Neural time and movement time in choice of whistle or pulse burst responses to different auditory stimuli by dolphins

Echolocating dolphins emit trains of clicks and receive echoes from ocean targets. They often emit each successive ranging click about 20 ms after arrival of the target echo. In echolocation, decisions must be made about the target--fish or fowl, predator or food. In the first test of dolphin auditory decision speed, three bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) chose whistle or pulse burst responses to different auditory stimuli randomly presented without warning in rapid succession under computer control. The animals were trained to hold pressure catheters in the nasal cavity so that pressure increases required for sound production could be used to split response time (RT) into neural time and movement time. Mean RT in the youngest and fastest dolphin ranged from 175 to 213 ms when responding to tones and from 213 to 275 ms responding to pulse trains. The fastest neural times and movement times were around 60 ms. The results suggest that echolocating dolphins tune to a rhythm so that succeeding pulses in a train are produced about 20 ms over target round-trip travel time. The dolphin nervous system has evolved for rapid processing of acoustic stimuli to accommodate for the more rapid sound speed in water compared to air.     

Discrimination of amplitude-modulated synthetic echo trains by an echolocating bottlenose dolphin

Bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) have an acute ability to use target echoes to judge attributes such as size, shape, and material composition. Most target recognition studies have focused on features associated with individual echoes as opposed to information conveyed across echo sequences (feature envelope of the multi-echo train). One feature of aspect-dependent targets is an amplitude modulation (AM) across the return echoes in the echo train created by relative movement of the target and dolphin. The current study examined whether dolphins could discriminate targets with different AM envelopes. "Electronic echoes" triggered by a dolphin's outgoing echolocation clicks were manipulated to create sinusoidal envelopes with varying AM rate and depth. Echo trains were equated for energy, requiring the dolphin to extract and retain information from multiple echoes in order to detect and report the presence of AM. The dolphin discriminated amplitude-modulated echo trains from those that were not modulated. AM depth thresholds were approximately 0.8 dB, similar to other published amplitude limens. Decreasing the rate of modulation from approximately 16 to 2 cycles per second did not affect the dolphin's AM depth sensitivity. The results support multiple-echo processing in bottlenose dolphin echolocation. This capability provides additional theoretical justification for exploring synthetic aperture sonar concepts in models of animal echolocation that potentially support theories postulating formation of images as an ultimate means for target identification.     

Insights into dolphin sonar discrimination capabilities from human listening experiments

A variety of dolphin sonar discrimination experiments have been conducted, yet little is known about the cues utilized by dolphins in making fine target discriminations. In order to gain insights on cues available to echolocating dolphins, sonar discrimination experiments were conducted with human subjects using the same targets employed in dolphin experiments. When digital recordings of echoes from targets ensonified with a dolphinlike signal were played back at a slower rate to human subjects, they could also make fine target discriminations under controlled laboratory conditions about as well as dolphins under less controlled conditions. Subjects reported that time-separation-pitch and duration cues were important. They also reported that low-amplitude echo components 32 dB below the maximum echo component were usable. The signal-to-noise ratio had to be greater than 10 dB above the detection threshold for simple discrimination and 30 dB for difficult discrimination. Except for two cases in which spectral cues in the form of "click pitch" were important, subjects indicated that time-domain rather than frequency-domain processing seemed to be more relevant in analyzing the echoes.     

高频共振预探测多脉冲激光测距方法

在无合作目标激光测距中,提出了一种高频共振预探测和多脉冲相关处理对远目标距离进行高精度测量的技术方案.脉冲回波光电流信号经高频共振预探测电路进行放大滤波处理并转换为包含高精度定时特征点的高信噪比的双极性衰减振荡脉冲信号;之后利用多脉冲相关处理构造出的新脉冲函数进一步改善其信噪比.理论计算结果表明:最小可探测光脉冲电流仅为17 nA,与直接探测脉冲方法相比信噪比可提高60倍;在回波光电流脉冲峰值1:10000的动态范围内,走离误差小于0.1 ps.根据此原理研制出了脉冲激光测距仪,仪器在激光发射平均功率约为1 mW时,无合作目标测程大于2000 m,在1.5—300 m范围内测距精度达到±(3 mm+2 ppm),远目标测距精度为±(10 mm+10 ppm).该测距仪系统已用于全站仪产品中.     

