[en] Ultrasonic range sensors are widely used in robotic applications mainly for obstacle avoidance or environment map generation. They are attractive because of the low cost of the transducers, associated electronics and implementation facilities. On the other hand, they suffer from several limitations inherent to the underlying principle. Most of these systems send a short pulse at an ultrasonic frequency, that reflects on some object in
the environment and then that returns back to the emitter. The propagation time in conjunction with the knowledge of the speed of sound in the air are used to compute the distance between the emitter and the object. The main drawbacks are multipaths, echos, diffraction, etc, resulting in unreliable range measurements.
This paper present a new ultrasonic range sensor using ping-pong strategy, FSK modulation and coded signals to overcome those main limitations.
Research center :
Intelsig
Disciplines :
Electrical & electronics engineering
Author, co-author :
Pierlot, Vincent ; Université de Liège - ULiège > Dép. d'électric., électron. et informat. (Inst.Montefiore) > Dép. d'électric., électron. et informat. (Inst.Montefiore)
Tassin, Pierre
Van Droogenbroeck, Marc ; Université de Liège - ULiège > Dép. d'électric., électron. et informat. (Inst.Montefiore) > Télécommunications
Language :
English
Title :
A new precise ultrasonic range sensor based on the emission of two coded FSK signals combined to a ping-pong strategy
Publication date :
November 2010
Event name :
Conference on Research in Information and communication Technology
Event organizer :
STW Program for Research on Integrated Systems and Circuits
Event place :
Veldhoven, Netherlands
Event date :
from 18-10-2010 to 19-10-2010
Audience :
International
Main work title :
Conference on Research in Information and communication Technology
Pages :
36-39
Commentary :
Ultrasonic range sensors are widely used in robotic applications mainly for obstacle avoidance or environment map generation. They are attractive because of the low cost of transducers, associated electronics and for ease of implementation. However, they have several limitations related to propagation physics. Most of these systems send a short pulse at an ultrasonic frequency; this pulse is reflected on any object in the environment and then returns to the sensor. If one knows the constant speed of sound in the air, the distance between the emitter
and the object is derived from the propagation time. The main drawbacks originate from multiple propagation paths, echoes, diffraction effects, etc, resulting in ambiguous or unreliable range measurements. This paper presents a new ultrasonic range sensor using a ping-pong strategy with a beacon, FSK modulation, and
coded signals to overcome these main limitations.
