Applications of Electromagnetic Phenomena in Electrical and Mechanical Systems

The First Japanese-Australian Joint Seminar, 16-17 March 2000, Adelaide, Australia 2000 University of South Australia


Design of two tone ultrasonic distance measurement system


Timothy L.J. Ferris
School of Electrical and Information Engineering, University of South Australia

Jingsyan Torng and Grier C.I. Lin
Centre for Advanced Manufacturing Research, University of South Australia

ABSTRACT: We are developing a two tone ultrasonic length measurement method where we use analog
methods to determine the phase difference between an ultrasonic signal transmitted through air over the
path to be measured and along a cable from the electronic source of the signal to the receiving location.
The distinctive feature of our work is that we digitise the phase difference measure for each of the two
tones separately. This system architecture results in an interesting, and grossly non-Gaussian, error
distribution characteristic for the distance measurement. This paper discusses the error characteristics
arising from our system architecture, and compares them with the error characteristics arising from a
system where the phases differences of both frequencies in a two-tone system are operated upon by
analog methods.


1 INTRODUCTION

We require to measure linear distance of the order
of 1 to 2 metres with an absolute accuracy of
within 50m. This need follows from our
development of a system to use an industrial
robot as a measurement tool. Robots have been
applied in industry for many years, mainly for
materials handling, assembly, pick and place,
welding, spray painting and electronic circuit
board loading. Generally, robots are much more
reliable for repeatability than accuracy.
Repeatability is the tolerance range of a robot
end-effector roaming from one position to
another when repeated many times. Accuracy is
the robot end-effectors position with respect to
the world coordinate. Normally the repeatability
may approach 0.1 mm or 0.2 mm but absolute
accuracy may be between 10 mm and 20 mm
[1,2,3]. The inaccuracy of robots stems from
many mechanical factors. Because the
repeatability of a robot is much better than the
accuracy, robot applications are restricted to
activity requiring low accuracy. For more precise
tasks, such as measurement, a robot is quite
unsatisfactory with respect to accuracy
requirements. The existing mechanical weakness
of robots becomes a barrier for many robot
applications especially in metrology. There are
few articles published about using industrial
robots to inspect automotive parts and apply basic
measurement [4,5,6], but it seemed not to be the
main purpose to use a robot specially for
measurement. Perci-Check [7] is a flexible
measurement system, but it is restricted to a
small- or medium-sized object measurement.

Large object measurements such as large-sized
mould, car body, and ship frames are the most
difficult tasks in metrology because their
dimensions are too great for the size of measuring
instruments. There are some special purpose
large-scale measuring devices available [8], but
the cost is too high for normal use. The accuracy
requirement of a large object compared with
small or normal objects is often quite loose. This
results in the measurement accuracy cited at the
start of the paper.

Robots are much more flexible for metrology
applications than any other measuring
instruments, making robots attractive as the base
of a measurement system. Robot repeatability
normally approaches 0.1 mm, and may satisfy the
measurement situation. A suitable calibration
sensor can be combined with the robot to achieve
a satisfactory system.


2 ULTRASONIC MEASUREMENT OF
DISTANCE

Distance may be measured using one of two
fundamentally different techniques. Either a
ruler of some kind may be compared with the
distance to be measured. Rulers may function
according to the traditional comparison of length
and the scale method, or may involve detection of
a quantity related to length, such a resistance of a
long wire, adjusted in length to match the desired
length.

A second principle relates to propagation of
radiation over the required length. Wave type
radiation of any particular frequency may be
related to distance travelled by one of three
measurable characteristics:
1. Magnitude of the received signal, based on
the attention of radiation as it passes through
matter, and as it is diffused over a wide
surface area by the radiation process. This
method will be difficult to implement for
accurate distance measurement because
radiation intensity depends on direction
relative to the structure of the radiator, and
apparent intensity may be affected by
variations in the medium. Most significantly,
to obtain fine resolution the magnitude
variations sought are extremely subtle, and
difficult to determine.
2. Time of flight. Radiation requires finite time
to travel from a source to receiver through a
medium. The time of flight from source to
receiver may be measured. Direct
measurement of time of flight requires
modulation of the radiated signal, and
consequently transducers with sufficient
bandwidth to suitably transmit the modulated
signal, and a fast enough system to yield
adequate resolution for the application.
Accuracy is further limited by propagation
medium variations at particular times.
3. Phase difference of the length measuring and
reference signal channels. In this case the
reference channel provides a comparison to
obtain a quantity related to time of flight. This
method is limited by only providing
discrimination within a segment of the
measurable space one wavelength long. This
limitation can be overcome by creating a
second signal at a similar, but different
frequency, and using the relationship of phase
differences detected for each frequency to
determine within which segment of one
wavelength long the measure falls.