Detection of complex echoes in noise by an echolocating dolphin

Dolphins echolocate with short broadband acoustic signals that have good time resolution properties. Received echoes are often complex, with many resolvable highlights or components caused by reflection of the incident signal from external and internal boundaries of a target and from different propagational modes within a target. A series of experiments was performed to investigate how dolphins perceive complex echoes. Echoes were produced by a microprocessor-controlled electronic target simulator that captured each emitted click and retransmitted the signal back to the animal after an appropriate time delay. The use of this "phantom" target allowed for precise control of the number of highlights, the time separation between highlights, and the relative amplitudes of highlights in the simulated echoes. An echolocating dolphin was trained to perform a target detection task in the presence of masking noise using these phantom echoes. The properties of simulated echoes were systematically varied, and corresponding shifts in the dolphin's detection threshold were observed, allowing for inferences of how the dolphin perceived echoes. The dolphin performed like an energy detector with an integration time of approximately 264 microseconds.     

低信噪比线性调频信号目标的方位估计

线性调频(LFM)信号目标的方位估计是水声探测研究的重要内容,在进行方位估计时,若存在强干扰信号源与强背景噪声,阵元接收信号的信噪比会显著降低,严重影响LFM信号目标方位估计结果的准确性.针对该问题,提出了一种简明分数阶滤波方法,并将其与常规波束形成方法(CBF)相结合来实现低信噪比条件下LFM信号目标的方位估计.简明分数阶傅里叶变换能在正交角度上将LFM信号的能量聚集在特定频点处并形成明显的能量峰,利用该特性,可对阵列各阵元接收的低信噪比LFM信号在简明分数阶域聚集的能量峰进行最佳滤波,以滤除干扰信息及背景噪声.对滤波输出进行逆简明分数阶傅里叶变换可得到增强信干比和信噪比的阵元域信号,进一步用于目标方位估计,就能获得更加准确的目标方位。数值仿真结果和海试实验数据处理结果验证表明,本文所提出的方法可有效抑制干扰和背景噪声,并对低信噪比LFM信号进行准确、稳健的方位估计。      

宽吻海豚Click信号的时频滤波检测方法

针对宽吻海豚Click信号检测提出了一种在信号时频图中基于Gabor滤波器的检测方法。该方法首先对声信号进行分段处理,计算每一段信号的时频图;然后设计Gabor滤波器,提取时频图中垂直方向的线条;对Gabor滤波处理后的时频图进行自适应阈值处理,提取时频图中能量较强的区域;最后通过连通域分析确定Click信号的位置.仿真合成不同信噪比的测试信号,本文算法在Click信号和背景噪声平均功率比为15 dB的情况下,Click信号的找全率达到了99%,错误率为0%;对实际采集的声信号进行Click信号检测,找全率为100%。本文方法预期为海豚观测和海豚生物学行为的研究提供一定的技术支持。      

Bio-inspired wideband sonar signals based on observations of the bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus)

This paper uses advanced time-frequency signal analysis techniques to generate new models for bio-inspired sonar signals. The inspiration comes from the analysis of bottlenose dolphin clicks. These pulses are very short duration, between 50 and 80 micros, but for certain examples we can delineate a double down-chirp structure using fractional Fourier methods. The majority of clicks have energy distributed between two main frequency bands with the higher frequencies delayed in time by 5-20 micros. Signal syntheses using a multiple chirp model based on these observations are able to reproduce much of the spectral variation seen in earlier studies on natural dolphin echolocation pulses. Six synthetic signals are generated and used to drive the dolphin based sonar (DBS) developed through the Biosonar Program office at the SPAWAR Systems Center, San Diego, CA. Analyses of the detailed echo structure for these pulses ensonifying two solid copper spherical targets indicate differences in discriminatory potential between the signals. It is suggested that target discrimination could be improved through the transmission of a signal packet in which the chirp structure is varied between pulses. Evidence that dolphins may use such a strategy themselves comes from observations of variations in the transmissions of dolphins carrying out target detection and identification tasks.     

