AN-000155

SonicLink Software
Quick Start Guide

Chirp Microsystems reserves the right to change
specifications and information herein withoutnotice.

Chirp Microsystems
2560 Ninth Street, Ste 220, Berkeley, CA 94710
U.S.A
www.chirpmicro.com

Document Number: AN-000155
Revision: 1.0
Release Date: 03/31/2020

AN-000155
Table of Contents
1OVERVIEW.................................................................................................................................................. 31.1

REQUIREMENTS .................................................................................................................................................. 32

HARDWARE CONFIGURATION ..................................................................................................................... 43

INSTALLATION ............................................................................................................................................ 53.1

INSTALLING ATMEL STUDIO 7 AND FTDI DRIVER ....................................................................................................... 64STARTING THE SONICLINK APPLICATION ..................................................................................................... 75CONNECTING THE SMARTSONIC BOARD ..................................................................................................... 85.1

REMOVING A SENSOR CONFIGURATION................................................................................................................. 116ADDING SENSORS TO THE CONFIGURATION............................................................................................... 127STARTING THE DATA CAPTURE .................................................................................................................. 138VIEWING THE DATA ................................................................................................................................... 148.19VIEWING MULTIPLE DATA WINDOWS ................................................................................................................... 18

STORING THE DATA ................................................................................................................................... 209.110PAUSING OR RESUME THE DATA CAPTURE ............................................................................................................. 21
SETTING DETECTION THRESHOLDS (CH201 ONLY) ................................................................................... 22

REVISION HISTORY ............................................................................................................................................ 24

Document Number: AN-000155
Revision: 1.0Page 2 of 24

AN-000155
1 OVERVIEWThis document is a guide for installing and using the SonicLink software tool in combination with the TDK/Chirp
SmartSonic board. Users will gain hands-on experience with the unique ultrasonic sensing technology of the Chirp
CH101 and CH201 sensors, which provides accurate range measurements in a compact, low-power device.

1.1 REQUIREMENTS
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

PC with Windows OS. (Tested on Windows 8 64-bit, and Windows 10 64-bit.)
TDK/Chirp Microsystems SmartSonic evaluation board.
Two Micro USB cables.
Atmel Studio 7.0 IDE.
Internet connection (if the .NET framework and Atmel/FTDI drivers/tools are not previously installed onthe target PC).

Document Number: AN-000155
Revision: 1.0

Page 3 of 24

AN-000155
2 HARDWARE CONFIGURATIONThe SmartSonic board is used with an external evaluation board as shown below. For initial hardware setup andprogramming of the Atmel chip, two micro USB cable connections are required but once the MCU is flashed then
only the UART/USB Data connection is required. The board jumpers should be set in their default configuration asshown in the figure below.

To connect an external sensor to the daughterboard, the flex cable will be inserted silver side up at the SmartSonic
board and external sensor board. You can see in the pictures below that the blue side of the flex cable faces
downward, away from the sensor. When connected properly, an external sensor should lie flat on the work
surface, facing upwards.

For best performance, external CH101 sensor modules that have the omnidirectional housing (part number
MOD_CH101-03-01) should be mounted in a flat plate of at least 100 mm (4”) diameter with the sensor’s acoustic
housing flush with the surface of the plate. Consult the MOD_CH101 module datasheet for more information.

Document Number: AN-000155
Revision: 1.0

Page 4 of 24

AN-000155
3 INSTALLATION
1.

Run the SonicLink_X.X.X_Installer.exe installer. It will prompt for the installation directory. Once thedesired installation directory is selected, click Next.

2.

Check the Install FTDI drivers box, then click Next.

3.

Verify the destination folder and start the installation by clicking on Install.

Document Number: AN-000155
Revision: 1.0

Page 5 of 24

AN-000155
4.

Wait for the installation to complete, and then click Finish.

3.1 INSTALLING ATMEL STUDIO 7 AND FTDI DRIVER
Connect the SmartSonic evaluation board to the computer using the two USB ports (Note: A sensor daughter cardshould first be installed on the SmartSonic board). Install the following tool to allow Flash MCU Firmware:
ATSAMG55 (web installer) If you haven’t installed Atmel Studio 7, you can download the installer here:
https://www.microchip.com/mplab/avr-support/atmel-studio-7

Document Number: AN-000155
Revision: 1.0

Page 6 of 24

AN-000155
4 STARTING THE SONICLINK APPLICATION
1.

