A method for ultrasonic proximity sensing, comprising the steps of: providing a microcontroller (200; 302; 702) in a single integrated circuit package having a central processor and memory, and a plurality of core independent peripherals (CIPs), including at least the following: an analog-to-digital converter, a first and second configurable logic cell (118, 226), a data signal modulator, a hardware limit timer, a fixed voltage reference (110; 210), a first and second operational amplifier (112, 214), a pulse width modulation generator, and at least two timers (122; 230) each comprising a timer counter register; coupling an ultrasonic transmitting transducer to the DSM; and coupling an ultrasonic receiving transducer to the first OPA; configuring the CIPs (238, 118, 226, 104, 116, 110, 210, 112, 214, 120, 122, 230) of the microcontroller (200; 302; 702) to couple the PWM with a first input of the DSM, to couple an output of the DSM with the first timer and the output of the first timer with the first CLC, to couple the output of the first CLC with a second input of the DSM and with the HLT, to couple an output of the HLT with the second CLC, and to couple an output of the second CLC with the second timer which is further configured to trigger the ADC: generate signals from the DSM to be transmitted as ultrasonic pulses from the ultrasonic transmitting transducer; receive reflected ultrasonic pulses with the ultrasonic receiving transducer and generating receive signals by the first OPA; detect the received signals with an amplitude modulation detector (148, 150, 152) coupled with the microcontroller (200; 302; 702); integrate the detected received signals to a voltage value by a voltage integrator formed by said second OPA and a capacitor coupled with the microcontroller (200; 302; 702); compare the voltage value to a prior voltage value; and generate a proximity sensed signal when the voltage value is different than the prior voltage value. providing a microcontroller (200; 302; 702) in a single integrated circuit package having a central processor and memory, and a plurality of core independent peripherals (CIPs), including at least the following: an analog-to-digital converter, a first and second configurable logic cell (118, 226), a data signal modulator, a hardware limit timer, a fixed voltage reference (110; 210), a first and second operational amplifier (112, 214), a pulse width modulation generator, and at least two timers (122; 230) each comprising a timer counter register; an analog-to-digital converter, a first and second configurable logic cell (118, 226), a data signal modulator, a hardware limit timer, a fixed voltage reference (110; 210), a first and second operational amplifier (112, 214), a pulse width modulation generator, and at least two timers (122; 230) each comprising a timer counter register; coupling an ultrasonic transmitting transducer to the DSM; and coupling an ultrasonic receiving transducer to the first OPA; configuring the CIPs (238, 118, 226, 104, 116, 110, 210, 112, 214, 120, 122, 230) of the microcontroller (200; 302; 702) to couple the PWM with a first input of the DSM, to couple an output of the DSM with the first timer and the output of the first timer with the first CLC, to couple the output of the first CLC with a second input of the DSM and with the HLT, to couple an output of the HLT with the second CLC, and to couple an output of the second CLC with the second timer which is further configured to trigger the ADC: generate signals from the DSM to be transmitted as ultrasonic pulses from the ultrasonic transmitting transducer; receive reflected ultrasonic pulses with the ultrasonic receiving transducer and generating receive signals by the first OPA; detect the received signals with an amplitude modulation detector (148, 150, 152) coupled with the microcontroller (200; 302; 702); integrate the detected received signals to a voltage value by a voltage integrator formed by said second OPA and a capacitor coupled with the microcontroller (200; 302; 702); compare the voltage value to a prior voltage value; and generate a proximity sensed signal when the voltage value is different than the prior voltage value. generate signals from the DSM to be transmitted as ultrasonic pulses from the ultrasonic transmitting transducer; receive reflected ultrasonic pulses with the ultrasonic receiving transducer and generating receive signals by the first OPA; detect the received signals with an amplitude modulation detector (148, 150, 152) coupled with the microcontroller (200; 302; 702); integrate the detected received signals to a voltage value by a voltage integrator formed by said second OPA and a capacitor coupled with the microcontroller (200; 302; 702); compare the voltage value to a prior voltage value; and generate a proximity sensed signal when the voltage value is different than the prior voltage value.