Sonair unveils world's first safety-certified 3D ultrasonic sensor

Sonair has announced that its ADAR One 3D ultrasonic sensor has received independent functional safety certification for human-robot collaboration applications. The sensor is suitable for Safety Integrity Level (SIL) 2 and Performance Level (PL) d deployments, satisfying the requirements of the European Machinery Directive 2006/42/EC for the safe detection of humans and objects.

Spatial Awareness and 3D Perceptual Infrastructure
Traditional industrial safety infrastructure relies on 2D laser scanners to map perimeter fields. However, these planar systems are restricted to a single optical slice, leaving blind spots above and below the scanning plane. The ADAR One acoustic detection and ranging (ADAR) sensor addresses these volumetric constraints by providing a 180° by 180° field of view, enabling three-dimensional spatial detection of humans and obstacles at any height.

The embedded device acts as an independent safety layer that functions underneath higher-level machine vision systems, artificial intelligence stacks, or robotic motion control setups. By using acoustic waves instead of light, the technology serves as a perceptual backstop that complements standard camera infrastructure in environments where visual coverage degrades due to lighting conditions, glare, or airborne particulate matter.

Functional Safety and Software Framework
The sensor platform underwent independent validation by exida, a notified body operating under the European Machinery Directive 2006/42/EC. The assessment verified compliance with several international functional safety criteria, including the IEC 61496 standard for evaluating human protection sensors within electrosensitive protection devices. It also satisfied the IEC 61508 functional safety standard for electronic components operating in high-risk industrial environments, alongside the ISO 13849 universal benchmark required for safety-related parts of control systems.

The validation results rate the sensor at SIL 2 and PL d, with a calculated probability of dangerous failure per hour (PFH) of less than 1.5 x 10⁻7. Structurally, the ADAR One is the first safety-certified embedded system engineered using the Rust programming language, which was selected to maximize real-time performance, deterministic processing, memory safety, and operational reliability.

Industrial Deployment and Ecosystem Integration
The sensor has entered series production and is being shipped for active deployment on industrial robotic platforms. Following a year-long test program involving the beta version of the hardware, more than 80 global robotics organizations have evaluated the system. Within industrial logistics, Sonair has entered into a commercial agreement with beRobox to integrate the safety-certified sensor into its automated plug-and-play palletizing and de-palletizing solutions. This deployment integrates 3D acoustic safety into high-throughput settings where human operators and machinery share tightly constrained floor spaces.

For original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and system integrators, the plug-and-play architecture provides a certified alternative to complex 2D LiDAR configurations across autonomous mobile robots (AMRs), automated guided vehicles (AGVs), collaborative arms, and humanoid form factors. The compact footprint allows the sensor to be embedded flush into a robot's body shell or protective framework without requiring major mechanical redesigns or specific regulatory exemptions, enabling logistics providers to deploy robots within certified safety architectures recognized by insurance and liability frameworks.



Additional Context
This section details technical specifications not included in the original news release.

Industrial acoustic detection and ranging platforms utilize solid-state micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS) to generate and analyze ultrasonic wave fields in air. The ADAR One sensor architecture features integrated arrays of Piezoelectric Micromachined Ultrasonic Transducers (PMUTs). These miniature transducers operate at an ultrasonic frequency spectrum between 70 kHz and 85 kHz, emitting high-frequency acoustic signals and registering the resulting mechanical echoes returned from nearby reflective boundaries. By applying digital software beamforming algorithms locally on an integrated quad-core ARM system-on-chip (SoC), the sensor electronically steers and focus-pulses the sound waves across a 180° by 180° hemispherical volume at a native frame rate of 18 Hz. The system calculates absolute spatial coordinates based on the acoustic time-of-flight and phase-arrival deltas across the transducer matrix to construct a real-time 3D point cloud with an average range precision of ±2 cm and an angular precision of ±2° at the center of the field, extending over a detection range from 0 to 4 meters.

The physical dimensions of the sensor measure 104 mm in width, 54 mm in height, and 25 mm in depth, with a total weight of 200 grams enclosed in an IP64-rated housing that operates across ambient temperatures from -10 °C to +50 °C. Internal power consumption is rated at a maximum of 5 W under a 24 VDC electrical supply. For safety-critical communication, the hardware features a safe output interface consisting of one Output Signal Switching Device (OSSD) pair, which provides direct hardware-level stop commands to the machine's primary safety relays. The system allows operators to pre-configure up to 128 safety zone presets via 11 static control inputs, enabling the simultaneous monitoring of one protective zone and two warning zones per preset. General-purpose telemetry and 3D point cloud data extraction utilize a Fast Ethernet interface transferring data via the Constrained Application Protocol (CoAP) over UDP/IP.

Edited by Romila DSilva, Induportals Editor, with AI assistance.