Ultrasonic ToF sensor operates up to 5 meters

TDK Corp. has announced full-scale production of its InvenSense SmartSonic ICU-20201 ultrasonic time-of-flight (ToF) sensor. The SmartSonic family of ultrasonic ToF sensors integrate a MEMS piezoelectric micromachined ultrasonic transducer (PMUT) with an ultra-low-power system on chip (SoC) in a miniature reflowable package.

Based on ultrasonic pulse-echo measurements, the ICU-20201 MEMS sensor provides millimeter-accurate range measurements to targets at distances up to 5 meters. The full operating range is 20 cm to 5 m with a sample rate of 150 samples per second at 1 meter, and 32 samples per second at 5 meters.

InvenSense SmartSonic ICU-20201 ultrasonic (Source: TDK)

The ICU20201 offers a customizable field of view (FoV) up to 180°. It can operate in any lighting condition, including full sunlight, and can detect objects of any color and optical transparency.

The ICU-20201 MEMS sensor embeds a more powerful on-chip processor with higher computational power. The enhanced processing capabilities allow a wide range of application algorithms to run on-chip, offloading the system MCU, said TDK. It claims 10× faster DSP with a HW multiplier for higher calculation power, 3× larger code memory and 2× larger data memory compared with the previous generation.

The second-generation sensor offers the sensitivity required for accurate obstacle avoidance or proximity/presence sensing, used in robotics and drones, or mobile and computing devices as examples. It also can be used in applications like shelf inventory monitoring or level sensing, such as in smart homes or smart buildings.

The ICU-20201, house in a 3.5 × 3.5 × 1.26 mm, 8-pin LGA package, is available from multiple distributors worldwide. To request a sample or for more information, visit https://invensense.tdk.com/smartsonic.