Source Localization Using Piezoelectric Ultrasonic Transducers

Accurate localization of objects in an area has many important applications such as speaker localization and in self-reconfigurable networks systems. Methods using cross-correlation at audio and ultrasonic frequencies are prone to false or inaccurate results for partial signal or in the presence of reverberation and noise. In this paper we propose two methods for localization of piezoelectric transducers by direction estimation using onset detection. This paper explores the basis of direction estimation and localization, as well as system modelling. The first method is based on a harmonic analysis of the signal. The second method developed uses wavelet filtering and time domain analysis. Experimental results are presented, where it is shown that these techniques allow a very powerful detection algorithm and requires small computation and low cost hardware