J. Sens. Sens. Syst.

, 4, 9–16, 2015
www.j-sens-sens-syst.net/4/9/2015/
doi:10.5194/jsss-4-9-2015
© Author(s) 2015. CC Attribution 3.0 License.

Piezoelectric transceiver matching for multiple

frequencies
A. Ens and L. M. Reindl
Laboratory for Electrical Instrumentation, University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany
Correspondence to: A. Ens ([email protected])
Received: 11 August 2014 – Revised: 20 November 2014 – Accepted: 5 December 2014 – Published: 12 January 2015

Abstract. Robust data transmission over long ranges with standard ultrasound devices is a challenge. Ultra-
sound indoor positioning systems in particular require long ranges and a robust data communication link. Fun-
damentally, a piezoelectric transducer has a narrow bandwidth for high sound pressure level and efficiency and
is not suitable for broad-band applications. Moreover, ultrasound attenuation in the air increases quadratically
within frequency, and thus ultrasound localization systems are restricted to low frequencies and low bandwidths.
This work presents a novel method to match a piezoelectric transceiver for multiple frequencies by using the
parallel and the series resonance of the transceiver. The aim is to adjust the amplitudes at different frequencies
from different senders to the same level, which is important for orthogonal frequency division multiplex commu-
nication systems. Hence, an analog-to-digital converter (ADC) with low dynamic range (low voltage resolution)
can be used to measure multiple frequencies with the same resolution. As a result, the optimization decreases
the required dynamic range by 6 dB. Consequently, the ADC requires 1 bit fewer to ensure the same resolution
for all carrier frequencies.

1 Introduction data transmission with narrow bandwidth devices. However,

Jakes (1993) showed that multi-carrier data communica-
Ultrasound seems to be a preferable technology for indoor tion provides higher spectral efficiency than CSS modula-
localization. It is low cost, the speed of sound is about six tion. Therefore, we are interested in adapting the system for
decades slower than the speed of light and it is limited to multi-carrier data communication in an orthogonal frequency
closed rooms. Lerch et al. (2008) and Tränkler and Reindl division multiplex (OFDM). Chang (1966) and Weinstein
(2014) presented systems for distance measurements and ob- and Ebert (1971) showed the possibilities and advantages
ject recognition. Hence, high localization accuracy can be of OFDM. Transmission systems require transducers with
achieved with low complexity devices and a low sampling higher bandwidth or the use of multiple transducers with dif-
frequency analog-to-digital converter (ADC) due to the low ferent resonance frequencies. Hosman et al. (2011) showed
velocity of sound propagation. Furthermore, the sound dis- the use of a standard 40 kHz piezoelectric ultrasound trans-
tribution is limited to small areas (e.g., rooms). However, the ducer for data communication in metal within a frequency
expected maximal distance for ultrasound is about 20 m and band of 260 to 330 kHz. Providing such high frequencies to
the bandwidth is small compared to radio frequency-based ultrasound, the signal (200 kHz) will be attenuated by about
systems. 60 dB (about 33 dB for 40 kHz) at a 5 m distance (ISO, 1993).
Piezoelectric transducers have a high quality factor Q However, we use lower frequencies (40 kHz) for our data
and high sound pressure levels (SPL) up to 120 dB (in transmission to reduce the attenuation by air.
0.2 m distance at only Upp = 20 V), whereas the usable band- Oralkan et al. (2002) and Caliano et al. (2010) inves-
width is small and enables only narrow bandwidth appli- tigated the bandwidth of capacitive micro-machined ultra-
cation. Hence, Ens et al. (2013) developed a modulation sonic transducers (CMUT) and showed the broad-band ca-
scheme that is based on frequency shift keying (FSK) and pabilities. They have a wide-band characteristic and can be
chirp spread spectrum (CSS) techniques to achieve robust

