The main advantage of the described Doppler global velocimeter (DGV) systems based on frequency modulation (FM) or frequency shift keying (FSK) is that no reference detector is required. The frequency variation of the laser light during one modulation period additionally allows an on-line calibration of the complete DGV system. Thus, the new method has the potential to reduce the uncertainty of conventional DGV velocity measurements since time resolved velocity field measurements on a spinning disc have shown standard deviations down to 0.02 m/s. On investigating flow fields, velocity components notably less than 0.5 m/s were resolved.