A distance determination system is disclosed. In various embodiments, the system includes a transmitter configured to transmit a first pulse at a first frequency and a second pulse at a second frequency; a receiver configured to receive audio signals; and a processor coupled to the receiver and configured to detect whether an intermodulation product of the first pulse and the second pulse is present and above a threshold amplitude in an audio signal received by the receiver; and determine, based at least in part on whether the intermodulation product of the first pulse and the second pulse is detected to be present and above a threshold amplitude, whether a distance to a surface is greater than a distance corresponding to the first pulse and the second pulse.

Distance-detection system includes a signal-generator configured to provide a drive signal and an ultrasound transducer having at least one ultrasonic element. The ultrasound transducer is configured to transmit a pulse of sound waves and detect reflected sound waves. The distance-detection system also includes a receiver configured to receive a detection signal from the ultrasound transducer. The detection signal includes a reverberation component representing reverberation of the ultrasound transducer and a reflected component representing reflected sound waves from the interface. The receiver is configured to receive a drive-cancellation signal that is inverted with respect to the reverberation component of the detection signal. The receiver is configured to determine a time-of-flight measurement based on the detection signal in which the reverberation component of the detection signal is reduced by the drive-cancellation signal.

A method for operating an ultrasonic sensor is provided, a plurality of measuring cycles being consecutively carried out. In each measuring cycle, an electroacoustic transducer of the ultrasonic sensor is excited to carry out mechanical oscillations with the aid of an excitation pulse, whereby a measuring signal is transmitted by the transducer, an echo signal is received by the transducer, and a piece of object information is ascertained from the echo signal. The frequency profile of the excitation pulse differs in measuring cycles which are carried out chronologically consecutively, the frequency profile of an excitation pulse being selected in each measuring cycle randomly or according to a predefined sequence from a group of predefined frequency profiles.

A distance determination system is disclosed. In various embodiments, the system includes a transmitter configured to transmit a first pulse at a first frequency and a second pulse at a second frequency; a receiver configured to receive audio signals; and a processor coupled to the receiver and configured to detect whether an intermodulation product of the first pulse and the second pulse is present and above a threshold amplitude in an audio signal received by the receiver; and determine, based at least in part on whether the intermodulation product of the first pulse and the second pulse is detected to be present and above a threshold amplitude, whether a distance to a surface is greater than a distance corresponding to the first pulse and the second pulse.

A method for providing an estimate of a time-of-flight between an ultrasonic signal emitted by a device and an ultrasonic echo signal returned by a target object hit by the ultrasonic signal and received at the device. The method includes acquiring the ultrasonic echo signal thereby obtaining an electric echo signal; determining a noise power of the electric echo signal; determining an envelope signal indicative of an envelope of the electric echo signal; determining a portion of the envelope signal based on at least one operative parameter, the at least one operative parameter being determined according to Particle Swarm Optimization; processing the portion of the envelope signal and the noise power of the echo ultrasonic signal according to an Unscented Kalman Filter to obtain an estimate of the envelope signal, wherein the estimate of the envelope signal is a regenerated version of the envelope signal being regenerated from the portion of the envelope signal, the processing being based on at least one Unscented Kalman Filter parameter determined according to the Particle Swarm Optimization, and providing the estimate of the time-of-flight according to the estimate of the envelope signal.

Systems and methods are provided to detect and identify targeted objects buried in the seabed. A targeted area of the seabed may be scanned with a sub-bottom profiler based on predetermined parameters. A localization engine may model the sub-bottom profiler data using a Levenberg-Marquardt non-linear least squares determination. Distance measurements may be extracted based on the modeled data, including a vertical range based on a slant range measured from the sub-bottom profiler to the closest points on the exterior of the targeted objects. The location of the targeted objects may be based on the extracted measurements. In some embodiments, the sub-bottom profiler may be mounted on an unmanned underwater vehicle having thrusters to navigate the vehicle toward the targeted area to excavate and sidescan the targets object.

A distance determination system is disclosed. In various embodiments, the system includes a transmitter configured to transmit a first pulse at a first frequency and a second pulse at a second frequency; a receiver configured to receive audio signals; and a processor coupled to the receiver and configured to detect whether an intermodulation product of the first pulse and the second pulse is present and above a threshold amplitude in an audio signal received by the receiver; and determine, based at least in part on whether the intermodulation product of the first pulse and the second pulse is detected to be present and above a threshold amplitude, whether a distance to a surface is greater than a distance corresponding to the first pulse and the second pulse.

A detectable range is increased in a radar apparatus that measures a distance from a round-trip time of a sound wave. A transmitting unit transmits a plurality of sound waves including different frequency components in order. A receiving unit receives reflected waves obtained as the plurality of sound waves is reflected. An analyzing unit analyzes a frequency component of each of the reflected waves and identifies, for each reflected wave, the sound wave corresponding to the reflected wave among the plurality of sound waves on the basis of the analysis result. A ranging unit acquires a distance corresponding to a period of time from a transmission time of the sound wave corresponding to the reflected wave to a reception time of the reflected wave.

Assemblies and methods for measuring the nose gap of a centrifugal pump may include using an ultrasonic transducer coupled to a suction liner of the centrifugal pump to measure the nose gap of a slurry pump for pumping a slurry mixture, which can include sand, rock, and other particulates. A signal analyzer may be used to determine the size of the nose gap based on scatterings and reflections of an ultrasonic pulse passing into or through the adjustable liner, through the medium being pumped, and reflected from the impeller. The assemblies and methods may provide an ability to obtain a real-time measurement of the nose gap during operation of the centrifugal pump, which may result in an ability to adjust nose gap to provide more efficient operation of the pump and reduced wear rates.

One example includes an ultrasonic ranging system. The system includes an ultrasonic transducer configured to transmit an ultrasonic signal and to receive reflected ultrasonic signal paths having been reflected from a plurality of target objects during a ranging operation. The system also includes a ranging processor configured to detect a location associated with the plurality of target objects based on monitoring phase information associated with the reflected ultrasonic signal paths.