Published by Copernicus Publications on behalf of the AMA Association for Sensor Technology.
10 A. Ens and L. M. Reindl: Piezoelectric transceiver matching for multiple frequencies

fabricated with standard silicon technology. Furthermore, Bit b0

Sender
the CMUTs are designed to operate below the resonance MA40S4R wn
frequency of the device. This enables higher bandwidths. cos(2πf0 t) π/4-BPSK PWM PA
CMUTs include a low noise amplifier (LNA) to gain the sig- +
cos(2πf1 t) π/4-BPSK PWM PA
nal. Hence, the device requires no matching and the signal
MA40S4S
can be amplified with an operational amplifier. However, the Bit b1 rRx
noise floor of the CMUT devices is higher than for piezoelec-
tric devices. Furthermore, Anderson et al. (2005) showed that Receiver ej2πf0 t MA40S4R
the CMUTs require high voltages to transmit signals and they
Φf0
have a low efficiency. Bit b0 π/4-BPSK arg ?
Bloomfield et al. (2000) presented ultrasound transducers LNA
ADC
Φf1 + BP
based on polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) with high band- Bit b1 π/4-BPSK arg ?
width and a relativly good acoustic impedance match to wa-
ter. However, they only have an output of about 0.025 Pa V−1 ej2πf1 t
and require a supply voltage of about 200 Vpp to achieve a
SPL of 107 dB; one example is the US40KT-01 transducer Figure 1. Schematic of the transmission system. The data bits (b0
by MSI. and b1 ) are mapped by π/4-BSK, modulated by pulse width modu-
Ealo et al. (2008) showed the use of a microporous lation (PWM) to the analog signal and gained by the power ampli-
polypropylene foam with permanent charge and a broad- fier (PA). The receiver transforms the ultrasound signal into electric
band characteristic as an electromechanical film (EMFi). The values and calculates after the analog-to-digital conversion (ADC)
transducer is customizable and consists of a film glued to a with the folding operation ∗ the phase angle of the signal and the
demapper estimates the data bits.
rigid surface and the connections for an external supply volt-
age. However, there are no commercially available EMFi-
transducers and the high supply voltage makes it unsuitable tric transducer. In addition, the air is assumed to be linear
for low-power application. and the attenuation difference between the neighboring fre-
Manufacturers provide ultrasonic transducer in pairs for quencies is negligible due to the small frequency difference,
sending and receiving the signal. They design the device so the low amplitudes (below 120 dB SPL) and the interest in
that the sender has a series resonance near the same fre- relative amplitudes. Moreover, the additive white Gaussian
quency as the parallel resonance of the receiver. The pre- noise (AWGN) wn adds the noise to the received signal. The
sented work shows how to use both transducers for send- low noise amplifier (LNA) with bandpass filter (BF) gains
ing on two frequencies and only one transducer for receiv- the received signal by a factor of 18. The analog-to-digital
ing the signal. Moreover, it shows an optimization method converter (ADC) generates the digital data from the analog
with a measurement resistor to use for a series and a paral- signal and the folding operation ∗ computes the phase angle
lel resonance circuit for multi-frequency applications. This 8 for both frequencies. At the end, the data are estimated
includes the calculation of the measurement resistor parallel from the demapped symbols.
to the piezoelectric transducer. The transmission system re- The equivalent circuit for the piezoelectric transceiver is
ceives two signals with two different frequencies, which are based on the Butterworth–van Dyke model (Van Dyke, 1928;
also generated with piezoelectric transducers. The aim of the Mason, 1935) see also the IRE standard (IRE, 1957). Fig-
optimization is to match both signals to the same amplitude. ure 2 shows the equivalent circuit of the piezoelectric senders
Hence, a low-cost ADC with lower dynamic range can be and the receiver. Thus, the piezoelectric transducer model in-
used to convert the signals to digital values. cludes a resistor, an inductance and two capacitances. In this
work both transducers are used, the receiver (MA40S4R) and
the sender (MA40S4S), for generating the ultrasound signal.
2 Model However, only one transducer is used to receive the superpo-
sition of the signals from both devices.
The system is designed to transmit data over two separate
channels with different carrier frequencies in OFDM. Fig-
ure 1 shows the schematic diagram of the transmission sys- 2.1 Sender
tem. The data bits (b0 and b1 ) are mapped by π/4-BSK (bi- The sender and receiver have the same equivalent circuit,
nary shift keying; Höher, 2013), and the pulse width modu- for which each has different values. Therefore, the compo-
lation (PWM) generates the analog signal. Additionally, the nents are indexed by kx with k ∈ {1, 2}, whereby k = 1 cor-
power amplifiers (PA) gain the signal before the piezoelectric responds to the sender device and k = 2 to the receiver de-
transducers transform the electric signal to ultrasound signal. vice. The impedance of the sender is derived from the ele-
The composite signal traveling within air medium is trans- ments in series
formed to electric signals at the receiver by the piezoelec-

