Introduction and Design Concept
Welcome to the homepage of the 2023 ELEN 6350 Ultrasonic proximity sensor, the design uses TSMC 65nm technology. Supervised by Professor Peter Kinget.
Figure 1: Top Level Die Photo
Ultrasonic proximity sensors can be used for real-world applications like parking sensors for the automotive industry, physics education laboratory test equipment, and potential medical applications.
The design of the ultrasonic proximity sensor project is an all-in-one signal process system for the 40KHz ultrasonic sensor receiver end. The concept is to create an accurate, stable, and long-distance (2-meter) measurement-capable system that only requires low voltage (1 volt supply for the chip and 5 volts for the transmitter. The measuring range designed for the project is between 10 centimeters to 2 meters.
Figure 2: Function Diagram
To detect the ultrasonic signal from a long distance, the system is required to get enough gain for the small amplitude (approximately 2 mV for the 2-meter distance), signal filter process to keep the desired 40kHz ultrasonic while avoiding the high-frequency noise. An envelop detector and comparator will provide a low-frequency digital output that will provide a distinguishable receiver signal that can be used to measure the delay between the initial signal and received signal and thus provide a consistent distance measurement standard (from the rising edge of the initial signal to the rising edge of the output one-bit digital signal).