METHOD FOR DETERMINING AN ARRIVAL TIME OF A DIGITISED SIGNAL PULSE REPRESENTING A PHYSICAL MEASURED VARIABLE, EVALUATION UNIT, DEVICE, EVALUATION SYSTEM AND BEAM DETECTION SYSTEM

The invention relates to a method for determining an arrival time (tm) of a digitised signal pulse (P) representing a physical measured variable, in which the shape of the rising edge (F) of the signal pulse (P) is determined, the shape being selected from the group comprising - an at least substantially linear gradient, - a non-linear gradient without an inflection point (pi) and - an S-shaped non-linear gradient having at least one inflection point (pi). In all three cases, a difference between the time (t1) of the first sampling point (s1) of the signal pulse (P) and the arrival time (tm) of the signal pulse (P) is calculated by means of the equation (I), the arrival time (tm) of the signal pulse (P) being calculated taking the value obtained for Δt into consideration. The invention also relates to an evaluation unit and a device for determining an arrival time of signal pulses representing a physical measured variable, an evaluation system and a beam detection system.