1. Technology Overview Physics And Mathematics Avishai Bartov, VP R&D

2. APM Annual International Partners Conference
Agenda
Introduction video – 3DLevelScanner
Acoustic mapping technology
Inherent tradeoffs in Acoustics
Level measurement – Narrow beam solutions
Surface mapping with a wide angle beam
Gathering multiple echoes from the surface
Calculate distance and direction of arrival
3D Surface reconstruction
Advance Radar Signal Processing
Multi beams, multi frequency, Challenges
Volume accuracy
Self Cleaning
Product Line
Technology summary
R&D Roadmap
May 2011
APM Annual International Partners Conference

3. Inherent Tradeoffs in Acoustics
Beam angle vs. Frequency
θ - Beam opening angle
λ - Wavelength
D - Antenna size D
Low frequency => Wide Beam
May 2011
APM Annual International Partners Conference

4. Beam Angle vs. Frequency
F = 2.5KHz
λ = 13cm
θ = 108⁰
D = 7.5cm
May 2011
APM Annual International Partners Conference

5. Beam Angle vs. Frequency
F = 4.5KHz
λ = 7.5cm
θ = 60⁰
D = 7.5cm
May 2011
APM Annual International Partners Conference

6. Beam Angle vs. Frequency
F = 10KHz
λ = 3.4cm
θ = 27⁰
D = 7.5cm
May 2011
APM Annual International Partners Conference

7. Beam Angle vs. Frequency
F = 20KHz
λ = 1.7cm
θ = 13⁰
D = 7.5cm
Narrow beam requires Ultrasonic Frequency
May 2011
APM Annual International Partners Conference

8. Inherent Tradeoffs in Acoustics
Sound is a pressure wave
Dust particles and humidity in the air attenuate the wave energy
Attenuation grows sharply over 5KHz
Animation courtesy of Dr. Dan Russell, Kettering University
Low freq. => Effective dust penetration
May 2011
APM Annual International Partners Conference

9. Acoustic Wave Attenuation
Very high attenuation at ultrasonic frequencies
May 2011
APM Annual International Partners Conference 9 9

10. Acoustic Wave Attenuation
Effective penetration at lower frequencies
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APM Annual International Partners Conference 10 10

11. Level Measurement With Narrow Beam
Goal: Measure the distance to a single, well defined point on the top surface
Point measurement requires narrow beam
Narrow =>Ultrasonic => poor dust penetration
Distance measurement
Traveling twice the distance
C~340 Meter per Second
Measuring the time of flight
May 2011
APM Annual International Partners Conference

12. Surface Mapping - Wide Angle Beam
Goal: Multipoint (X,Y,Z) measurement of the surface
Large coverage => Transmit a wide angle pulse
Wide beam=>Low freq.=> Effective dust penetration
Multiple reflected echo coming from
Large surfaces and Extremum points
Material / Silo Wall interface
Silo Walls – False echo to be filtered
Separated by Time of Arrival
May 2011
APM Annual International Partners Conference

13. Direction Of Arrival (DOA) - Array Processing
Example: 1D Array processing
Plan wave from angle - θ
Speed of sound - C
Array spacing - d
Time Of Arrival (TOA) is different
Wave Path difference between Mic’s is ΔP=d*Cos θ
Therefore, time of arrival difference: ΔT =ΔP/C= d*Cosθ/C
Path difference => TOA difference => θ
May 2011
APM Annual International Partners Conference

14. Multiple Antennas Enables Mapping
R1,θ1
Multiple antennas device
R2,θ2
Distance and direction
R3,θ3
Single antenna device R1 R3 R2
Distance measurement
May 2011
APM Annual International Partners Conference

15. 3 Dimensional Surface Reconstruction
2 Dimensional Array of 3 Antenna
Distance (R)
Azimuth (Ф) and elevation (Θ) angles
Convert R, Ф, Θ to Silo X,Y,Z coordinates
Optimal 3D surface reconstruction
Extremum and boundary points
Assume maximal material slope
Surface integral is Volume
May 2011
APM Annual International Partners Conference

16. Advance Radar Signal Processing
Range resolution: Key figure - The minimal distance between two echo sources that are still separable
Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR): Required for the detection of small echo.
Long pulse => higher energy => better SNR
It is a challenge to create pulses that excel in both range resolution and SNR.
A very active research topic for military radars
May 2011
APM Annual International Partners Conference

17. Advance Radar Signal Processing (2)
Long pulse (7M ) - modulated sine wave, rectangular envelope
After match filter -Very poor range resolution - limited to 7M!
May 2011
APM Annual International Partners Conference