3 DESIGN EQUATIONS

In our system we have followed approach three,
above, because the speed or sensitivity demands
placed on the electronic system are minimised.
The measurable space is divided into wavelength
long segments, identified using a combination of
the phase differences of signals at two different,
but reasonably close frequencies. In this section a
set of design equations are developed to describe
the behaviour of a system implementing our
architecture, of digitising the phase difference of
the signals at each frequency before
determination of the wavelength segment is
made.

We find the phase difference between the
ultrasonic signal transmitted across and air gap,
the distance to be measured, and a reference
signal transmitted electrically, by cable, from
source to destination. The achievable positional
resolution is:

difference phase of bits on quantisati the is
frequency the is
sound of speed the is
resolution l dimensiona the is
(1)
2 .
p
f
c
r
f
c
r
p

Since the same phase differences appear in each
wavelength segment a single tone system is not
useful, but a two tone system can be developed to
resolve the confusion. Our system uses
frequencies
1
f ,
2
f spaced close relative to their
absolute frequency. Determination of within
which wavelength region the measure falls is
performed by comparison of the phase
differences between the signals transmitted
through air and along a cable linking the source
and receiver systems.
Let
1
,
2
, be the phase differences, and
1
,
2
,
be the wavelengths and
1
n ,
2
n , be the
quantisation levels for
1
f ,
2
f respectively. Then
the length estimate, L , is:


(2) .
2
.
2
2
2
2 1
1
1

,
`

.
|
+

,
`

.
|
+ n n L

In our system two classes of error arise. The first
class is the error in the precise measure estimate
achieved. This results in an error distribution:

2
.
; 2 , 1 ;
2
2
re whe
.
2 2
) (
(3) .
2
1
) (
2
). . (
2
. .
2
1
1
.
.
2
1
2
2
j j
p
b n
n
x
b n
n
j j
x j b
dx e x f
d e f
j

,
`

.
|

,
`

.
|

The error distribution of equation 3 is applied to
errors of determination of wavelength segment by
convolution of equation 3 with the wavelength
segment distribution function, equation 7.
Development of equation 7 depends on the
definitions of figure 1 and the following
equations. Note, in figure 1, if 0
1
n , then for
2 , 1
2
n , the correct values of g and h will be
obtained. But correct values of g and h will also
be obtained if:

. , of shorter the of hs wavelengt in
range t measuremen maximum is
, where
(4) . 2 , 0
1 2 . 2 .
2 . 2 .
2 1
2 1
2 1

D
b a
D g h g h
b n a n
b n a n
q
p
p p
p p
+

'

'

+
+

Z

q has two possible values. This fact restricts D
such that:

(5) 2 .
1
1

p
D

Therefore we obtain a combination of
1
n ,
2
n ,
indicating an offset, t , from the correct value of
1
n following:

(6)
2
1
int

,
`

.
|

q
t

The probability of obtaining a measure offset by
t wavelengths is:

,
`

.
|

+ + +
+ +
+
+

'

< +

,
`

.
|
]
]
]

]
]
]
]
]
]

+
+
+
+
+ +

+
b
a
x
b
a
p i r i
i i
p
i
i i i
i
p
i i
p
p
i
i
p
i
i
b
b
a
a
b
b
a
a
t
dx e x G
r
b b
a b b
a b b
b
b b
a
b
i
a
x G x G
x G x G
x P
r i
r i
i
i
r
r i
i
i
. ) , , (
2
.

if
2
if

2

2
.
2 .
int
(7)
2
.
re whe
) , , ( . ) , , (
) , , ( . ) , , (
2 . .
1
) (
2
1
2
1 1
2
1
1 1
2
2
1
2
2
1
2 2 1 1
2 2 1 1
2 1
3
1
2
1
2 1

One further fundamental design criterion exists.
The choice of frequencies,
1
f ,
2
f , that can be
used is constrained by the number of bits of
quantisation chosen, following:

f f f
f
f
p

1
1 2
re whe
(8) 2

0
0 1 2
Wavelength g
Wavelength h
n
1
n
2

Figure 1. Definition of terms for the relation of
segments in the two wavelength long segments
for the two frequencies used in the system.


