Recognition of Object Presence and Material Type in a Water Container Using High Frequency Ultrasound

Abstract

Detection and characterization of soluble, diffuse, and solid objects and their characteristics in water has important implications in various applications, including water quality assessment and incontinence monitoring for health applications. In particular in the latter task, it is essential to be able to non-intrusively detect the appearance, presence, and consistency of materials in the water without the need for special purpose instruments or a special purpose setting. To achieve this, this work investigates the potential use of high frequency sonar sensors retrofitted to an existing, water-filled container to detect and characterize events where materials are added to the water, and to classify characteristics of the materials in terms of solubility, granularity, and density.