J. Sens. Sens. Syst., 4, 9–16, 2015 www.j-sens-sens-syst.net/4/9/2015/

A. Ens and L. M. Reindl: Piezoelectric transceiver matching for multiple frequencies 11

A0 A2

L21
UTx ,Rk1 Rk1
L11 GTx (ω, k) = = , (4)
UTx ,Input ZTx ,s
C21
j ωC11 Rk1
= . (5)
C12 C11 C22 Rm
1 + j ωCk1 Rk1 − ω2 Ck1 Lk1
R21
2.2 Receiver
UR11 R11 The measurement resistor Rm is connected in parallel to the
URx

B0 B2
piezoelectric transceiver (MA40S4R). The series and parallel
+
resonance frequencies are independent of the measurement
MA40S4S as sender MA40S4R as receiver resistor. However, the measurement resistor influences the
A1
amplitude of the received signals. Hence, the usable carrier
coupling frequencies should be in the region of the resonance frequen-
L21 cies to receive signals with low loss and high amplitudes. The
series impedance depends on the angular frequency ω = 2πf
and includes the resistor R21 , series inductance L21 and se-
C22 C21 ries capacitance C21 :
1
ZRx ,s (ω) = R21 + + j ωL21 . (6)
j ωC21
UR21 R21
Furthermore, the voltage source in series with the resistor
B1
R21 , the capacitance C21 and the inductance L21 represents
MA40S4R as sender the transformation of the acoustic signal into an electric sig-
nal. The sink for the signal is the parallel impedance which
Figure 2. Equivalent circuit of the piezoelectric ultrasound senders includes the measurement resistor Rm and the parallel capac-
(left) and receiver (right) with measurement resistor Rm . The sender
itance C22 :
(MA40S4S) and receiver (MA40S4R) pair are both used as senders
and only the receiver is used for the reception. The voltage at re- 1 Rm
ZRx ,p (Rm , ω) = = . (7)
sistor R11 and R21 at the senders is directly coupled to the voltage 1
+ j ωC22 1 + j ωC22 Rm
Rm
source at the receiver as the received signal voltage URx .
Moreover, the transfer function from the source of the
piezoelectric generator URx to the measurement resistor is
ZRx ,p (Rm , ω)
1 GRx (Rm , ω) = . (8)
ZTx ,s (ω, k) = Rk1 + + j ωLk1 (1) ZRx ,s (ω) + ZRx ,p (Rm , ω)
j ωCk1
and the parallel capacitance Ck2 to 2.3 Parameter characterization
1 For a numerical simulation of the presented model, the pa-
ZTx ,s · j ωC k2
ZTx (ω, k) = 1
(2) rameters of the piezoelectric transducers are calculated and
ZTx ,s + j ωC k2 characterized. Thus, the impedance of the receiver (Mu-
1 rata MA40S4R) and sender (Murata MA40S4S) devices is
Rk1 + j ωC k1
+ j ωLk1
= Ck2
. (3) measured. Figure 3 shows the measured magnitudes of the
1+ C k1
+ j ωRk1 Ck2 − ω2 Ck2 Lk1 impedances of both devices. The minimum of the magnitude
The transmitted acoustic power of the sender is proportional corresponds to the series resonance and the maximum of the
to the dissipated power of the resistor Rk1 . Moreover, the magnitude corresponds to the parallel resonance. Figure 4
electrical impedance ZTx is the analogy of the mechanical shows the phase angle of the impedance of the piezoelec-
impedance ZTx ,Me = |F | / |v| to model the mechanical be- tric sender and receiver. The phase crosses the abscissa at the
havior with the absolute value of the force |F | and the abso- resonance frequencies. Therefore, the imaginary part at the
lute value of the velocity |v| of the membrane surface (Lerch resonance frequencies is zero.
et al., 2008). Thus, the dissipated power PEl = U ·I in the re- The values of C21 and L21 can be calculated approxi-
sistor Rk1 is equivalent to the mechanical power PMe = F ·v. mately with the series resonance frequency fs of the series
Hence, the transfer function of the energy depends on the resonance circuit (IRE, 1957)
values of the capacitance Ck1 , the inductance Lk1 and the 1
resistor Rk1 : fs = √ (9)
2π L21 C21