4 NUMERICAL MODELLING

Numerical results for equation 7 have been
calculated using an Excel spreadsheet. Figure 2
presents results for 5-bit sampling with a range of
combinations of frequency and with a constant
standard deviation of predigitisation phase
difference signal relative to the quantisation unit.
Figure 3 shows the effect of variation of the
standard deviation of the phase difference signal
for a constant pair of frequencies and 5-bit
sampling. Figure 4 shows the probability of
particular errors of wavelength region
identification for the same cases as in figure 3.
Figure 5 repeats the presentation of figure 2 for 8-
bit sampling.

These figures show that there is a significant
probability of finding no valid combination of
1
n
and
2
n , and that the probability of a correct result
is improved by reduction of the standard
deviation of the phase difference signal. The
figures showing combinations of frequencies at
the same standard deviation also show
considerable sensitivity to small variations of the
frequency combination used. The sensitivity to
the combination of signal frequency results from
the overlap structure of segments, following
figure 1. Thus, if the propagation speed altered,
for example due to change of temperature,
pressure or humidity of the air medium of
transmission, a fixed combination of frequencies
may significantly change its characteristic
performance. Variation of the frequencies in
response to this change of propagation velocity
will overcome the problem. Such variation can be
achieved by appropriate design of the ultrasonic
signal source. .
0
0.1
0.2
0.3
0.4
0.5
0.6
0.7
0.8
0.9
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16
(a) Tone frequencies 42360Hz and 37640Hz.
0
0.1
0.2
0.3
0.4
0.5
0.6
0.7
0.8
0.9
0 2 4 6 8
1
0
1
2
1
4
1
6
(b) Tone frequencies 42500Hz and 37500Hz.
0
0.1
0.2
0.3
0.4
0.5
0.6
0.7
0.8
0.9
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16
(c) Tone frequencies 42600Hz and 37400Hz.
0
0.1
0.2
0.3
0.4
0.5
0.6
0.7
0.8
0.9
0 2 4 6 8
1
0
1
2
1
4
1
6
(d) Tone frequencies 42800Hz and 37200Hz.

Figure 2. Plots showing maximum (top line) and minimum (middle line) probability of correct
wavelength segment identification, and the probability of not obtaining any valid measure (bottom line)
for 5 bit sampling and various combinations of tone frequencies, with analog standard deviation of 0.5
quantisation segments.


0
0.1
0.2
0.3
0.4
0.5
0.6
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16
(a) Standard deviation 1.0 segments.
0
0.1
0.2
0.3
0.4
0.5
0.6
0.7
0.8
0.9
0 2 4 6 8
1
0
1
2
1
4
1
6
(b) Standard deviation 0.5 segments.
0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
1
1.2
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16
(c) Standard deviation 0.3 segments.
(d) Standard deviation 0.1 segments.

Figure 3. Plots showing maximum (top line) and minimum (middle line) probability of correct
wavelength segment identification, and the probability of not obtaining any valid measure (bottom line)
for 5 bit sampling and various standard deviations of analog quantisation segments, for tone frequencies
42400Hz and 37600Hz.

5 ANALOG PROCESSING OF PHASE
DIFFERENCE

The system that we have designed involves
digitisation of the phase differences of the
reference and measuring signals prior to
processing. An alternative method of processing
the two tone information is to find the difference
of the phase shifts between the two tones using
analog methods. This approach is taken in the
work referred to by Huang et al [9], with respect
to two tone systems, and by Huang et al in a
multiple frequency system. In the case of analog
determination of the difference of phase
differences an alternative error analysis must be
developed, as follows.

