Design and evaluation of a fast model-based algorithm for ultrasonic range measurements

Abstract This paper proposes an algorithm for ultrasonic distance measurement applications. In order to estimate the time-of-flight ( ToF ), an analytic process is developed based on the mathematical model of the ultrasonic envelope signal improving some previous methods by extrapolation and characterization of this envelope function using analytical parameters. An architecture based on a digital signal processor has been implemented to excite the ultrasonic transducer with a burst of 40 kHz. The ultrasonic analogical echo is acquired at 500 kHz. The results indicate a significant improvement over other similar strategies, allowing a optimized implementation for applications such as mobile robots.

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