In an embodiment, an acoustic projector includes an acoustic transmit transducer capable of producing a sound pressure radiation in response to a driver signal received from a transmit source, an acoustic receive transducer capable of producing a source level signal in response to receiving at least a portion of the sound pressure radiation, and a controller configured to monitor the source level signal and report the source level signal monitored.

The present invention relates to an electronic device, as well as related method and system. The electronic device including at least one acoustic transducer adapted to transmit and receive acoustic signals in in a known range, wherein the device includes a transmitter unit connected to said at least one transducer for generating an acoustic signal with at least one predetermined characteristic, and a receiving device for receiving a reflected acoustic signal from an object and being connected to an analyzing unit being adapted to calculate the distance to or movement of the reflecting object and the predetermined characteristics of the transmitted signals. The analyzing unit is adapted to, based on the measured distance or movement, adjust the characteristic of the generated acoustic signal.

An illustrative controller embodiment includes: a transmitter that causes reverberation of a piezoelectric transducer; and a linear damping module that measures characteristics of the reverberation and tunes at least one of a shunt resistance and a shunt reactance for the piezoelectric transducer based on said characteristics. An illustrative sensor embodiment includes: a piezoelectric transducer; and a transducer controller coupled to the piezoelectric transducer to transmit pulses and receive echoes for measuring distances. The controller includes a linear damping module with: a shunt resistance; a shunt inductance; and an optional switch that couples the shunt resistance and shunt inductance in parallel to the piezoelectric transducer to damp reverberation of the piezoelectric transducer after said transmit pulses. The controller measures at least one characteristic of said reverberation and responsively tunes the shunt resistance or the shunt inductance.

The invention relates to a method for determining a functional status of an ultrasonic sensor (5a) of an ultrasonic sensor device (5) for a motor vehicle (1), which is designed to emit an ultrasonic signal (8) into an environment (4) of the motor vehicle (1) and/or to receive an echo signal (9) of the ultrasonic signal (8), wherein an electrical test signal (P) is generated, which is applied to the ultrasonic sensor (5a), wherein at least one electrical characteristic parameter (K) of the ultrasonic sensor (5a) affected by the electrical test signal (P) is evaluated and as a function thereof a transfer function (13) of the ultrasonic sensor (5a) is determined, which is compared with a reference transfer function (11) and the functional state of the ultrasonic sensor (5a) is determined depending on the comparison.

An object detection system includes a processing circuit to perform wave transmission processing and determination processing. In the wave transmission processing, an acoustic wave generator is controlled to generate a series of acoustic waves of a time-varying frequency at target sound pressures associated with a frequency and correspond to the respective acoustic waves. In the determination processing, a received-wave signal representing an acoustic wave from a target space received by a wave receiver is acquired and it is determined whether an object is present in the target space based on the received-wave signal. Each of the target sound pressures is set based on the frequency characteristics of sensitivity of the wave receiver to an acoustic wave of a predetermined sound pressure, such that the sensitivity of the wave receiver to an acoustic wave of the target sound pressure is in a predetermined range including a predetermined value.

The present invention concerns a method and apparatus for the modulation of an acoustic field for providing tactile sensations. A method of creating haptic feedback using ultrasound is provided. The method comprises the steps of generating a plurality of ultrasound waves with a common focal point using a phased array of ultrasound transducers, the common focal point being a haptic feedback point, and modulating the generation of the ultrasound waves using a waveform selected to produce little or no audible sound at the haptic feedback point.

An ultrasonic sensor (10), that transmits probe waves which are ultrasonic waves and acquires detection waves including reflected waves which have been reflected from surrounding objects, includes a transmitter/receiver (12) that transmits the probe waves and acquires the detection waves, a detection wave processing section (13) that executes processing for passing a predetermined frequency band which includes the frequency of the probe waves, an amplitude measurement section (14) which measures the amplitude of the detection waves, and a judgement section (17) which judges whether there is adherence of foreign matter on the transmitter/receiver, based on a relationship between a time axis and values of the amplitude of the detection waves during a reverberation interval following the termination of transmitting the probe waves.

Proposed is an ultrasonic sensor system (1) for a motor vehicle (11), comprising an ultrasonic sensor (2) and a test control device (10). The ultrasonic sensor (2) comprises an electroacoustic converter arrangement (7) for generating and detecting ultrasonic waves and an electric test device (8), which is designed to output an electric test signal to the electroacoustic converter arrangement (7) and to detect an electric response signal of the electroacoustic converter arrangement (7) to the electric test signal. The test control device (10) is designed to detect a characteristic variable of the electric response signal at a plurality of measurement points (14, 15) by means of the electric test device (8) by varying a frequency and an amplitude of the electric test signal.

A plurality of control points are defined have a known spatial relationship relative to an array of transducers. An amplitude is assigned to each control point. A matrix is produced containing elements which represent, for each of the control points, the effect that producing a modeled acoustic field having the assigned amplitude with a particular phase at the control point has on the consequential amplitude and phase of the modeled acoustic field at the other control points. Eigenvectors of the matrix are determined, each eigenvector representing a set of phases and relative amplitudes of the modeled acoustic field at the control points. One of the sets is selected and the transducer array is operated to cause one or more of the transducers to output an acoustic wave each having an initial amplitude and phase such that the phases and amplitudes of the resultant acoustic field at the control points correspond to the phases and relative amplitudes of the selected set.

An ultrasonic sensor includes a magnetic substance, a diaphragm, and an electromagnetic transducer. The electromagnetic transducer is disposed opposing the magnetic substance across an outer plate of a vehicle. The diaphragm has the shape of a thin film with a film thickness direction along an axial direction parallel to a directional axis. The diaphragm is able to ultrasonically oscillate by being joined to an outer surface of the outer plate at an outer edge in a radial direction crossing the directional axis. With the outer edge of the diaphragm joined to the outer surface of the outer plate, an internal space that expands and contracts along the axial direction in response to ultrasonic oscillation of the diaphragm is formed between the diaphragm and the outer surface of the outer plate.