2013 Third International Conference on Instrumentation, Measurement, Computer, Communication and Control

High Accuracy Time of Flight Measurement for

Ultrasonic Anemometer Applications
Han Dong, Yao Jun
Department of Optical Engineering, Zhejiang University

Abstract—Ultrasonic anemometer system based on new digital III. STRUCTURE OF ANEMOMETER
signal processing technique is described. The anemometer system
As introduced, a two dimensional anemometer is constructed
consists of two pairs of ultrasonic transducers placed vertically for
vector result. In one pair of transducers, short train of waves is by an array of four ultrasonic sensors on measuring plane,
transmitted from one transducer to another. The amplitude of the placed each one in a cardinal point [3]. To focus on discussing
received waveform is an envelope which starts from zero reaches time of flight measurement, Fig.1 illustrate ultrasonic sensors
to a peak and then dies out, ultrasonic anemometer measurements arrangement on only one direction.
are based on the determination of the time of flight (T.o.F), a
common method used is threshold crossing technique, which
introduces error due to the noise and piezoelectric transducer's
diverse mechanical characteristics. In this paper digital signal
processing and cluster analysis is used to determine the accurate
time delay. Compared to other signal processing technique such as
threshold crossing. Result show the new processing technique is
stable, accurate and capable in practical measurement.

Index Terms—Ultrasonic transducers, Acoustic signal detection,

Time of arrival estimation, Signal Processing, Time of Flight,
Fig. 1: Ultrasonic anemometers structure on one direction

I. INTRODUCTION
Sensors are piezoelectric transducers which can be used as
U LTRASONIC SENSORS are ideal candidates for modern
anemometer applications due to its low cost and simple
construction, they show great accuracy especially at low
either transmitters or receivers. One whole measuring cycle
combines two time of flight measurement. Sensor A sends a
short train of pluses, sensor B captures and the time of flight is
wind speed situation, can operate with very short measurement
denoted by  , next sensor B sends and sensor A captures, the
intervals while still provide inertia free results, and they are
time of flight is denoted by  , they are given by:
robust to be used in variety environments where other sensors
may fail [1]. 
Ultrasonic anemometers mainly operate based on the pulse  =
 (1)
detection technique, which requires a pair of ultrasonic +

transducers: a transmitter and a receiver. When the measuring

operation cycle starts, the transmitter send a short train of waves,  =
 (2)
which will propagated to the receiver through air flow. After  

the receiver capture the wave signal, The time of flight (T.o.F)
of the transmitted signal waveform is determined, the time of
flight is used for wind speed calculation. Where:
C = Sound speed in still air (m/s)
II. MEASUREMENT PRINCIPLE V = Wind velocity (m/s)
L = Propagation path length (m).
The speed of sound propagation in flowing air is composed X = Distance between the sensors (m)
by the velocity of the air-flow in wind direction and the velocity
of sound in still air. Therefore different wind velocities and Write (1) and (2) as below:
directions over a fixed measurement path lead to different
propagation times [2].  
To get the angle information of the wind, usually + = (3)
 
measurements on several vertical direction are carried out and
 
the results are composed into a wind speed vector, the angle of   = (4)
the vector can be calculated with arctangent function.  

978-0-7695-5122-7/13 $26.00 © 2013 IEEE 61

DOI 10.1109/IMCCC.2013.21
Then (3) and (4) are subtracted yielding: is The wind speed of west-east direction, Wind speed (V )
magnitude and direction () is given by vector composition.
  
2 = (5)
  
V = 
+ 
(11)
The wind speed V are derived: 
 = arctan( ) (12)


 
=  (6)
2   

IV. TIME OF FLIGHT DIFFERENCE CALCULATION

Assume V << C, then the  Ĭ  Ĭ  :
The sampling and processing system is based on a HCS12
microcontroller, Fig.3 illustrate the system structure:

 
=  (7)
2  

The  
in equation (7) is the average time of flight in still air:


  = (8)


While sound speed in air show almost linear dependence with

temperature which can be easily compensated [4], the relation
is given by:

 = 331.5 + 0.6 (m/s) (9)

Fig. 3: sampling and processing system diagram
The unit of T in equation (9) is centigrade. Combine equation
First microcontroller set the multiplexer to right state, then
(7), (8) and (9), we can get the final wind speed equation:
pluses are generated by microcontroller, multiplexer send them
to proper amplifier channel before they can send through air
(  )  (331.5 + 0.6)

= (10) flow, After the pluses are captured, the signal is selected by
2 multiplexer and get amplified, finally the microcontroller’s
high speed analog-digital-converter sampling the signal and
Repeat this measurement on vertical direction can give us process the samples.
vector result, two dimensional anemometer’s structure is given Fig.4 show the data sampled by microcontroller, the
by Fig.2: sampling window starts after the first fire pluses are sent with a

Fig. 2: 2D ultrasonic anemometers structure

The wind speed of north-south is denoted by  , While  Fig. 4: data sampled by microcontroller