Navigate to the installation directory and run the SonicLink.exe executable or the SonicLink icon on thedesktop.

Document Number: AN-000155
Revision: 1.0

Page 7 of 24

AN-000155
5 CONNECTING THE SMARTSONIC BOARD
1.

If no SmartSonic boards are connected to the USB/COM ports, the Serial Port and Connect button will begrayed out. If you do not observe a connected SmartSonic board in the serial port list, close and restart
the SonicLink application as hardware discovery only occurs during launch of the app.

2.

If a SmartSonic board is connected through a COM port it will appear in the Serial port list. Select theSmartSonic board from the list and click Connect.
If the board needs to be initialized with firmware click File drop down menu and select Flash Firmware toprogram the MCU. Otherwise go to the next step.

3.

Add a configuration to match the sensor(s) by clicking Config Sensors. Configure the sensor(s) in the order
set on the next page.

Document Number: AN-000155
Revision: 1.0

Page 8 of 24

AN-000155
Note: CH101 and CH201 sensors cannot be run at the same time on a single SmartSonic board. All sensors
attached must all be either CH101 or CH201.
In addition, DO NOT try to run CH101 firmware configuration on CH201 hardware or CH201 firmware configuration
on CH101 hardware.

1.

First select Sensor Type: CH101 or CH201.

2.

For CH101 sensors, select Normal, Short Range, Narrow FOV, or Narrow FOV SR operating mode underSensor Modea.

Normal mode: allows detection of targets from 10 cm to 120 cmb.

Short-Range mode: allows detection of targets from 4 cm to 25 cmc.

Narrow_FOV mode: allows detection using the 45 degree narrow FoV horn. Thresholds areincreased in Narrow FOV mode to accommodate the higher amplitude signal from horns
narrower than the omnidirectional cap.

d.

Narrow_FOV_SR mode: allows detection using the 45 degree narrow FoV horn from 4 cm to25 cm. Thresholds are increased in Narrow_FOV_SR mode to accommodate the higher amplitude
signal from horns narrower than the omnidirectional cap.

3.

Select the full-scale range in millimeters, FSR (mm).

4.

Select Sample Rate.

5.

Select Sensor 0 through Sensor 3 configuration settings from the followinga.

Not Selected: sensor not usedDocument Number: AN-000155
Revision: 1.0

Page 9 of 24

AN-000155

6.

b.

Tx_Rx: Transmit and Receive Modec.

Rx Only: Receive Only Mode

Optional selections can be made by checking the box for the following features:a.

Static Target Rejection (STR)
i. This feature is available for both CH101 and CH201.
ii. The STR mode is used to reject echoes from stationary objects that are in the sensor’s
field-of-view. In this mode, only the range of moving targets will be reported in thesensor’s range output. This feature is useful when the sensor must operate in acluttered environment.

b.

Amplitude-scan (A-scan)

7.

This feature is available for both CH101 and CH201.

8.

Sample Rates are limited to 30 S/s for CH101 and 10 S/s for CH201 when A-scan is enabled. This limitationis due to the additional time required to read the A-scan data from each measurement over the I2C bus.
Once you have the connected sensor(s) configured appropriately, click Done.

Document Number: AN-000155
Revision: 1.0

Page 10 of 24

AN-000155

5.1 REMOVING A SENSOR CONFIGURATIONTo remove a sensor configuration, click thebutton.

Document Number: AN-000155
Revision: 1.0

Page 11 of 24

AN-000155
6 ADDING SENSORS TO THE CONFIGURATION
1.

To add sensor(s) to an existing configuration, press theremove any current configurations.

2.

Next, press Disconnect to end the serial port connection and allow the board to be reset and firmware
loaded to the new sensors connected to the SmartSonic board.

3.

Additional sensors can be connected to the daughterboard using flex cables

1.

The on-board sensor U15 shares the same bus with Sensor 0 at connector J6. To use an off-board sensor
that is connected to the flex connector Sensor 0 / J6, you will need to select J6 using the switch on theedge of the daughterboard, as shown circled in red below.