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12 A. Ens and L. M. Reindl: Piezoelectric transceiver matching for multiple frequencies

MA40S4R Table 1. Measured and calculated values of the transceiver Murata

Magnitude of the impedance in Ω

MA40S4S
MA40S4S and MA40S4R.
104

Sender MA40S4S, k = 1 Receiver MA40S4R, k = 2

fs 40.8 kHz 38.8 kHz
103
fp 43.5 kHz 41.5 kHz
Rk1 204  240 
Lk1 43.6 mH 45.8 mH
102 Ck1 349 pF 367 pF
30 35 40 45 50
Frequency in kHz Ck2 2.55 nF 2.55 nF
Q 54.8 46.6
Figure 3. Impedance magnitude of the piezoelectric receiver and
sender. The minimum magnitude corresponds to the series reso-
nance and the maximum to the parallel resonance. The series reso-
Table 1 shows the measured and calculated values for the
nance of the sender is near the parallel resonance of the receiver.
receiver and sender transducers.
MA40S4R
80 MA40S4S
3 Simulation
60
Phase angl in degree

40
The aim of the simulation is to find the optimal value of the
20
0
measurement resistor Rm to receive both signals on two car-
-20
rier frequencies (f0 = 38.8 kHz and f1 = 40.8 kHz) with the
-40 same signal strength. The received signal strength for every
-60 frequency depends on the value of the measurement resis-
-80 tor. In detail, a high value of the measurement resistor causes
30 35 40
Frequency in kHz
45 50 high amplitudes for signals received within the parallel res-
onance circuit. Indeed, a low value of the measurement re-
Figure 4. Impedance phase angle of the piezoelectric receiver and sistor damps the parallel resonance circuit and the current
sender. The zero-crossings indicate the resonance frequencies. in the series resonance circuit flows. Furthermore, the sig-
nal strength at the senders differs for the frequencies. Hence,
the value has to be optimized regarding the ratio of the ampli-
and the resonance frequency of the parallel resonance circuit Aω
tudes r = Aω0 . Aω0 and Aω1 are the amplitudes of the signals
1
s  
1 1 C21 at the implemented frequencies, which can be determined
fp = 1+ . (10) with a broad-band microphone. Moreover, the received sig-
2π L21 C21 C22
nal URx consists of the transmitted voltage of both senders:
Furthermore, the value of the parallel capacitance C22 can be
measured at low frequencies (f  fs ) or is given by the man- URx = UR11 + UR21 . (14)
ufacturer (Mason, 1935). The capacitance C22 is specified in
the datasheet as C22 = 2.2 nF. Thus, the series capacitance Hence, the transfer function from the sender to the receiver
can be computed with Eqs. (9) and (10) as is
!
fp2 Gm (Rm , k) = GTx (Rm ) · GRx (k) . (15)
C21 = C22 −1 . (11)
fs2
Therefore, the condition for optimal signal strength, with re-
Furthermore, the value of the inductance with the series res- spect to the used frequencies f0 and f1 , is
onance frequency fs and the capacitance C21 is calculated
with Eq. (11) as Re {Gm (Rm , 1)} · r = Re {Gm (Rm , 2)} . (16)

1 Thus, the optimal resistor follows through minimization:

L21 = . (12)
ωs2 C21
Rm, opt = (17)
The quality factor Q describes the damping of the reso-
arg minRm |Re {Gm (Rm , 1)} · r − Re {Gm (Rm , 2)}| .
nance circuit depending on the capacitance and the resistor
in the series resonance or on the resonance frequency and the Figure 5 shows the numerical simulation results of the re-
3 dB bandwidth (IRE, 1957): ceived voltage at the measurement resistor Rm for both fre-
1 fs quencies (f0 and f1 ) at different values of the measurement
Q= = . (13) resistor. The curve of the voltage at the frequency f1 , which
ωs C21 R21 b