单矢量水听器的高分辨目标方位跟踪算法研究

根据单矢量水听器自身具有阵列流型的特点,提出了适用于对目标保持连续跟踪的空域预滤波MUSIC算法。通过调整滤波器通带中心角使其保持在目标估计方位角附近,可以消除滤波器通带中心角偏离目标真实方位角时传统预滤波MUSIC算法产生的目标方位估计误差。仿真结果表明,改进预滤波MUSIC算法可以减小甚至消除低信噪比情况下目标方位估计存在的较大误差。海试数据结果表明,阵元域MUSIC和改进预滤波MUSIC都可实现对单频脉冲信号和线性调频信号的目标方位估计,且估计结果与GPS舰位推算结果一致,但改进预滤波MUSIC算法主瓣更尖锐。对宽带航船噪声处理结果显示,改进预滤波MUSIC算法使单矢量水听器在存在目标干扰时的探测距离从2 km提升到了5 km,验证了改进预滤波MUSIC算法可实现弱目标情况下的高分辨目标方位跟踪。     

多基地空时码探测信号设计及时反相关检测技术

为实现浅海复杂环境下的多基地声纳多源目标回波分辨,本文设计了一种适用于多入多出垂直阵信道环境下的空时码探测信号,并针对倾斜垂直阵的多途子信道差异问题,提出了信号的时反相关检测技术.空时码探测信号采用伪随机信号调制,具有良好的正交性,能在抗子信道严重衰落的同时,分辨多源目标回波.垂直阵受水流冲击,呈倾斜状态时,其多途子信道不一致性会导致各子信道传递信号无法在接收端聚焦,使阵列增益受损,同时导致时延测量能力下降和信号判决错误率上升,为此本文设计了信道训练信号用以估计多途子信道环境,通过虚拟时间反转镜获得子信道不一致条件下的最佳匹配检测信号,实现对接收信号的时反相关检测.仿真结果表明,本文所设计的探测信号和检测方法,能够克服复杂的信道条件和多途子信道不一致性引起的检测问题,满足多基地声纳探测需求,实现多源目标回波分辨.     

Theoretical studies of the effect of the dipolar field in multiple spin-echo sequences with refocusing pulses of finite duration

It has been observed recently that the finite duration of refocusing rf pulses in a multiecho acquisition of the signal formed under the influence of the dipolar field leads to significant signal attenuation [S. Kennedy, Z. Chen, C.K. Wong, E.W.-C. Kwok, J. Zhong, Investigation of multiple-echo spin-echo signal acquisition under distant dipole-dipole interactions, Proc. Int. Soc. Magn. Reson. Med. 13 (2005) 2288]. Hereto, we quantify the phenomenon by evaluating analytically the influences of both the distant dipolar field (DDF) and transverse relaxation T2 on the magnetization in a multiecho pulse sequence based on correlation spectroscopy revamped by asymmetric z-gradient echo detection (CRAZED). Analytic expressions for the magnetization were obtained, which demonstrate explicitly the origin of rephased signal in the presence of the finite pi pulses in the multiecho train. The expressions also explain the effects of the DDF and T2 during the refocusing pulses on the signal strength, and show the substantial signal dependence on the phase of the rf pulses. We show that when the DDF effect during the pulse is canceled, the signal rises primarily during the free evolution time in the acquisition period. This elucidates the signal attenuation when the rf pulses cover a significant proportion of time in the sequence. In addition, we performed an optimization on the number of refocusing pulses that maximizes the total acquired signal using parameters for water, brain white matter, and muscle. We found that maximal signal-to-noise ratio is obtained when the pulse duration approximately equals the free evolution time in the samples with a wide range of T2.     