18. Advance Radar Signal Processing (3)
State of the art - Chen and Cantrell 2002
After match filter - 50cm resolution, 1/13 side lobes
May 2011
APM Annual International Partners Conference

19. Advance Radar Signal Processing (4)
APM Propriety – Patent pending
After detection: Significantly improved resolution, virtually no side lobes!
May 2011
APM Annual International Partners Conference

20. Advance Radar Signal Processing (5)
State of the art
APM
3 targets: The importance of resolution and low side lobs
More points => Better mapping
May 2011
APM Annual International Partners Conference

21. Advance Radar Signal Processing (6)
APM proprietary scheme combines
The resolution in detection of a short pulse
The energy of a long pulse
Using relatively small bandwidth, optimized for the application
Virtually no side lobes
Applicable for the entire scanning range
Maintain constant resolution across the scanning range
The longer the distance – the higher the pulse energy
Very efficient numerical implementation
May 2011
APM Annual International Partners Conference

22. Beam Steering Technology
Beam direction can be tilted by modifying the signal phase in the antennas
Significantly improve false echo separation and the investigation of complex surfaces by
Looking at the same point through several beam tilts to solve symmetry problems (i.e. dual echo at +10 and -10 degrees)
Pointing null to suspicious point to verify null reception
Allowing high SNR at much larger sphere
May 2011
APM Annual International Partners Conference

23. Multi Frequency Technology
Gather information from different perspectives
Beam angle - Interaction with silos wall
Interaction with material, specular vs. scattering reflections
Different multipath trajectories
Different dust penetration capabilities
Improved robustness to acoustic noise sources
May 2011
APM Annual International Partners Conference

24. Directional False Echo Filtering
Automatic mapping of false echo from silo structure
Multipath between the walls and ceiling of the silo and the topography of the material
Filtering analysis based on
Distance and Direction measurement
Information from other frequencies
Information from other beams
Silo geometry
May 2011
APM Annual International Partners Conference

25. APM Annual International Partners Conference
Self Cleaning
Self Cleaning due to acoustic energy vibration
May 2011
APM Annual International Partners Conference

26. APM Annual International Partners Conference
Volume Accuracy
Accuracy is < 3%
Accuracy estimation considerations
Surface topography scenarios - typically, a complex surface yields more points!
Direction of arrival accuracy
Distance measurement accuracy
Silo geometry
Beams coverage – MVL for very large silos
May 2011
APM Annual International Partners Conference

27. APM Annual International Partners Conference
Product Line
3DLevelScanner M/MV
3DLevelScanner M
Wide beam, Mapping capabilities
Min, Max and average level values
3DLevelScanner MV
Surface mapping visualization
3DLevelScanner MVL Series
For large silos and open bins
An integrated solutions of multiple scanner and a dedicated controller
3DMultiVision Software
Multi-site inventory monitoring system
3DLinkPro
Remote communication solution
May 2011
APM Annual International Partners Conference

28. Device types M/MV 3DLevelScanner M
70º opening beam angle - covers wide surface area
Real-time, accurate volume measurement
Suitable for big silos that require high accuracy and inventory control
Provides minimum/maximum and average distance
Provides average volume at mA output.
3D Mapping – detects mapping points of the surface area
Visualization of 3D mapping - disabled
May 2011
APM Annual International Partners Conference

29. Device types M/MV 3DLevelScanner MV
70º opening beam angle - covers wide surface area
Real-time, accurate volume measurement
Suitable for big silos that require high accuracy and inventory control
Provides minimum/maximum and average distance
Provides average volume at mA output
3D Mapping – detects mapping points of the surface area
Visualization of 3D mapping is enabled
May 2011
APM Annual International Partners Conference

30. 3DLevelScanner MVL Series
Multiple scanners
Large Silos, Warehouses, and Open bins
Number of scanners is application dependant
Integrated solution
Scanners synchronization
Merges reading into a unified surface
Min, Max and average level values
Visualization of the Measured Surface
Client server architecture
May 2011
APM Annual International Partners Conference

31. 3D MultiVision software
Inventory monitoring S/W
Real time tracking of multiple silos
Monitoring bulk solid inventories in the entire site
Multiple sites via remote connection
Client / Server architecture
Server / scanners RS485 or TCP/IP to M/MV/MVL Products
Multiple remote clients connection
Provides
Min / Max levels Volume and Mass
3D Visualization
May 2011
APM Annual International Partners Conference