J. Sens. Sens. Syst., 4, 9–16, 2015 www.j-sens-sens-syst.net/4/9/2015/

A. Ens and L. M. Reindl: Piezoelectric transceiver matching for multiple frequencies 13

Rm = 1452 Ω
Rm = 1100 Ω
100
-40 Rm = 1200 Ω
Normalized voltage UN

Normalized Voltage in dBu

Rm = 1300 Ω
Rm ↑
Rm = 1400 Ω
Rm = 1500 Ω
Rm = 1 MΩ

Optimal resistor value Rm = 1452 Ω -50

10−1

-60

Normalized voltage UN for frequency f0 = 38.8 kHz

Normalized voltage UN for frequency f1 = 40.8 kHz
10−2
0 500 1,000 1,500 2,000 2,500 3,000
Measurement resistor Rm in Ω -70
36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44
Frequency in kHz
Figure 5. Graph of the voltages over different measurement resis-
tor Rm values. The curves have different slopes and intersect for a Figure 6. Graph of the simulated frequency response for matched
measurement resistance of Rm ≈ 1452 . (Rm = 1452 ) and unmatched (Rm = 1 × 106 ) piezoelectric re-
ceivers. The amplitude difference between the frequencies f0 and
f1 for the unmatched receiver is about 10 dB.
is near the parallel resonance frequency, has a higher slope
than the voltage of the frequency f0 . Furthermore, the volt- Matched Receiver
age of the frequency f0 (near to the series resonance) satu-
150
Unmatched Receiver

Phase angle in degree

100
rates to 0.9. As a result, the optimal value of the measurement
resistor is Rm ≈ 1452 , the intersection of both curves. 50

Moreover, a simulation of the transfer function for the op- 0

timal measurement resistor value was also performed. Fig- -50

ure 6 shows the simulation results for unmatched (Rm = 1 ×

106 ) and matched (Rm = 1452 ) frequency response of
-100

the piezoelectric transmission system. An unoptimized sys- -150

tem with Rm = 1 M requires a dynamic range 10 dB higher 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44

Frequency in kHz
than an optimized system with Rm = 1.452 k to measure
both signals with same resolution. Therefore, the ADC re- Figure 7. Graph of the simulated phase angle for matched (Rm =
quire 10 dB less dynamic range to measure both signals. Fig- 1452 ) and unmatched (Rm = 1 × 106 ) piezoelectric receivers.
ure 7 shows the phase of the transfer function for the matched The angle at the frequency f0 = 38.8 kHz remains constant and the
and unmatched receiver. The phase angle for f0 = 38.8 kHz angle for the frequency f1 = 40.8 kHz rotates by 30◦ .
remains constant at about 0◦ for both situations. However,
the phase angle for f1 = 40.8 kHz changes from about −50◦
for the unmatched case to −80◦ for the matched receiver. At Figure 8 shows the measured (colored lines with symbols)
the series resonance of f0 = 38.8 kHz the imaginary part of and simulated (black line) magnitude of the frequency re-
the receiver device (MA40S4R) is about zero and the value of sponse for different values of the measurement resistor. The
the resistor R21 is dominant. Hence, the influence of the mea- simulation result, with Rm = 1452 , fits well with the mea-
surement resistor is marginal at the series resonance. Though, sured result for Rm = 1300 . The magnitudes are similar
at the parallel resonance at f1 = 40.8 kHz of the receiver de- for the frequencies f0 = 38.8 kHz and f1 = 40.8 kHz. Thus,
vice (MA40S4R), the imaginary part increases to the maxi- the model is a good approximation of the device. The mea-
mum value and the measurement resistor Rm in parallel be- surement for Rm = 1400  shows a difference of 0.5 dB of
comes dominant. In addition, the measurement resistor Rm the amplitudes between the two frequencies.
influences the phase and the amplitude of the signal at the fre- The difference between the measured magnitudes in
quency f1 = 40.8 kHz. As a result, the reduction of the mea- Fig. 8 for the measurement resistors Rm = 1400  and Rm =
surement resistor Rm also reduces the real part and causes 1300  is marginal. Hence the use of standard resistors with
the phase shift of about 30◦ . tolerances of about 5 % is not critical for the matching.
Figure 9 shows the measured group delay of the signal
from the senders to the receiver. The group delay is the same
4 Measurements for the used frequencies f0 = 38.8 kHz and f1 = 40.8 kHz at
about 1.36 ms. Consequently, both frequencies can be used
The impedance and the transfer function of the system are in OFDM to modulate separate carrier frequencies.
measured to verify the simulation results and the capability
of transmitting data. Therefore, the senders are placed to-
gether to act as a point source in line with the receiver within
a distance of 30 cm.