Echo-spacing optimization for the simultaneous measurement of reversible (R2') and irreversible (R2) transverse relaxation rates

Accurate measurement of reversible (R2') and irreversible (R2) transverse relaxation rates plays a key role in various magnetic resonance imaging research and applications. Although optimization of echo spacing for a multiecho pulse sequence measuring a single exponential decay has been investigated, optimization in sequences such as Gradient-Echo Sampling of Free Induction Decay and Echo (GESFIDE), in which two echo trains are simultaneously measured to obtain both R2 and R2', has not been reported. In this work, optimum echo spacings for the GESFIDE sequence are determined to improve the accuracy of measured relaxation parameters. Various relaxation rates and the number of acquired echoes are considered, as well as whether the receiver bandwidth is kept fixed or is varied with echo spacing. In the case of constant receiver bandwidth, results show that the echo train length approximately equal to T2* should be used for each echo train in GESFIDE to minimize uncertainty in R2 or R2'. If the receiver bandwidth is allowed to change with echo spacing in order to maximize the image signal-to-noise ratio, the optimum echo train length will vary, generally increasing with the number of echoes.     

Efficiency of Spurious Signal Cancellation under the NQR Detection of Some Explosives by the SLIME-Type Pulse Sequences

Two versions of the spin-lock inversion mid-echo pulse sequence used for the prompt nuclear quadrupole resonance detection of explosives have been studied experimentally. These sequences are modifications of the conventional multiple pulse spin-locking sequence and differ from it by additional groups of pulses which invert echo signals. It was found that spurious signals produced by some magnetic objects are suppressed by one of these sequences much stronger than by the other. The attenuation of echo signals due to their inversion by the group of the inverting pulses is measured. The number of pulses is optimized in both the sequences to obtain maximum signal-to-noise ratio, taking into account some loss in the magnitude of inverted echoes.     

SAR reduced pulse sequences

Three techniques were considered for reducing the RF (radiofrequency) power deposition in the body while maintaining scan time efficiency: reducing the RF peak amplitude while increasing the pulse width, substituting gradient echoes for spin echoes, and reducing the flip angle of the phase reversal pulse. The use of gradient echoes was found to be the most efficient means to reduce the power delivered to the patient and to obtain rapid data acquisition. The effect upon SAR (specific absorption rate) and SNR (signal-to-noise ratio) was demonstrated on a phantom when the phase reversal pulse was reduced from the standard 180 degrees to 90 degrees. Data in the body indicated a fairly constant SNR down to a refocusing flip angle between 110 degrees and 135 degrees. An initial clinical evaluation was performed at three institutions using the method of reducing the flip angle of the phase reversal pulse. The scan with theta = 120 degrees was rated by readers in a blinded study as having acceptable diagnostic image quality while the 135 degrees scan had comparable image quality to a conventional 90 degrees - 180 degrees pulse sequence. The use of reduced phase reversal pulses was seen as an efficient protocol to obtain T1-weighted images at rapid data rates while reducing the power delivered to the body by about 40%.     

Acoustic features of objects matched by an echolocating bottlenose dolphin

The focus of this study was to investigate how dolphins use acoustic features in returning echolocation signals to discriminate among objects. An echolocating dolphin performed a match-to-sample task with objects that varied in size, shape, material, and texture. After the task was completed, the features of the object echoes were measured (e.g., target strength, peak frequency). The dolphin's error patterns were examined in conjunction with the between-object variation in acoustic features to identify the acoustic features that the dolphin used to discriminate among the objects. The present study explored two hypotheses regarding the way dolphins use acoustic information in echoes: (1) use of a single feature, or (2) use of a linear combination of multiple features. The results suggested that dolphins do not use a single feature across all object sets or a linear combination of six echo features. Five features appeared to be important to the dolphin on four or more sets: the echo spectrum shape, the pattern of changes in target strength and number of highlights as a function of object orientation, and peak and center frequency. These data suggest that dolphins use multiple features and integrate information across echoes from a range of object orientations.     

