MSP430FR6047: Ultrasonic Sensing Solution

Hi Carlo,

both devices target the market for "transit time flow meters". The principle for measuring the "flight time" of the ultrasound pulse train differs. The TDC1000 is using a kind of stop watch to measure the start of the pulse train on transmit side to the start of the pulse train on receive side; and calculate the difference from upstream to downstream. The 'FR6047 uses a mathematical correlation operation to find the time differenced between upstream and downstream. The raw data for that correlation is the ADC acquisition of the received pulse train. On the 'FR6047 not the beginning but the energetic center of the acquired pulse train is calculated. There are PROs and CONs for both principle. If you can only afford a single transient or a single pulse then the TDC1000 has a big advantage. This is used in magnetostrictive distance measurement devices, or to measure the speed of a bullet. Wherever you can generate a train of pulses  (10-20 pulses) the correlation method is unbeatable. There is another advantage of the 'FR6047. It can easily be integrated onto a microcontroller since the functional ingredients are more common. The stopwatch technology is usually composed of some time controlled structures that don't respond to friendly when some microcontroller modules operate in parallel on the same chip. This is the reason why the stopwatch chips come as separate device.

have a nice day

        Johann