2.

Next press the physical Reset button on the SmartSonic host board to clear the configurations.

1.

Click Connect on the SonicLink GUI.

2.

Add a configuration to match the sensor(s) by clicking Config Sensors.

3.

Once you have the sensor(s) connected to the SmartSonic board configured appropriately, click Done.

Document Number: AN-000155
Revision: 1.0

Page 12 of 24

button in the main sensors window toAN-000155
7 STARTING THE DATA CAPTURE
After a configuration has been added, click on thebutton to initialize the board and sensor you want tolaunch. After the initialization completes, a set of tabs will open in the main window, and data collection will begin
as shown below. Click on thebutton for each sensor you want to collect data from. You will note that eachsensor initialized will light a blue LED next to the corresponding connector on the daughterboard. In the example
below, sensor 0 and sensor 2 have been initialized. The Blue LED next to J6 will illuminate when the onboard
sensor is initialized.

As the sensor module receives echoes from a target, the table displays the target’s range and the echo amplitude.
Depending on how many sensors are connected to the evaluation kit board (1 to 4) the software will generate thecorresponding range data table and graph tabs.

Document Number: AN-000155
Revision: 1.0

Page 13 of 24

AN-000155
8 VIEWING THE DATA
1.

Once the data capture has started, click on the tabs to view the data from the sensor. Each tab is labeledwith the corresponding sensor number (sensor 0 through 3). The following shows an example with one
CH101 sensor connected as sensor 0.
a.

The Sensor 0 Table tab shows the live range (in mm) and amplitude values as they are returned fromsensor 0. You can choose to log the captured range and amplitude data to a text file – see Storing theData in the next section.

Document Number: AN-000155
Revision: 1.0

Page 14 of 24

AN-000155
b.

The Sensor 0 Range shows live range data in a graphical representation.

The chart displays the measured range to the closest target over time. Depending on how many sensors areconnected to the evaluation kit board (1 to 4), the software will generate the corresponding range display
windows.

Document Number: AN-000155
Revision: 1.0

Page 15 of 24

AN-000155
c.

The Sensor 0 Amplitude shows the live Amplitude data in graphical format.

The Amplitude tab shows amplitude of the received echo over time. The units of this display are least-significant
bits (LSBs) of the sensor’s on-chip ADC. The full-scale value is 32,768. The amplitude varies based on the object’ssize, surface texture and shape. As the object moves further away from the sensor the amplitude diminishes.

Document Number: AN-000155
Revision: 1.0

Page 16 of 24

AN-000155
d.

The Sensor 0 A-scan tab shows the live Amplitude scan (A-scan) data in graphical representation.

While the range and amplitude tabs display the range and amplitude of the nearest target, the A-scan tab displays
the ultrasound amplitude at all range points for the current pulse-echo measurement, commonly known as an Ascan. In this plot, the vertical axis represents the echo (received signal) amplitude (in LSBs) and the horizontal axis
represents the range in mm. The distance to a given object can be determined by the position of thecorresponding echo on the horizontal range axis. The size, orientation, and surface texture of the object will affectthe echo’s amplitude.
For CH201 sensors, A-scan graphs will also show a pink line that corresponds to the detection thresholds set forthe sensor. The user can change the detection thresholds by clicking on Thresholds button (circled in red in thepicture above).

Document Number: AN-000155
Revision: 1.0

Page 17 of 24

AN-000155
8.1 VIEWING MULTIPLE DATA WINDOWS
1.

You have the option to open multiple window tabs to view in either horizontal or vertical tabs as shown inexample below. To open a second data tab either horizontally or vertically, right click your mouse cursor
on the tab you wish to tile and a drop-down menu will open. Select either New Horizontal Tab Group or
New Vertical Tab Group.

Example of Vertical Tab Group for Range and A-scanDocument Number: AN-000155
Revision: 1.0

Page 18 of 24

AN-000155
Example of Horizontal Tab Group for Range and A-scanDocument Number: AN-000155
Revision: 1.0

Page 19 of 24

AN-000155
9 STORING THE DATA
1.

You can choose to save the time-stamped Range and Amplitude data by entering a path/filename in theLog file field. You may set the directory for the log file by clicking thebutton and browsing for thedesired directory. Once the file and directory settings are correct, click Enable to begin logging the data tothe file.

