• Author Author: Jan Cumps
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TI Ultrasonic Sensor - A Very First Trial of the GUI

Jan Cumps

The  TDC1000-TDC7200EVMTDC1000-TDC7200EVM evaluation module has 4 main parts

The TDC1000 analog front-end and a pre-programmed MSP430 microcontroller on the board, a 1MHz Piezo Ceramic sensor that plugs into the board and a GUI client for on your PC.

 

In this blog I'll briefly check the GUI.

 

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What's in the GUI

 

The TDC1000 ultrasonic analog front-end IC has a plethora of attributes that can be set and read. The settings drive the behavior of the IC, and also provide the readings.

The firmware on the MSP430 drives the communication with both the analog sensor chip and with the GUI (via USB)

 

 

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The GUI has several screens where you can set the parameters for the TDC1000. And it allows you to do one-shot and continuous readings of the sensor values.

As a first trial in this roadtest I've simply tried it out by putting a can with paint on top - without any thought - just because I had it at hand.

The only thing that I want to try out is if the sensor can detect if the canister is present above the sensor or not. That's not really a precision exercise, but it shows that all components are connected, working, and talking to each other.

 


And it works. I've done a graphing exercise, and also checked if the level meter moved when the can is moved off of the sensor.

 

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I've done nothing scientific here. There's no precision to be found in this exercise. It is comforting though that everything runs out of the box, and that I don't have compatibility issues.

That opens the road for the real experiments...

 

 

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TI Ultrasonic Sensor - Set the Parameters for Level Measurement and Content Identification
TI Ultrasonic Sensor - Show 3 Signals on a 2 Channel Oscilloscope (RIGOL DS1052E)
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TI Ultrasonic Sensor - Create a KiCad Part for the Sensor IC with KiPart
TI Ultrasonic Sensor - SPI Traffic Snooping

TI Ultrasonic Sensor - RoadTest Review

  • in reply to tomaja

    I know more now image

     

    You select the speed of sound in TI's Ultrasonic Sensor Design tool:

     

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    I've created a blog about the parameters of the evaluation module:

     

    TI Ultrasonic Sensor - Set the Parameters for Level Measurement and Content Identification

  • I've added a short video with the firmware upgrade procedure.

     

  • in reply to jw0752

    Yes, it's an area where I have no expertise. But it is something that is nice to play with and to learn from.

    It's not very often that you get the chance to experiment with something completely new.

    Finally something that combines analog electronics and physics.

  • This looks like a really interesting board to explore. I'm glad it worked correctly right out of the box. Thank you for the interesting post.

    John

  • in reply to tomaja

    That's the answer I'd like to give.

    In reality, it was a default setting of the GUI. All settings are defaulting to the right ones for the piezo sensor that comes with the kit - and I guess also for water as the fluid under test.