In an analog analysis of phases difference system
the analog error of phase different between the
measuring and reference signals for each tone is
given by:

(9)
2
1
) (
2
1

,
`

.
|

j
j j
e f
j
j

The difference of phase differences, which
determines the wavelength segment is found
using:

(10)
: 2
:
2 1 2 1
2 1 2 1

'

< +
>

And the measured length, L , can be determined
directly from the difference of phase differences:

(11) , : .
2
1 2 1
f f f f f
f
c
L >

The error distribution, ) ( x f , of a quantity that is
the sum of two other quantities that have error
distributions, ) (
1
x f , ) (
2
x f can be shown to be
the convolution, equation 12:
0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
1
1.2
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16

(a) Standard deviation 1.0 segments.
(b) Standard deviation 0.5 segments.
(c) Standard deviation 0.3 segments.
(d) Standard deviation 0.1 segments.

Figure 4. Plots showing the probability of particular errors in the wavelength region concluded from the
data. The probability of the correct wavelength long segment is not plotted; only the segments implying a
length measure longer or shorter than correct are shown. The cases shown are the same as those in figure
3, i.e. for 5 bit sampling and various standard deviations of analog quantisation segments, for tone
frequencies 42400Hz and 37600Hz.

(12) ) ( ) ( ) (
2 1
x f x f x f

Thus the error distribution for the difference of
phase differences is:

( )
(13)
2
1

2
1
2
1
) (
2
2 1
2 1
2
2
2 2
2
1
1 1
2 1
2 1

,
`

.
|
+

,
`

.
|

,
`

.
|

]
]
]
]

]
]
]
]

e
e e x f

And consequently the error in the measure of
length is:

( )
(14) .
2
1
) (
2
2 1
2 1
2 1
f
c
e x f
L

,
`

.
|
+

We note that this error distribution is constant, in
particular, not being dependant on the length to
be measured, as is the case in our system
involving digitisation of the phase differences
prior to determination of the wavelength segment
of length of the measurand.

6 NUMERICAL MODELLING OF
ANALOG PROCESSING

A numerical model of the errors described by
equation 14 has been performed to produce charts
that can be compared with the charts developed
for describing the errors in our system. The chart
is figure6.

7 COMPARISON OF RESULTS

Results for error distributions obtained for the
case of analog analysis of phase differences are as
expected, and follow the traditional Gaussian
curves. This is because the processes leading to
the error are influenced by random events, hence
the Gaussian curve, and every event contributes
0.00E+00
5.00E-02
1.00E-01
1.50E-01
2.00E-01
-3
0
3
0 2 4 6 8
1
0
1
2
1
4
1
6
0
0.0001
0.0002
0.0003
-3
-1
1
3
0 2 4 6 8
1
0
1
2
1
4
1
6
0
5E-301
1E-300
-3
-1
1
3
0 2 4 6 8
1
0
1
2
1
4
1
6
0.00E+00
1.00E-02
2.00E-02
3.00E-02
-3
-1
1
3
0 2 4 6 8
1
0
1
2
1
4
1
6

0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
1
0 9
1
8
2
7
3
6
4
5
5
4
6
3
7
2
8
1
9
0
9
9
1
0
8
1
1
7
1
2
6
(a) Tone frequencies 40320Hz and 39680Hz.
0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
1
0 9
1
8
2
7
3
6
4
5
5
4
6
3
7
2
8
1
9
0
9
9
1
0
8
1
1
7
1
2
6
(b) Tone frequencies 40330Hz and 39670Hz.
0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
1
0 9
1
8
2
7
3
6
4
5
5
4
6
3
7
2
8
1
9
0
9
9
1
0
8
1
1
7
1
2
6
(c) Tone frequencies 40335Hz and 39665Hz.
0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
1
0 9
1
8
2
7
3
6
4
5
5
4
6
3
7
2
8
1
9
0
9
9
1
0
8
1
1
7
1
2
6
(d) Tone frequencies 40350Hz and 39650Hz.
0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
1
0 9
1
8
2
7
3
6
4
5
5
4
6
3
7
2
8
1
9
0
9
9
1
0
8
1
1
7
1
2
6
(e) Tone frequencies 40375Hz and 39625Hz.
0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
1
0 9
1
8
2
7
3
6
4
5
5
4
6
3
7
2
8
1
9
0
9
9
1
0
8
1
1
7
1
2
6
(f) Tone frequencies 40400Hz and 39600Hz.

