Stable character of the rice statistical distribution: the theory and application in the tasks of the signals' phase shift measuring

The paper concerns the study of the Rice statistical distribution's peculiarities which cause the possibility of its efficient application in solving the tasks of high precision phase measuring in optics. The strict mathematical proof of the Rician distribution's stable character is provided in the example of the differential signal consideration, namely: it has been proved that the sum or the difference of two Rician signals also obey the Rice distribution. Besides, the formulas have been obtained for the parameters of the resulting summand or differential signal's Rice distribution. Based upon the proved stable character of the Rice distribution a new original technique of the high precision measuring of the two quasi-harmonic signals' phase shift has been elaborated in the paper. This technique is grounded in the statistical analysis of the measured sampled data for the amplitudes of the both signals and for the amplitude of the third signal which is equal to the difference of the two signals to be compared in phase. The sought-for phase shift of two quasi-harmonic signals is being calculated from the geometrical considerations as an angle of a triangle which sides are equal to the three indicated signals' amplitude values having been reconstructed against the noise background. Thereby, the proposed technique of measuring the phase shift using the differential signal analysis, is based upon the amplitude measurements only, what significantly decreases the demands to the equipment and simplifies the technique implementation in practice. The paper provides both the strict mathematical substantiation of a new phase shift measuring technique and the results of its numerical testing. The elaborated method of high precision phase measurements may be efficiently applied for solving a wide circle of tasks in various areas of science and technology, in particular — at distance measuring, in communication systems, in navigation, etc.