Discussion about Losses Related to Propagation of the Ultrasound Wave and Errors Arising Due to Noise and Clutter

Pt. 1

First we start with considering impedance mismatch between the transducer and the air. Acoustic impedance is
given as

𝑍 = 𝜌𝑣 (Eq. 1)

where ρ is the density and v is the velocity of the wave. So we can reason that since the densities of air and the
transducer are different there will be impedance mismatch. This results in some of the signal being reflected at this
interface.

The intensity of an ultrasound wave decreases according to the inverse square law. Intensity can be thought of as
the loudness of the ultrasound in dB. This also means that the signal level decreases heavily after some distance.

There are a few other mechanisms for loss:-

1) Reflection

When part of the ultrasound wave is reflected as it is incident on some surface (in an indoor setting this could be
a closet, a chair, etc.)

2) Absorption

As the sound propagates through air, the air molecules vibrate. The molecules absorb energy for the travelling
wave to overcome the frictional forces in air. Energy is hence loss through heat

At this point some might point the obvious solution of putting the nodes at a high place to overcome reflection.
Example 1 below is a case where the node is at a high place but still does not overcome reflection. Therefore it
would justifiable to assume that we have to deal with this type of loss.

Example 1

Here the red circle is the target Band.

Here we can see that it some of the
signal will be reflected by the chair.
Also, this situation of the Band being
close to the floor is not as unrealistic
as there might be cases where the
user is a child or the user is an adult
but they were on the floor when the
measurements were being taken.

Another we must consider is additive noise in the environment. The main source of noise would thermal noise.
Thermal noise is usually characterised with a Gaussian probability distribution. This can be seen in fig. 1. This
suggests that there will be a certain noise level accompanying the received signal. To determine whether a signal has
been received an appropriate detection threshold must be implemented at the receiver.
 Figure 1 Gaussian probability distribution

Besides that, there is acoustic interference. Acoustic waves of the similar frequencies may interfere destructively
with our transmitted signal and cause attenuation. This is not limited to random waves that might be present. In an
indoor setting the transmitted ultrasound wave will be reflected from the wall creating multiple signal paths. These
paths may not be out of phase and interfere destructively with the desired line-of-sight signal. These multiple paths
also cause another issue which is present in all positioning systems based on time-of-arrival. Consider Example 2
below. It should be noted that the ultrasound transducers we are using have a beamwidth of 85 w ͦ hich is what is
assumed in the example.
 Example 2

Here we see the multiple paths the ultrasound wave takes to arrive at the Band receiver:-

1) Path 1 – the signal travels in line-of-sight. It is attenuated heavily by the sofa.

2) Path 2 – part of the signal travels to the left cabinet (not attenuated by the sofa) is reflected and
propagates to the band receiver
3) Path 3 – the signal travels to the left cabinet, is reflected then travels through the sofa where it is
attenuated. It then is reflected off the cabinet on the right and arrives at the Band receiver

The signals arrive at the Band receiver in the order- Path 1 then Path 2 then Path 3.

It is clear that Path 1 will give us the most accurate measurement (or calculation, because we measure the
time then calculate the distance from it) of the distance.

It is also reasonable to say that Path 2 would have the highest signal level followed by Path 1 then Path 3.
This is because it does meet any heavily attenuating obstacles.

Now, the first way we combat multipath errors is by limiting how long the Band receiver listens for the
ultrasound signal. A reasonable period would be the time it takes to travel the maximum distance (the
whole length of the room). However, if both Path 2 and Path 3 are within this distance then they will also be
captured. We assume they are, so the collected signal at the band contains signals from Path 1, 2 and 3.

As long as the Path 1 signal is above the detection threshold, our measurement will be accurate enough
since we take time of arrival when the Path 1 signal arrives. The problem arises if Path 1 is attenuated
enough such that it falls below the threshold and Path 2 exceeds it. Clearly the reading taken would lead to
an erroneous calculation of distance.

Therefore, we want to make sure that the line-of-sight signal is detected at the receiver. There are several ways of
doing this:-

1) Increase transmit amplitude

This would cause the wave to have more energy. However, this would require more power
2) Increase pulse width
Increasing pulse width increases the energy of the wave. This will not require as much power as before but
there is still an increase because the transmitter would be transmitting longer.

There is another way of increasing the signal-to-noise (SNR) of the received signal- using a matched filter. A matched
filter is the optimal linear filter for maximising SNR in the face of additive noise. It is done by correlating the received
signal with a template signal. This is the same as convolving the received signal with a conjugated time reversed
version of the template. Pulse compression is an example of matched filtering and is a technique that we will be
using in our system.

Pulse compression can be done by modulating either the frequency or the phase. The linear frequency chirp is an
example of frequency modulated pulse compression and the Barker code is an example of phase modulated pulse
compression. Both these schemes produce a compressed pulse from a long received pulse but more importantly the
compressed pulse has a higher SNR. The compressed pulse will be of higher importance in the obstacle detection
system as this will allow the system to distinguish objects that are close together (more on this in pt. 2)

A more detailed discussion of pulse compression is had in pt. 2.