Low-frequency sound propagation in porous media: Glass spheres and pea gravel

The sound propagation properties of two air-filled granular materials: large sifted pea gravel and 10 mm diameter glass spheres have been measured in an impedance tube. The experimental method was essentially the same as reported earlier [Swenson et al. Low-frequency sound wave parameter measurement in gravels. Appl Acoust 2010; 71: 45–51] for two other kinds of gravel: crushed limestone and undifferentiated pea gravel. Additional sampling and processing steps were applied to the microphone signals such that instead of tones, band-limited random noise was used as the input signal, and spectral domain complex pressures are now offered as input to the estimation algorithm. The estimation process extracts the best-fit attenuation coefficient, phase velocity, and characteristic impedance for the material over the signal frequencies, all with better precision than we previously obtained. Quadratic approximations for the acoustical parameters are given over the frequency range 25–160 Hz. The media are both slightly attenuating and dispersive, having attenuation coefficients within 0.13–0.34 Np/m, phase velocities smaller than those in air (180–240 m/s), and characteristic impedance approximately 3–5 times that for air. Pea gravel was more attenuating, and had slightly higher characteristic impedance, but lower phase velocities than the glass spheres.     

基于卡尔曼滤波的低复杂度去混响算法*

在电话会议、智能音箱等应用场景下,传声器往往处在声源的远场。混响信号的存在会掩蔽后续到达的直达声信号,降低传声器接收信号的语音质量,以及语音识别系统的准确识别率。多通道线性预测算法是一种经典的盲去混响算法,但该算法往往具有较高的计算复杂度。本文提出了一种简化的卡尔曼滤波更新算法,通过对角化卡尔曼滤波器状态向量误差协方差矩阵,降低了自适应多通道线性预测去混响算法的复杂度。通过与现有分块对角简化算法对比发现,本文提出的简化算法在保证语音质量的同时,进一步降低了原卡尔曼滤波算法的复杂度。     

An 80 Gbps multi-band access radio over fiber link with single side band optical millimeter-wave dispersion-tolerant transmission without FBG and optical filter

We are presenting a new low-cost Single Sideband (SSB) modulated Radio-over Fiber (RoF) communication system for millimeter (mm)-wave multiband wireless communication at the frequencies of 40 GHz, 80 GHz and 120 GHz. Its principle lies in the Carrier Suppressed modulation through a nested dual electrode Mach–Zehnder Modulator (MZM) and product modulator based baseband signal decomposition. In this novel method, the optical signal is decomposed into different SSB signals using a power splitter and product modulators at the base station. This proposed method uses a different technique for a baseband signal decomposition from the existing method. The proposed signal decomposition technique has reduced the nonlinearities due to the FBGs. The proposed method is compared with the existing method in terms of BER, data rate and OSNR. The simulation results disclose that our proposed scheme outperforms the existing methods at a higher data rate of 80 Gbps with a minimum BER and privileged Q factor.     

IQ quadrature demodulation algorithm used in heterodyne detection

In order to obtain better detection results of heterodyne, we used phase IQ quadrature demodulation algorithm to process the data which detected by laser heterodyne. Based on laser heterodyne interferometer, processing the data in the interferometer phase IQ quadrature demodulation algorithm from the signal to noise ratio, sampling rate, sampling rate, filter order and cutoff frequency, verify the effects of these system parameters to the phase precision, and choose the best parameters to obtain a better phase precision through experiment as: the signal to noise ratio is 25 dB, the IF signal frequency is 98.3 MHz, 98.5 MHz, 99.1 MHz, 99.5 MHz and 100 MHz, the sampling rate is 512–2048, the cutoff frequency and order of the filter are 0.11 and 40, respectively.     

Ultrasonic measurement and characterization of a low concentration system of solid particles in liquid,in high shear flow

The objective of this paper is ultrasonic measurement and characterization of solid particles in liquid (20–40 μm glass beads in water) in high shear flow (1.5–2 m/s). Ultrasonic time dependent signals as well as frequency spectra are analyzed, for simultaneous determination of average particle concentration and average flow speed. As a result, the distribution of sound energy in such concentrated systems at given flow speeds is measured. Influence of flow turbulence is demonstrated in measurements. Also, characteristic behaviors of liquid–particle mixtures like particle clustering and influence of gas bubbles have been investigated. Experimental results are complemented with a discussion of factors that influence measurement uncertainty.     

Design parameters of stainless steel plates for maximizing high frequency ultrasound wave transmission

This work validated, in a higher frequency range, the theoretical predictions made by Boyle around 1930, which state that the optimal transmission of sound pressure through a metal plate occurs when the plate thickness equals a multiple of half the wavelength of the sound wave. Several reactor design parameters influencing the transmission of high frequency ultrasonic waves through a stainless steel plate were examined. The transmission properties of steel plates of various thicknesses (1–7 mm) were studied for frequencies ranging from 400 kHz to 2 MHz and at different distances between plates and transducers. It was shown that transmission of sound pressure through a steel plate showed high dependence of the thickness of the plate to the frequency of the sound wave (thickness ratio). Maximum sound pressure transmission of ∼60% of the incident pressure was observed when the ratio of the plate thickness to the applied frequency was a multiple of a half wavelength (2 MHz, 6 mm stainless steel plate). In contrast, minimal sound pressure transmission (∼10–20%) was measured for thickness ratios that were not a multiple of a half wavelength. Furthermore, the attenuation of the sound pressure in the transmission region was also investigated. As expected, it was confirmed that higher frequencies have more pronounced sound pressure attenuation than lower frequencies. The spatial distribution of the sound pressure transmitted through the plate characterized by sonochemiluminescence measurements using luminol emission, supports the validity of the pressure measurements in this study.     

