Siemens Milltronics Process Instruments, Inc.

Robert Brown

Jean-René Larocque

Daniel George Bartoli

Pulse-echo ranging system are used in level measurement applications for determining the distance to a target object by measuring how long after transmission of a pulse an echo pulse is received. An echo profile () is generated and then processed to determine the temporal position of the echo pulse on a temporal axis. Based on the fact that the peak portion and the trailing edge of the echo profile are susceptible to be affected by the measurement environment and the target object itself, the accuracy in determining the echo arrival time is increased, by the steps of fitting a branch of a parabola () to a selected portion of the leading edge () of the echo profile () and determining the temporal position of the fitted parabola () on the temporal axis.

Method for processing an echo profile and a pulse-echo ranging system

An digital interface and receiver for time-of-flight level measurement and pulse-echo ranging systems. The level measurement device comprises a controller, a transducer, a transmitter stage, an interface, and a digital receive signal processing module. The transmitter is operatively coupled to the transducer and responsive to the controller for emitting energy pulses directed at the surface of a material contained in a vessel. The interface is operatively coupled to the transducer and includes an analog-to-digital converter for digitizing the energy pulses reflected by the surface. The digital receive signal processing module comprises a plurality of program components for processing the digitized echo pulses and determining a level measurement for the material contained in the vessel.

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Peterborough, Canada

Robert Brown