Disadvantages of ultrasonic sensor

Ultrasonic sensors are sensors that use ultrasonic beams to detect the position, distance or flow of an object, and are widely used in meteorological, industrial, automotive and medical fields. Although ultrasonic sensors have many advantages, there are also some disadvantages, the following are some of the main disadvantages:

1. susceptible to environmental influences:

Temperature and humidity: the performance of ultrasonic sensors may be affected by the ambient temperature and humidity, resulting in a decrease in measurement accuracy.

Medium changes: ultrasonic propagation speed in different media is different, if the medium changes (such as gas composition, pressure, etc.), will also affect the measurement results.

2. Surface roughness sensitivity:

Ultrasonic sensors are more sensitive to the roughness of the surface of the measurement object, the surface roughness of the object may lead to reflected wave attenuation or scattering, thus affecting the measurement accuracy.

3. Ranging blind spot:

Since the transmission and reception of ultrasonic waves are completed by the same transducer, a certain conversion time is required. In the very close distance, ultrasonic waves may not be reflected back in time to be received, resulting in the existence of a large blind spot.

4. Diffusion angle and directionality:

Ultrasonic sensors have a certain beam angle, which means that it can not accurately measure the specific orientation of the object, only roughly determine the distance. In addition, the existence of the beam angle may also lead to increased error in the measurement results.

5. Triangulation error:

In some measurement scenarios, as the ultrasonic propagation path is not completely straight, but there is a certain degree of bending or scattering, which may lead to triangular error in the measurement results.

6. Easily affected by interference:

Ultrasonic sensors in the working process may be subject to the surrounding environment interference, such as mechanical vibration, electromagnetic interference, etc., these noises may mask or interfere with the ultrasonic signal, thus affecting the measurement accuracy.

7. Measurement speed limitations:

Compared with laser ranging and millimetre wave ranging, ultrasonic sensors have slower ranging speeds and may not be able to meet high-speed measurements or application scenarios with high real-time requirements.

8. Directional limitations: Ultrasonic sensors typically have narrow transmit and receive beams, which means they can only detect objects in a specific direction. This can result in objects not being detected in non-directional directions.

9. Multipath effects: In complex spatial environments, ultrasonic beams may encounter multiple reflective surfaces, resulting in multipath propagation of the signal, which may interfere with accurate sensor measurements.

10. Power consumption: Ultrasonic sensors may require high power to generate and receive ultrasonic signals, which may be a disadvantage in battery-powered applications.

11. Cost: Ultrasonic sensors may be higher in cost compared to some other types of sensors, especially in applications that require high accuracy and long distance detection.

In summary, ultrasonic sensors in the application need to pay attention to its susceptibility to environmental influences, sensitive to surface roughness, the existence of ranging blind zones, diffusion angle and directional limitations, triangulation errors, susceptibility to noise and measurement speed limitations and other disadvantages. In practical applications, it is necessary to choose the appropriate sensor type and parameter settings according to the specific scene and needs, in order to improve the measurement accuracy and reliability.