Sound insulation property of Al–Si closed-cell aluminum foam sandwich panels

Al–Si closed-cell aluminum foam sandwich panels (1240 mm × 1100 mm) of different thicknesses and different densities were prepared by molten body transitional foaming process in Northeastern University. The experiments were carried out to investigate the sound insulation property of Al–Si closed-cell aluminum foam sandwich panels of different thicknesses and different densities under different frequencies (100–4000 Hz). Results show that sound reduction index (R) is small under low frequencies, large under high frequencies; thickness affects the sound insulation property of material obviously: when the thicknesses of Al–Si closed-cell aluminum foam sandwich panels are 12, 22, and 32 mm, the corresponding weighted sound reduction indices (R_W) are 26.3, 32.2, and 34.6 dB, respectively, the rising trend tempered; the increase of density of Al–Si closed-cell aluminum foam can also increase the sound insulation property: when the densities of aluminum foam are 0.31, 0.51, and 0.67 g/cm³, the corresponding weighted sound reduction indices (R_W) are 28.9, 34.3, and 34.6 dB, the increasing value mitigating.     

A novel tunable optical oscillator for broadband signals

A tunable optical oscillator that generates signals at the micro- to millimeter-wave band for wireless communication applications is suggested. It uses directly modulated semiconductor lasers, in which sideband modes and four-wave mixing (FWM) conjugate modes are injection locked by the simple control of the applied modulation power. The signals at 15 GHz with phase noise of below ?95 dBc/Hz at an offset frequency of 100 kHz were experimentally obtained. The frequency of the generated signal is tunable, and the maximum achievable signal frequency is limited mainly by the bandwidth of the receiver.     

Phase errors in FSE signals due to low frequency electromagnetic interference

ObjectiveTo quantitatively evaluate induced phase errors in fast spin echo (FSE) signals due to low frequency electromagnetic inference (EMI).MethodsSpecific form of Bloch equation is numerically solved in time domain for two different FSE pulse sequences (ETL = 8) with two different bandwidths. A single spin is modeled at x = 10 cm, EMI frequencies are simulated from 1 to 1000 Hz and phase errors at different echo times are calculated.ResultsPhase errors in the received echo signals induced by EMI are significantly higher at low frequencies (< 200 Hz) than at high frequencies and the phase errors at low frequencies can be effectively reduced by using high receiving bandwidth.ConclusionPulse sequence bandwidth can be used to control the phase errors in the FSE signals due to low frequency EMI.     

Power absorbed during whole-body fore-and-aft vibration: Effects of sitting posture,backrest, and footrest

Although the discomfort or injury associated with whole-body vibration cannot be predicted directly from the power absorbed during exposure to vibration, the absorbed power may contribute to understanding of the biodynamics involved in such responses. From measurements of force and acceleration at the seat, the feet, and the backrest, the power absorbed at these three locations was calculated for subjects sitting in four postures (feet hanging, maximum thigh contact, average thigh contact, and minimum thigh contact) both with and without a rigid vertical backrest while exposed to four magnitudes (0.125, 0.25, 0.625, and 1.25 m s^?2 rms) of random fore-and-aft vibration. The power absorbed by the body at the supporting seat surface when there was no backrest showed a peak around 1 Hz and another peak between 3 and 4 Hz. Supporting the back with the backrest decreased the power absorbed at the seat at low frequencies but increased the power absorbed at high frequencies. Foot support influenced both the magnitude and the frequency of the peaks in the absorbed power spectra as well as the total absorbed power. The measurements of absorbed power are consistent with backrests being beneficial during exposure to low frequency fore-and-aft vibration but detrimental with high frequency fore-and-aft vibration.     

Spectral efficient hybrid wireless optical broadband access network (WOBAN) based on transmission of wireless MIMO OFDM signals over WDM PON

In this paper, a spectral efficient hybrid wireless optical broadband access network (WOBAN) is proposed and demonstrated based on the transmission of wireless multi-input multi-output orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (MIMO OFDM) signals over wavelength division multiplexing passive optical network (WDM PON). By using radio over fiber (ROF) techniques, the optical fiber is well adapted to propagate multiple wireless services having different carrier frequencies. It is a known fact that multiple wireless signals having the same carrier frequency cannot propagate over a single optical fiber at the same time, such as MIMO signals feeding multiple antennas in fiber wireless (FiWi) system. A novel optical single-sideband frequency translation technique is designed and simulated to solve this problem. This technique allows four pairs of wireless MIMO OFDM signals with the same carrier frequency for each pair to be transmitted over a single optical fiber by using one optical source per wavelength. The crosstalk between the different MIMO channels with the same frequency is eliminated, since each channel is upconverted on specified wavelength with enough channel spacing between them. Also the maximum crosstalk level between the different MIMO channels with different frequencies is very low around ?76 dB. The physical layer performance of the proposed WOBAN is analyzed in terms of the bit error rate (BER), error vector magnitude (EVM), and signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). The proposed WOBAN achieves 7.68 Gb/s data rate for 20 km for the optical back-end and 240 Mb/s for the outdoor wireless front-end.     

