Systems and methods for ultrasonic channel coexistence

A method of operating an ultrasonic sensor within a multi-sensor environment, comprising:

• monitoring, by a first ultrasonic sensor, for received ultrasonic signals;
• identifying, from the received ultrasonic signals, a plurality of broadcasts from a plurality of additional ultrasonic sensors;
• determining, from the received ultrasonic signals, a subset of occupied channels of a plurality of broadcast channels, wherein each channel of the plurality of broadcast channels is associated with a unique fixed delay between broadcasts;
• and
• selecting, based on the subset of occupied channels, another of the broadcast channels for the first ultrasonic signal;
• and
• broadcasting ultrasonic signals from the first ultrasonic in accordance with the selected broadcast channel.

An ultrasonic sensor configured to operate within a multi-sensor environment, comprising:

• a transceiver configured to broadcast and receive ultrasonic signals;
• processing circuitry coupled to the transceiver, wherein the processing circuitry is configured to:
• broadcast, via the transceiver, a first ultrasonic signal at each of a plurality of broadcast times, wherein the first ultrasonic signal includes a first encoded identifier;
• receive, via the transceiver, received ultrasonic signals during a plurality of receive windows, wherein each receive window of the plurality of receive windows follows a respective broadcast time of the plurality of broadcast times;
• identify a second ultrasonic signal from the received ultrasonic signals based on a respective timing of the second ultrasonic signal and the first ultrasonic signal, wherein the second ultrasonic signal includes a second encoded identifier, and wherein the respective timing is based on a first timing of broadcasts of the first ultrasonic signal indicated by the first identifier and a second timing of broadcasts of the second ultrasonic signal indicated by the second identifier;
• and
• monitor an object within a field of view of the ultrasonic signal based on a subset of the received ultrasonic signals that does not include the second ultrasonic signal.