Figure 5. Plots showing maximum (top line) and minimum (middle line) probability of correct
wavelength segment identification, and the probability of not obtaining any valid measure (bottom line)
for 8-bit sampling and various combinations of tone frequencies, with analog standard deviation of 0.5
quantisation segments.

to results in a purely analog relation. The analog
process results in a small deviation being
operated upon by the same process, and
producing a result differing by a small amount.

In contrast the analysis of the digitised case has
two effects contributing to the error distribution.
The first effect is random events affecting the
magnitude of the phase difference signal, just as
in the analog processing case. The second is a
result of the quantisation of digitisation. The
effect of quantisation results in the numerical
representation of phase difference being either
one or another value, following equation 6. This
may have a considerable effect on the wavelength
long segment to which the measurand is
concluded to belong. The probability of error of
whole wavelength amounts is shown in figure 4,
and may be significant. It is also possible that for
certain geometry only one value of
1
n ,
2
n
involves overlap, with the result that equation 4
results in only one result. Consequently, it is
possible for no valid result to be obtained at
certain points along the measurand space if
particular error conditions arise.

Figures 2 and 5 clearly show that the quality of
the measurement result, particularly with respect
to the minimum probability of obtaining the
correct measure and the probability of no valid
result is very sensitive to the precise combination
of frequencies chosen. The interaction of
measurement quality and the tones selected
results because of the geometric relation of the
quantisation segments related to each tone. This
is a consequence of quantisation that does not
affect the analog processing case.


0
0.1
0.2
0.3
0.4
0.5
-
0
.
0
0
0
4
6
9
-
0
.
0
0
0
2
7
3
-
0
.
0
0
0
0
7
8
0
.
0
0
0
1
1
7
0
.
0
0
0
3
1
3
0
.
0
0
0
5
0
8
(a) Phase difference standard
deviation of 0.00245 radians.
0
0.1
0.2
0.3
0.4
-
0
.
0
0
0
4
6
9
-
0
.
0
0
0
3
1
3
-
0
.
0
0
0
1
5
6
0
.
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
.
0
0
0
1
5
6
0
.
0
0
0
3
1
3
0
.
0
0
0
4
6
9
(b) Phase difference standard
deviation of 0.01227 radians.

0
0.02
0.04
0.06
0.08
0.1
0.12
-
0
.
0
0
0
4
6
9
-
0
.
0
0
0
2
7
3
-
0
.
0
0
0
0
7
8
0
.
0
0
0
1
1
7
0
.
0
0
0
3
1
3
0
.
0
0
0
5
0
8
(c) Phase difference standard
deviation of 0.04909 radians.

Figure 6. Plots showing results of numerical analysis of errors in the case of analog processing of the
difference of phase differences. Probability density function of particular amounts of error, expressed as a
proportion of a wavelength, are shown for particular standard deviations of phased difference detection.

Once the wavelength segment is selected in the
digitised processing case the accuracy of the final
measure depends only on the Gaussian
distribution of one random variable, not two, as in
the analog processing case. Therefore the
potential precision of the digitised case involves a
spread with half the standard deviation as in the
analog processing case.

8 CONCLUSIONS

To obtain good results with the two tone system
with digitisation it is necessary to adjust the tone
pair so that he geometry of the relation of their
overlap must be optimised. Since temperature and
humidity affect propagation speed it is necessary
to adjust the frequencies of the two tones to
compensate for variations in the wavelength
resulting from temperature and humidity.
Consequently, a system must incorporate
feedback to select the tone frequencies based on
temperature and humidity data. With this
condition, the digital processing is more accurate
than the analog processing method.

The wavelength at 40kHz is of the order of
8.5mm and the absolute accuracy of a robot is of
the order of 10mm, with 0.1mm repeatability.
Therefore it is possible to develop a system where
a calibrated robot can be used to remove the
damaging effect of the wavelength error problem.

9 REFERENCES

1. Rocadas, P.S., McMaster, R.S., A robot cell
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the IEEE International Symposium on
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1999.
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