Data acquisition system for air-coupled navigation study: the concept

The concept of the measurement system dedicated for air coupled ultrasound navigation study is presented. The proposed system is portable as it is intended for field experiments. In particular, it is planned to use it research, rapid prototyping and signal processing experiments of vehicle parking-guidance systems, transport docking platforms orientation, industrial robotic vision systems and other coordinate estimation systems. The heart of the proposed system is the main block with an USB interface for a host personal computer (PC) communication and interfaces for external sensors/actuators. It is decided to use the system with a laptop PC, as an initial data analysis and storage unit. The communication is achieved using the USB 2.0 high speed interface, which enables high bit rates for information exchange and provides the supply for the system. The main block is responsible for communicating with at computer, step motor driver control generation, of low level arbitrary waveform excitation signals, two digitally controllable time variable gain channels, simultaneous signal acquisition using two channel analog-to-digit converter, serial communication channels for powerand preamplifier control, serial communication channels for relative humidity, temperature, wind speed and direction measurements, digital input output interface for other tasks. The proposed system has a detachable output amplifier and a detachable preamplifier. The changeable transmission and reception units allow adaptation of the system for various research tasks.