32. APM Annual International Partners Conference
Technology Summary
Low operating frequencies provides both effective penetration and wide angle coverage
3D surface mapping based on digital array processing
Measure angle and distance to multiple echoes from the surface
Surface integral is volume
Key technologies (Patent pending)
Advance RADAR signal processing
Excellent Range resolution compared to known state of the art technology
High energy via long pulses for long range measurements
Multi beam technology – phase array based beam tilting
Multi frequency
Directional False echo filtering
Self Cleaning due to acoustic energy vibration
Volume accuracy is better than 3%
Multi Scanner product addresses a new market of very large silos, warehouses and open bins
May 2011
APM Annual International Partners Conference

33. APM Annual International Partners Conference
R&D Roadmap
May 2011
APM Annual International Partners Conference

34. R&D Roadmap main drivers - Accuracy (1)
Superior accuracy is APM’s key value proposition
The new MVL product is targeting the lucrative high end market of huge inventory silos, domes and open beans
In the inventory market, measurement accuracy is translated to return on investment
There is a growing demand for differential measurement that requires more than the current 3% spec
Special bins and domes, never served before, are challenging
May 2011
APM Annual International Partners Conference

35. APM Annual International Partners Conference
R&D Roadmap main drivers: (2) Ease of use for traditional industry personnel
APM’s products, especially supporting the high end MVL product is a challenge
Today, most high end applications must go through customer support for approval, many of them must be approved by R&D.
This is very inefficient cycle that delay the closing of lucrative sales.
There is an urgent need for an expert system to support
Analyse the expected measurement accuracy
Recommend the required number of scanners
Determine the optimal installation positions taking into account the application constrains
Recommend the optimal parameters configuration
Assist with connectivity to enterprise management S/W
May 2011
APM Annual International Partners Conference

36. R&D Roadmap main drivers: (3) Applications for new markets
Example – foam over liquid thickness measurement
Important problem in several industries such as Beer, Mining and Oil.
Thick layer of foam on top of the liquid.
The challenge is to measure both liquid level and the level of the foam above.
This new application represents for APM a huge potential market that could not be served in the past
May 2011
APM Annual International Partners Conference

37. Wideband And Multiband Signals Based DOA Algorithm
Goals
Significantly improve angular resolution – the ability to separate two echoes of the same range
Achieve (~x2) range resolution improvement
Resolve the fundamental problem of spatial aliasing, when wavelength is significantly smaller than the distance between the antennas
Improve gain for single path reflections
May 2011
APM Annual International Partners Conference

38. Multi Antenna Array Architecture(1)
The current 3 antennas architecture is the minimal required for locating the DOA of a reflected echo in 3 dimensions.
A new design of between 7 to 10 elements will provide the following benefit:
An order of magnitude improvement in angular resolution
Significant improvement of beam steering directivity
Improved SNR
The R&D effort will include:
Brand new algorithm, able to take advantage of the multi-element array and provide a very significant improvement of angular resolution.
Mechanical redesign of the antenna case
Electronic board modifications to support a large transducers array
May 2011
APM Annual International Partners Conference

39. Multi Antenna Array Architecture(2)
May 2011
APM Annual International Partners Conference

40. Virtual Sparse Antenna Array By Synchronized Scanners In Real-time
Real-Time synchronization of several scanners
H/W synchronization: echo in response to a pulse from one of the scanners will be received by others.
Located at some optimal positions
Create a virtual (sparse) antenna
Advantages
SNR improvement, significantly higher probability to receive a specular (mirror) echo
Significantly improved direction estimation
Improved SNR (Linear)
Main tasks
Project continuation from last year
Waiting for the final Electronic board
May 2011
APM Annual International Partners Conference

41. Protective Cover Against Very Sticky Materials (1)
APM scanners self clean due to the vibration of the relatively low frequency acoustic signal.
It is a competitive advantage of APM, especially in the market segment of the more sticky materials
The thin Radum is always clean for all materials.
Some very sticky materials accumulate inside the horn, eventually blocking the acoustic signal
Currently there is no solution in the market for this problem
Radars will be fully covered within few days
APM is in the best position to solve this customer problem.
May 2011
APM Annual International Partners Conference

42. Protective Cover Against Very Sticky Materials (2)
The goal is to develop an add-on cover, to be installed at the very end of the horns
The protective cover will be made of a Radum that will stay clean due to the acoustic vibrations
The design should be done in a way that will not damage the acoustic path
May 2011
APM Annual International Partners Conference

43. APM Annual International Partners Conference
Backup
May 2011
APM Annual International Partners Conference

44. Remote Communication 3DLinkPro
The 3DLinkPro is used for remote assistance and tracking the measurements.
SIM card with SMS (Text) and GPRS enabled is required.
Automatic power reset when losing cellular signal.
Enable upgrading the 3DLevelScanner remotely to the various product types (M/MV).
Enable performing firmware updates remotely.
May 2011
APM Annual International Partners Conference