Low-cost ultrasound measurement system for accurate detection of container utilization rate

The increase in the availability of low-cost components has made it possible to design and implement new and innovative devices for the Internet of Things (IoT). Today, cost-effective and open solutions can be created to replace previous expensive and proprietary measurement systems. This study presents the prototype of an ultrasound measurement system. The purpose of the system was to make the surveillance process of waste management containers more effective and reliable. The system was built using commonly available sensor components in combination with a microcontroller, and the collected data was stored and analyzed in a cloud service. The configuration of the ultrasound measurement system is introduced in this study. The measurement results obtained from the tests performed in the actual operating environment are also presented. Based on these tests, the accuracy of the system was observed to be well-suited for the use case. The average systematic error of the results was −2.0 mm and the average of random error was within 0.9 mm.