Document Number: AN-000155
Revision: 1.0

Page 20 of 24

AN-000155
2.

To stop saving the data to a file, press the Disable button.

9.1 PAUSING OR RESUME THE DATA CAPTURE
1.

To Pause the data capture for a given sensor, press the2.

To Resume the data capture for a given sensor, press theDocument Number: AN-000155
Revision: 1.0

Page 21 of 24

button in the main Sensors Window
button in the main Sensors Window.

AN-000155
10 SETTING DETECTION THRESHOLDS (CH201 ONLY)
The CH101 and CH201 sensors use an on-chip algorithm to detect the time-of-flight to the nearest target. Thealgorithm identifies the time-of-flight of the first echo that is above a pre-programmed amplitude threshold. For
CH101, these thresholds are hardcoded within the sensor firmware. For CH201, the user can configure six different
range-dependent thresholds. Close targets produce much larger echoes than distant targets, so the close-range
thresholds will usually be much higher than the far-range threshold. Using higher thresholds at close range allows
targets of interest to be detected while rejecting “clutter” - echoes arising from close-range objects that may beoutside the sensor’s desired field-of-view. A rule-of-thumb is that the echo amplitude will scale with range-squared– when a target is moved from 1m range to 5m range, the echo will decrease by a factor of 25.
In the A-scan plot, the thin pink line indicates the threshold level corresponding to the pre-programmed amplitude
threshold. The blue amplitude trace shows the received signal from objects in the sensors field-of-view. To change
the Threshold levels, open the dialog window by clicking on the Thresholds button (circled in red) at the top left
above the data plot tabs.

The threshold setting dialog is shown below.

Threshold upto range and/or Amplitude can be adjusted to suit the settings that work for a given HW design andthe sensors field-of-view. After you have entered the desired values in the Threshold upto range and Amplitude
fields, click Done for the changes in settings to be loaded to the device and close the dialog box.

Document Number: AN-000155
Revision: 1.0

Page 22 of 24

AN-000155
The new threshold range and amplitude values will be automatically saved to a file, Sensor_0_thresholds in theSmartSonic directory. If you want to load the saved values to a sensor, open the Threshold dialog box and click on
the Load File button.

Document Number: AN-000155
Revision: 1.0

Page 23 of 24

AN-000155
REVISION HISTORY
Revision Date

Revision

Description

1.0

Initial release03/31/2020

This information furnished by Chirp Microsystems, Inc. (“Chirp Microsystems”) is believed to be accurate and reliable. However, no responsibility
is assumed by Chirp Microsystems for its use, or for any infringements of patents or other rights of third parties that may result from its use.
Specifications are subject to change without notice. Chirp Microsystems reserves the right to make changes to this product, including its circuits
and software, in order to improve its design and/or performance, without prior notice. Chirp Microsystems makes no warranties, neither
expressed nor implied, regarding the information and specifications contained in this document. Chirp Microsystems assumes no responsibility
for any claims or damages arising from information contained in this document, or from the use of products and services detailed therein. Thisincludes, but is not limited to, claims or damages based on the infringement of patents, copyrights, mask work and/or other intellectual property
rights.
Certain intellectual property owned by Chirp Microsystems and described in this document is patent protected. No license is granted by
implication or otherwise under any patent or patent rights of Chirp Microsystems. This publication supersedes and replaces all information
previously supplied. Trademarks that are registered trademarks are the property of their respective companies. Chirp Microsystems sensors
should not be used or sold in the development, storage, production or utilization of any conventional or mass-destructive weapons or for any
other weapons or life threatening applications, as well as in any other life critical applications such as medical equipment, transportation,aerospace and nuclear instruments, undersea equipment, power plant equipment, disaster prevention and crime prevention equipment.
©2020 Chirp Microsystems. All rights reserved. Chirp Microsystems and the Chirp Microsystems logo are trademarks of Chirp Microsystems, Inc.
The TDK logo is a trademark of TDK Corporation. Other company and product names may be trademarks of the respective companies with which
they are associated.

©2020 Chirp Microsystems. All rights reserved.

Document Number: AN-000155
Revision: 1.0

Page 24 of 24