Beamforming system comprising a transducer assembly

A beamforming system comprising a modular transducer assembly composed of a plurality of transducer modules, a transducer module comprising a plurality of interfaces having different geometrical orientations, an interface allowing the transducer module to be physically coupled to another transducer module, the beamforming system being arranged to carry out:

• a reconnaissance phase in which the transducer modules that are present in the modular transducer assembly are identified, and a structure in accordance with which the transducer modules have been physically coupled to each other is identified;
• and
• a configuration phase (SY4-SY8) in which a signal relationship (Hx) is determined by the system between the transducer modules on the basis of identification data including information about the transducer modules and their geometric position within the structure of the modular transducer assembly that has been obtained in the reconnaissance phase and on the basis of a desired directional response pattern;
• wherein a transducer module comprises a register for storing a module identifier which uniquely identifies the transducer module within the modular transducer assembly,
• wherein the transducer module is arranged to transmit the module identifier to a neighboring transducer module via an interface in association with an interface identifier, which identifies the interface via which the module identifier is transmitted to the neighboring transducer module, the neighboring transducer module being arranged to identify an interface via which the module identifier is received.

A beamforming system comprising a modular transducer assembly composed of a plurality of transducer modules, a transducer module comprising a plurality of interfaces having different geometrical orientations, an interface allowing the transducer module to be physically coupled to another transducer module, a driver arranged to inject a token in the modular transducer assembly, the transducer module being arranged to detect the token and, in response thereto, to provide a unique module identifier in association with an interface identifier, which identifies an interface via which the token has been received, and another interface identifier, which identifies an interface via which the token will leave the transducer module, the beamforming system being arranged to carry out:

• a reconnaissance phase in which the transducer modules that are present in the modular transducer assembly are identified, and a structure in accordance with which the transducer modules have been physically coupled to each other is identified;
• and
• a configuration phase (SY4-SY8) in which a signal relationship (Hx) is determined by the system between the transducer modules on the basis of identification data including information about the transducer modules and their geometric position within the structure of the modular transducer assembly that has been obtained in the reconnaissance phase and on the basis of a desired directional response pattern;
• wherein a transducer module comprises a register for storing a module identifier which uniquely identifies the transducer module within the modular transducer assembly.