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constant delay  to skip the unnecessary samples. Note that we Where:
adjust the amplifier circuit characteristic to emphasize positive &[] is the area of n-th forward wave half cycle
half cycle of signal. &" [] is the area of n-th reversed wave half cycle
As discussed before, the difference of two time of flight 7 is the half cycles matching limit
(  ) is the key to solve wind speed, in order to calculate
the difference precisely, a software process is carried out to Calculate #($) for each $ from 0 to 7 , and find m
compare forward and reversed signal samples and find the correspond to the smallest #($), the m is the matched cycles’
precise delay between them, Fig.4 show the software procedure. interval between two waves, the smallest value of #($) is also
The first step is similar to threshold crossing process, a used to verify matching result, if #($)- is larger than a given
threshold is set to eliminate small noises and wipe all the threshold, the matching is failed and the correspond samples are
negative half-cycle: discarded.
After each cycle is matched, Centers of each cycle are
[], [] <  determined by equation (16):
  [] =  (13)
[]  , [] ! 
8*-/9(  [']  ')
" [], " [] <  ($) = (15)
  " [] =  (14) 8*-/9   [']
" []  , " [] ! 

Where: Where:
[] is the n-th sample of forward signal   ['] is the n-th value of wave half cycle
" [] is the n-th sample of reversed signal : is the start number of m-th cycle
 is the threshold value 7 is the end number of m-th cycle
  [] and   " [] are the correspond n-th value after ($) is the precise center of m-th cycle.
threshold processing
n = 0, 1, 2……max sample number Repeat above method on   " [] , Centers of each cycle in
reversed wave " ($) can be determined.
After threshold processing, several waves’ positive cycles The last step of time of flight difference calculation is
average all the cycles’ center difference:
can be isolated from   [] and   " [], positive cycles at the
beginning of two signals are possible not correspond to each
other due to noise [5], Fig.5 show the situation: 8*-/;(" (') ('))
  = (15)
8*-/; '

Where:
7 is the limit of m, the max matched cycles number.

Fig.6 illustrate the whole procedure briefly:

Fig. 5: two wave with beginning half cycles not matched

Before we do further calculations, wave half cycles are

matched by their areas, the matching target function is
represented:
*

#($) = % (&['] &" [' + $])

(15) Fig. 6: calculation workflow
-/4*

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 V. RESULTS AND PERFORMANCE ANALYSIS
A. Test Results
New processing method is proven to be more accurate and
stable, Fig.7 is the test result in comparison to threshold
crossing method.
Fig. 6: experiment results comparing to threshold process (512 samples)
Both results are based on collections of single measured and
no filtered result, all conditions (temperature, circuit SNR and
wind tunnel system) are equal. Actual wind speed are measure
with hot-wire anemometry [6].
Resolution
When calculating the center position of each of the peaks,
weighting algorithm was used. This greatly improve the
resolution.
If we don’t use weighting algorithm, the difference between
TOF is counted using sampling point delay as unit. So we can
easily get an analysis of resolution based on that:
Sampling rate equals 2MSa/s, each sampling point delay
0.5us, if no weighting algorithm, the ideal time resolution of
TOF difference is 0.5us.
From equation (2-3) we can get:
>  (331.5 + 0.6)
2005, pp. 4407-4410
> =
2
Take X = 80mm, T = 20°C, substitution > with 0.5us, we can
get:
> = 0.7588 (m/s)
The ideal resolution is 0.7588 m/s for no weighting algorithm
processing.
Under situation where signal-to-noise ratio is higher than
20dB. Every half cycle of measuring wave contain no less than
20 samples, Weighting algorithm can easily increase time
resolution to higher than 0.05u/s, An ideal resolution of
0.076m/s can be achieved.
B. Accuracy
From equation (6) we can see the sound speed (C) is cancelled
already. Since C is the only factor affected by temperature, now
the result should be immune to temperature changes. But in
practical situation equation (10) would be a much better choice
because  and  are not easily measured precisely,
Received wave gradually increased because the mechanical
characteristics of the piezoelectric material in the sensors. Since
the beginning of received wave crest can’t be decide, by
matching crest by area we can measure TOF difference reliably.
Because C is a temperature sensitive variable, The linear
evaluation algorithm brings error into result.
Thus the accuracy is closely related to the environment
temperature and can’t be cancelled.
Other inaccuracy including machining error, sensor
mechanical characteristic differences, etc.
In experiment condition, after calibration, system’s overall
accuracy can reach a level with error less than ± 2%.
VI. CONCLUSION
Ultrasonic wind anemometer show its unique advantages in
wide range of industrial applications. This article describes the
basic principle of the ultrasonic air flow velocity measurement.
By combine hardware circuit control and improving signal
propagation time measurement method, the stability and
accuracy of the ultrasonic anemometer are improved, The
experimental data also prove new processing method compared
to the traditional threshold crossing method, the accuracy and
stability of single measurement are greatly improved. In lab
condition the resolution of single measurement can reach
0.05m/s with error less than ± 2%, if clustering and filtering are
added, the accuracy can higher.
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