There are two different topologies in which transducer can be configured for transmitting and receiving the ultrasonic signal: monostatic or bistatic. These must be based on the type of application. Monostatic topology is when a single transducer both transmits an echo and listens for returning echoes. This is the lower-cost method preferred in most applications. The drawback of the monostatic transducer topology is that the excitation ringing-decay of the sensor creates a blind zone and the transducer topology cannot sense the reflected echo during this time and hence limits the minimum detection range. In a monostatic configuration, this blind zone can be reduced by adding a damping resistor.

Other topology is the bistatic topology where are two separate transducers are used – one for transmitting and one for receiving. These are comparatively expensive design. These are generally used where we need to measure the attenuation of the signal as the signal permeates through a medium and reflected echo signal does not have any useful information. For ToF application the drawback to using the bistatic approach is that additional calibration required, as the designer must consider the angle of the incoming echo at the receiver when computing the time-of-flight calculation.