Abstract: Methods and systems for determining fluid levels in a tank comprise a mmWave control unit configured to generate and transmit a millimeter wave chirp. The control unit transmits the chirp into the tank through a Luneburg lens and receives one or more chirp reflections from the tank. For each tank level reading, three or more chirp configuration profiles are used in order to ensure accurate depth measurements due to multi-path reflections in most tanks. The control unit mixes the chirps with the chirp reflections to generate a set of responses for each chirp configuration profile. The responses are compared and the two best responses are selected and averaged. The set of averaged responses are then processed using a ballot and vote process to determine the distance reading that is likely to provide the most accurate tank level.

Abstract: Methods and systems for determining fluid levels in a tank comprise a mmWave Control unit configured to generate a millimeter wave chirp that ramps linearly from a starting frequency to a higher frequency within a specified time span. The mmWave Control unit transmits the chirp into the tank and receives one or more chirp reflections from the tank. The mmWave Control unit mixes the chirp with the chirp reflections to generate one or more intermediate frequency signals and processes the one or more intermediate frequency signals to derive one or more distances, each distance representing the distance from the top of the tank to one of the one or more fluids in the tank or an obstruction in the tank. A Telemetry Control unit automatically selects intermediate frequency signals having a signal strength above a predefined minimum or distances within a predefined distance window for further processing.

Abstract: A communication interface, and method thereof, allows a single communication device to accept data from multiple different types of sensors for transmission to a communication network. The communication interface is capable of inputting data from many types of sensors and outputting the data directly to the communication device. The communication interface translates or otherwise converts a variety of sensor data into a common message format that is appropriate and acceptable to the communication device. Such a communication interface allows many different types of sensing applications, particularly in distant and remote locations, to use a common communication device to communicate with a central server.