Echo-intensity compensation in echolocating bats (Pipistrellus abramus) during flight measured by a telemetry microphone

An onboard microphone (Telemike) was developed to examine changes in the basic characteristics of echolocation sounds of small frequency-modulated echolocating bats, Pipistrellus abramus. Using a dual high-speed video camera system, spatiotemporal observations of echolocation characteristics were conducted on bats during a landing flight task in the laboratory. The Telemike allowed us to observe emitted pulses and returning echoes to which the flying bats listened during flight, and the acoustic parameters could be precisely measured without traditional problems such as the directional properties of the recording microphone and the emitted pulse, or traveling loss of the sound in the air. Pulse intensity in bats intending to land exhibited a marked decrease by 30 dB within 2 m of the target wall, and the reduction rate was approximately 6.5 dB per halving of distance. The intensity of echoes returning from the target wall indicated a nearly constant intensity (-42.6 +/- 5.5 dB weaker than the pulse emitted in search phase) within a target distance of 2 m. These findings provide direct evidence that bats adjust pulse intensity to compensate for changes in echo intensity to maintain a constant intensity of the echo returned from the approaching target at an optimal range.     

正交多相码连续波主动声呐回波检测算法设计

与常规脉冲式主动声呐相比,连续波主动声呐能够提高目标回波的时间处理增益和目标信息更新速率。该文提出一种由正交多相码合成的连续发射波形,分析了发射信号和目标回波模型,设计了多通道匹配滤波器组完成回波检测。为了进一步提高接收机检测性能,提出了多通道非相干积累的处理方法。通过数值仿真,分析提出的连续波形的多普勒分辨性能和目标信息更新率。通过蒙特卡罗法获取接收机工作特性曲线,比较了脉冲式主动声呐和连续波主动声呐在均匀混响背景下对单目标检测性能的差异。仿真结果表明,该文设计的连续波波形具有较好的多普勒分辨性能,在均匀混响背景下,回波检测算法能够明显提高单个目标的探测能力。     

Presence detection under optimum fusion in an ultrasonic sensor system

Reliable presence detection is a requirement in energy-efficient occupancy-adaptive indoor lighting systems. A system of multiple ultrasonic sensors is considered for presence detection, and the performance gain from optimum fusion is studied. Two cases are considered wherein an individual sensor determines presence based on (i) local detection by processing echoes at its receiver, and (ii) the optimum Chair-Varshney fusion rule using multiple sensor detection results. The performance gains of using optimum fusion over local detection are characterized under different sensor system configurations and it is shown that improved detection sensitivity is obtained over a larger detection coverage region.     

基于强耦合Duffing振子的微弱脉冲信号检测与参数估计

耦合Duffing振子在检测强噪声中的微弱脉冲信号时具有可检测信噪比低等优点,但目前检测模型还存在系统性能与初始状态有关、只能工作在倍周期分岔状态等缺陷.为此本文构建了一种能克服上述缺点的新的微弱脉冲信号检测模型,通过对两个Duffing振子同时施加较大的恢复力和阻尼力耦合,可使振子间产生广义的"阱内失同步"现象,基于这种现象可实现微弱脉冲信号的检测与恢复.以信噪比改善和波形相似度为衡量指标,研究了周期策动力幅值与周期、耦合系数、计算步长、阻尼系数等参量对模型信号检测与波形恢复效果的影响.对方波、双指数脉冲和高斯导数脉冲进行检测和恢复的实验结果表明,本文所构建的模型能够在较低信噪比条件下有效地检测并恢复出高斯白噪声背景中的微弱脉冲信号,进而改善了现有的Duffing振子对非周期脉冲信号的检测能力并扩展了其应用领域.     

低信噪比下的二维联合线性布雷格曼迭代快速超分辨成像算法

针对实际逆合成孔径雷达(ISAR)成像时带宽有限、方位孔径稀疏的小角度回波数据条件下,常规算法的成像分辨率不高等问题,基于压缩感知理论,提出了一种低信噪比条件下的二维联合布雷格曼迭代快速ISAR超分辨成像算法.首先,将雷达回波构建为距离频域-方位多普勒域的二维稀疏表示模型,在此基础上,将二维超分辨成像问题转换为二维联合压缩感知的稀疏重构问题;其次,为了避免重构时向量化操作带来的复杂度,提出了二维联合布雷格曼迭代算法,为实现快速重构,将加权残量迭代、估计停滞步长与感知矩阵条件数优化三种加快收敛速度的思想相结合,既利用了布雷格曼迭代在低信噪比条件下的重构能力又能保证快速成像.最后仿真实验结果表明在欠采样和低信噪比条件下本文算法能够缩短成像时间,且具备更好的噪声鲁棒性.