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14 A. Ens and L. M. Reindl: Piezoelectric transceiver matching for multiple frequencies

Simulation, Rm = 1452 Ω Measurement Resistor Rm = 1 MΩ

Magnitude of the impedance in Ω

Rm = 1100 Ω Rm = 1200 Ω Measurement Resistor Rm = 1.4 kΩ
Rm = 1300 Ω Rm = 1400 Ω
-40 Rm = 1500 Ω Rm = 1 MΩ
Measurement Resistor Rm = 1 kΩ
Normalized Voltage in dBu

10 4

-50

10 3

-60

10 2
-70 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45
36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 Frequency in kHz
Frequency in kHz

Figure 10. Measured magnitude for matched and unmatched piezo-

Figure 8. Measurement and simulation results of the voltage at the
electric devices (MA40S4R) for different measurement resistors.
measurement resistor Rm for different values of the Rm . The simu-
The impedance of the series resonance remains nearly constant for
lation (black line) with Rm = 1454  coincides with the measured
different resistor values. Indeed, the impedance of the parallel reso-
transfer function for the resistor value Rm = 1300 .
nance decreases for lower resistor values.

Measurement Resistor Rm = 1 MΩ
80 Measurement Resistor Rm = 1.4 kΩ
Measurement Resistor Rm = 1 kΩ
60
1,5

Phase angl in degree

Groupdelay in ms

40

20
1
0

-20

0,5 -40

-60

-80
0
30 32 34 36 38 40 42 44 46 48 50
35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45
Frequency in kHz Frequency in kHz

Figure 9. Measured group delay from the senders to the matched Figure 11. Measured phase angle for matched and unmatched
piezoelectric device. The delay is the same at the frequencies f0 = piezoelectric devices (MA40S4R) for different measurement resis-
38.8 kHz and f1 = 40.8 kHz at 1.36 ms. tors. The phase angle for the series resonance remains constant for
different resistor values at about 0◦ . However, the phase angle for
the parallel resonance changes from 60◦ for Rm = 1 M to 14◦ for
The impedance of the receiver is measured to show the Rm = 1 M.
changes by the measurement resistor. Figure 10 shows the
magnitude and Fig. 11 the phase angle of the impedance for
the selected measurement resistor Rm =1 k, Rm =1.4 k at the receiver after the ADC. Before the first symbol there
and Rm = 1 M (black curve). When increasing the mea- is the eigen oscillation of the receiver with the piezoelectric
surement resistor, the phase angle is more flattened. Further- transducer and the bandpass filter. In the first symbol, the
more, the magnitude of the impedance of the parallel reso- difference frequency of 2 kHz can be recognized by the pe-
nance circuit decreases to the value of the measurement re- riodical change of the envelope with the period of 0.5 ms.
sistor. The phase at the series resonance has a higher slope Moreover, the amplitude at 0.8 ms decreases nearly to zero,
than at the parallel resonance. Therefore, the parallel reso- which indicates that the amplitudes of the carrier frequen-
nance can be better adjusted to the used frequency. Hence, cies are similar. At the beginning of the second symbol, the
the low frequency signal f0 has to be near the series reso- phase angles change at both carrier frequencies and the am-
nance frequency, whereas the high frequency signal f1 can plitude decreases. After the first half of the symbol duration
be in the range of about 1 kHz to the parallel resonance fre- the phases angles are stabilized again and the envelope indi-
quency of the piezoelectric transceiver. cates the 2 kHz difference frequency. As a result, the match-
The transmission system in Fig. 1 is matched by the opti- ing provides an optimal signal for data transmission with
mal resistor with 1.4 k. The senders transmit two data bits low complexity and effort. At the end of the transmission
(b0 = 0 and b1 = 1) with the symbol duration of 1 ms and the senders and the receiver swing off, which is indicated as
with the amplitude of 8 Vpp over 1.3 m. Hence, the phase ringing.
shift is shifted for the carrier frequency f0 by π + π/4 ≈ Figure 13 shows the phase angle of the signal over time.
−2.36 and for f1 by π/4 ≈ 0.79. The first symbol is used as The phase angle remains stable after the half of the first
the reference symbol to calculate the phase angle difference symbol. Thus, the phase is normalized to 0◦ at the center
to the second symbol. Figure 12 shows the received voltage of the first symbol. The phase angle varies at the begin-

