This reference design provides an efficient, flexible, and high-performance solution for modern ultrasonic water-metering systems.
This reference design is tailored for developers and system designers aiming to create advanced ultrasonic water-metering subsystems for applications such as water meters, heat meters, and flow transmitters. By leveraging the integrated ultrasonic sensing solution (USS) module, this design offers metrology performance, low power consumption, and robust integration. Target users include engineers working in smart metering, utility management, and flow measurement systems who require precise, energy-efficient, and customizable solutions. Built around the MSP430FR6047 microcontroller (MCU) the design integrates high-speed ADC-based signal acquisition and digital signal processing capabilities, enabling streamlined development and reliable performance in a variety of real-world metering applications.
This reference design TIDM-1019 by Texas Instruments facilitates the development of ultrasonic water-metering subsystems using an integrated ultrasonic sensing solution (USS) module. It delivers superior metrology performance, low power consumption, and high integration. The design is built around the MSP430FR6047 microcontroller (MCU), which features 256KB of memory, integrated high-speed ADC-based signal acquisition, and a low-energy accelerator (LEA) to optimize digital signal processing. The solution provides best-in-class metrology performance, characterized by a 25-picosecond Zero Flow Drift (ZFD) and a 32-picosecond single-shot standard deviation.
It operates with low power consumption, requiring only approximately 2.5 µA when using a 1 MHz transducer at one measurement per second for metrology. The design also allows flexibility to test different pipes and transducers, supporting direct interfacing with a pair of transducers. Users can easily customize and test the subsystem with the Ultrasonic Sensing Design Center graphical user interface (GUI). The design includes an ultrasonic sensing software library that features advanced time-of-flight (ToF) algorithms and enables stand-alone demonstrations using a liquid-crystal display (LCD).
This reference design is well-suited for applications such as water meters, heat meters, and flow transmitters. It utilizes the TIDM-1019 device, which is built using the MSP430FR6047 MCU from Texas Instruments (TI) alongside discrete components. The implementation relies on differential time-of-flight (ToF) calculations involving upstream and downstream transducers. The internal USS module of the MSP430FR6047 MCU manages transducer excitation and signal capture. These signals are processed using the MCU’s LEA to calculate the necessary output data efficiently and with low power usage.
The MSP430FR604x family of ultrasonic sensing and measurement systems on chips (SoCs) are highly integrated and specifically optimized for water and heat metering. The USS module within the MCU incorporates a programmable pulse generator (PPG) and a physical interface (PHY) featuring a low-impedance output driver. This ensures optimal sensor excitation and precise impedance matching, delivering accurate results for ZFD. Additional features of the USS module include a programmable gain amplifier (PGA) and a high-speed, 12-bit, 8 megasamples per second (Msps) sigma-delta (ΣΔ) ADC for precise signal acquisition from standard ultrasonic transducers. To further enhance system integration for metering applications, the MSP430FR6047 MCU includes additional peripherals. Notably, the metering test interface (MTIF) module generates pulses that indicate the flow measured by the meter.
TI has tested this reference design. It comes with a bill of materials (BOM), schematics, assembly drawing, printed circuit board (PCB) layout, and more. The company’s website has additional data about the reference design. To read more about this reference design, click here.
