Method of operating electro-acoustic transducers, corresponding circuit and device

A method, comprising:

• applying, over an excitation interval to a transmitter of an electro-acoustical transducer, an excitation signal that is configured to emit corresponding ultrasound pulses from the transmitter and towards a surrounding space;
• acquiring, at a receiver of the electro-acoustical transducer, reflected ultrasound pulses that are reflected in the surrounding space;
• generating a reference echo signal, the generating of the reference echo signal including:
• determining an oscillation frequency of the transmitter based on a transmitter ringdown signal;
• determining an oscillation frequency of the receiver based on a receiver ringdown signal;
• performing frequency tuning on the transmitter and the receiver based on the oscillation frequency of the transmitter and the oscillation frequency of the receiver, respectively;
• determining a frequency of a maximum displacement in the transmitter ringdown signal by sweeping an input frequency of the transmitter;
• and
• performing a frequency tuning of the receiver at the frequency of the maximum displacement in the transmitter ringdown signal;
• performing a cross-correlation of the reflected ultrasound pulses with the reference echo signal;
• and
• performing a measurement based on the cross-correlation, the measurement including a time of flight of the ultrasound pulses.