J. Sens. Sens. Syst., 4, 9–16, 2015 www.j-sens-sens-syst.net/4/9/2015/

A. Ens and L. M. Reindl: Piezoelectric transceiver matching for multiple frequencies 15

Symbol 1 Symbol 2 Ringing with a measurement resistor of Rm = 1300  for a signal

2
Phase Change with two different frequencies (38.8 and 40.8 kHz) shows the
1
same amplitude. Moreover, the signals have the same am-
plitude and the same group delay (1.36 ms) for the matched
Voltage in V

0 transducer. As a result, the optimization reduces the required

dynamic range of the ADC by 6 dB. Hence, the ADC re-
-1 quires 1 bit fewer to ensure the same resolution for both car-
rier frequencies. Furthermore, the measurements validate our
-2 model and the optimization with numerical simulation. Data
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2 1.4 1.6 1,8 2 2.2 2.4 2.6 2.8 3 transmission works over two carrier frequencies with two
Time in ms
senders and one receiver. Consequently, transmission sys-
Figure 12. Measured voltage after the ADC of the receiver over tems based on multiple carrier frequencies may use piezo-
time. The envelope changes with the difference frequency of 2 kHz electric transducers wherein the series resonance frequencies
of the senders. Two symbols are transmitted with the phase change of the senders device lie in the range of the series and the
at the beginning of the second symbol. parallel resonance frequency of the receiver device.

5
Phase of carrier frequency f0
Phase of carrier frequency f1 Symbol 2 Ringing
4 Acknowledgements. This work has been partly supported by the
3 “Spitzencluster MicroTec Suedwest” and German Federal Ministry
Phase Angle in Radiant

Symbol 1 Phase Change

2 of Education and Research (BMBF) with the funding number
1 16SV5988.
0
-1
Edited by: R. Lucklum
-2
Reviewed by: three anonymous referees
-3
-4
-5
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2 1.4 1.6 1.8 2 2.2 2.4 2.6 2.8 3
Time in ms References
Figure 13. Measured phase angle of the received signal over time. Anderson, M., Cho, J. H., Richards, C. D., Bahr, D., and Richards,
The phase angles remain stable in the middle of the symbol. At the R.: A comparison of piezoelectric and electrostatic electrome-
beginning of the second symbol the phases vary due to the phase chanical coupling for ultrasonic transduction and power gener-
shifts. The received phase angles 8f0 ≈ −2.6 and 8f1 ≈ 0.8 in the ation, in: 2005 IEEE Ultrasonics Symposium, Vol. 2, 950–955,
center of the second symbol coincide with the transmitted phase doi:10.1109/ULTSYM.2005.1603008, 2005.
angles π + π/4 ≈ −2.36 for f0 and π/4 ≈ 0.79 for f1 . Bloomfield, P., Lo, W.-J., and Lewin, P.: Experimental study of
the acoustical properties of polymers utilized to construct PVDF
ultrasonic transducers and the acousto-electric properties of
ning of the second symbol and settle down to 8f0 ≈ −2.6 PVDF and P(VDF/TrFE) films, IEEE Transactions on Ultra-
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