proposed method, the eddy cur-
rent sensor was also employed. However, there is appreciable
inconsistency on the recorded curves between these two meth-
ods as shown in Fig. 6. This is because the optical distance meter
detected the powder surface, while the eddy current sensor did
not sense the powder.
C. Response Time. It is necessary to find the appropriate
response time to achieve a reliable monitoring of the steel level
during CCP applications. Among the various r values, T = 0.1
s was found to be the most suitable to apply a high-speed
CCP, although the measurement accuracy slightly decreases
comparing with that at a larger r value. However, this response
is so fast that the time dependent effects arising from the powder
application and the fire-stirring are also detected as a strong
spike noise as shown in Fig. 7. To remove such unwanted
noises, the large and rapid level change that exceeds 10 mm/s
was masked using numerical compensation [Fig. 7 ( B ) ] . How-
ever, the unwanted spike noise was reasonably suppressed with-
out numerical compensation when T value was set at 0.2 s (see
Fig. 6).
V Conclusion
We have developed an optical distance meter that is suitable
for monitoring the level of molten steel during CCP. Because
the achievable measurement range and accuracy were 1000 mm
and 1 mm, respectively, the meter is suitable for use during in-
process CCP. The measurement range of the optical method is
more than ten times those that could be attained using either
the y-ray and eddy current methods, so that continuous monitor-
ing of the steel level can be done from the initiation of the
casting process. This capability can be used to realize automatic
start of casting and can contribute to increase of the casting
quality.
Journal of Dynamic Systems, Measurement, and Control
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Acknowledgments
We are grateful for Pacific Metals Co., LTD during the exper-
iments of CCP. The comments of C. Saloma were also appreci-
ated.
References
Araki, T., Yokoyama, S., and Suzuki, N., 1994, "Simple Optical Di.stance
Meter Using an Intermode-beat Modulation of He-Ne Laser and an Electrical
Heterodyne Technique," Rev. Sci. Imtrum.. Vol. 65, pp. 1883-1888.
Araki, T., 1995, "An Optical Distance Meter Developed Using a Short Pulse
Width Laser Diode and a Fast Avalanche Photo-diode," Rev. Sci. Instrum., Vol.
66, pp. 43-47.
Schunkc, B., Cowers, C, W., Hirsch, K., and Nielsen, P., 1993, "A Laser
Diode as a Light Source for Calibrating the Time Base of a Streak Camera,"
Rev. Sci. Imtrum.. Vol. 64, pp. 3338-3339.
Seta, K., Ohishi, T., and Seino, S., 1985, "Optical Distance Measurement
Using Inter-mode Beat of Laser," Japan. J. Appl. Phys., Vol. 24, pp. 1374-
1.375.
Tatum, J. A., Jennings III, J. W., and MacFarlane, D. L., 1992, "Compact
Inexpensive, Visible Laser Source of High Repetition Rate Picosecond Pulses,"
Rev. Sci. Instrum., Vol. 63, pp. 2950-2953.
Robust Kalman Filter Synthesis for
Uncertain Multiple Time-Delay
Stochastic Systems
Feng-Hsiag Hsiao ^ and Shing-Tai Pan^
The problem of robust Kalman filter synthesis is considered in
this present .study for discrete multiple time-delay stochastic
systems with parametric and noise uncertainties. A discrete
multiple time-delay uncertain .stochastic system can be trans-
formed into another uncertain stochastic system with no delay
by properly defining state variables. Minimax theory and Bell-
man-Gronwall lemma are employed on the basis of the upper
norm-hounds of parametric uncertainties and noise uncertain-
ties. A robust criterion can consequently be derived which guar-
antees the asymptotic stability of the uncertain stochastic .sys-
tem. Designed procedures are finally elaborated upon with an
illustrative example.
1 Introduction
The existence of delay, which is commonly encountered in
various engineering systems, is often a source of instability.
Moreover, multiple delays occur in most physical systems. For
example, systems with computer control have delays, as it takes
time for the computer to execute numerical operations. Besides,
remote working, radar, electric networks, transport process,
metal rolling systems, etc. all have delays. The output in these
systems responds only to an input after some time interval. The
problem of stability analysis of delay systems has consequently
been a main concern of several previously published research
efforts [ 1 - 9 ] . The introduction of time-delay factor generally
complicates the analysis, and convenient methods to test stabil-
ity have long been sought.
' Department of Electrical Engineering, Chang Gung College of Medicine and
Technology, 259, Wen-Hwa 1st Road, Kwei-San, Taoyuan Shian, Taivt'an 333.
^National Chiao Tung University, Department of Control Engineering, 1001,
Ta Hsueh Road, Hsinchu, Taiwan 300.
Contributed by the Dynamic Systems and Control Division of THE AMERICAN
SOCIETY OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERS . Manuscript received by the DSCD Novem-
ber 1993; revised manuscript received February 1995, Associate Technical Editor:
A. Ray.
DECEMBER 1996, Vol. 1 1 8 / 8 0 3