Texas Instruments introduced the C7200 time-to-digital converter (TDC) for ultrasonic sensor measurements such as water flow meters, gas flow meters, and thermal flow meters. When paired with TDC1000 (Ultrasonic Analog Front End), the TDC7200 can be part of a complete TI ultrasonic sensing solution that includes MSP430, power, wireless and source code.
The TDC performs a stopwatch function and measures the elapsed time (TOF) between the start pulse and up to five stop pulses. The measurement capability from start to multiple stops gives users the flexibility to choose which stop pulse produces the best echo performance.
The device has an internal self-calibrated time base to compensate for drift over time and temperature. Self-calibration enables picosecond time-to-digital conversion accuracy. This accuracy of the TDC7200 makes it ideally suited for zero and low flow measurement applications where high accuracy is required. When placed in autonomous multi-cycle averaging mode, the TDC7200 can be optimized for low system power consumption, making it ideal for battery-powered flow meters. The company said that in this mode, the host can go to sleep to save power and wake up when interrupted by the TDC after completing the measurement sequence.