Two-dimensional optogalvanic spectroscopy

In this work, the time domain of optogalvanic signal is considered as an extra dimension for the analysis of the optogalvanic spectra. A time window was used to integrate over the different time regions of the temporal OG signals for each wavelength. The method enhanced the resolution of spectra considerably so that two closed transitions, which differ only by 4 pm, were precisely separated. In addition a new transition of Neon around 640 nm masked by a transition at 640.229 nm was observed and assigned using the new method.     

10 Gb/s optical carrier distributed network with W-band (0.1 THz) short-reach wireless communication system

Millimeter-wave (mm-wave) operated in W-band (75 GHz–0.11 THz) is of particular interests, since this frequency band can carry signals at much higher data rates. We demonstrate a 10 Gb/s optical carrier-distributed network with the wireless communication system. The mm-wave signal at carrier frequency of 0.1 THz is generated by a high speed near-ballistic uni-traveling carrier photodiode (NBUTC-PD) based transmitter (Tx), which is optically excited by optical short pulses. The optical pulse source is produced from a self-developed photonic mm-wave waveform generator (PMWG), which allows spectral line-by-line pulse shaping. Hence these optical pulses have high tolerance to fiber chromatic dispersion. The W-band 10 Gb/s wireless data is transmitted and received via a pair of horn antennas. The received 10 Gb/s data is envelope-detected and then used to drive an optical modulator at the remote antenna unit (RAU) to produce the upstream signal sending back to the central office (CO). 20 km single mode fiber (SMF) error free transmission is achieved. Analysis about the optimum repetition rate of the optical pulse source and the transmission performance of the upstream signal are also performed and discussed.     

球谐域自适应混响抵消与声源定位算法

提出了一种基于球谐域的自适应混响抵消与声源定位算法,该方法通过去混响处理改善语音质量,并提高球谐域定位算法在混响环境下的定位性能。推导了基于多通道线性预测的自适应混响抵消算法在球谐域的表达式,针对刚球模型提出分阶处理的去混响方法,并对去混响后的信号进行波达方向估计。采用32元球阵的仿真结果表明,相比于球谐域不分阶去混响方法,该方法最大可减少约2/3的运算量,同时语音PESQ得分及SRMR均显著提高。利用实验数据对算法性能进行测试,实验结果验证了该方法在实际声学环境中去混响和声源定位的有效性。      

分布式无线声传感网加权预测误差语声去混响方法

室内混响会严重降低语声质量,因此在室内语声通信中对混响的抑制显得尤为重要.针对无线声传感网,该文提出一种基于加权预测误差的分布式自适应去混响算法.通过调整传统递归最小二乘算法,所提出的分布式加权预测误差算法仅需利用一路相同的参考信号和其他节点的本地输出而非全部信号,便可实现最优输出,从而大幅度降低节点间传输的通道数与各...     

Ultrasound pressure distributions generated by high frequency transducers in large reactors

The performance of an ultrasound reactor chamber relies on the sound pressure level achieved throughout the system. The active volume of a high frequency ultrasound chamber can be determined by the sound pressure penetration and distribution provided by the transducers. This work evaluated the sound pressure levels and uniformity achieved in water by selected commercial scale high frequency plate transducers without and with reflector plates. Sound pressure produced by ultrasonic plate transducers vertically operating at frequencies of 400 kHz (120 W) and 2 MHz (128 W) was characterized with hydrophones in a 2 m long chamber and their effective operating distance across the chamber’s vertical cross section was determined. The 2 MHz transducer produced the highest pressure amplitude near the transducer surface, with a sharp decline of approximately 40% of the sound pressure occurring in the range between 55 and 155 mm from the transducer. The placement of a reflector plate 500 mm from the surface of the transducer was shown to improve the sound pressure uniformity of 2 MHz ultrasound. Ultrasound at 400 kHz was found to penetrate the fluid up to 2 m without significant losses. Furthermore, 400 kHz ultrasound generated a more uniform sound pressure distribution regardless of the presence or absence of a reflector plate. The choice of the transducer distance to the opposite reactor wall therefore depends on the transducer plate frequency selected. Based on pressure measurements in water, large scale 400 kHz reactor designs can consider larger transducer distance to opposite wall and larger active cross-section, and therefore can reach higher volumes than when using 2 MHz transducer plates.     

Influence of coding strategies in electric-acoustic hearing: A simulation dedicated to EAS cochlear implant,in the presence of noise

This work deals with electric-acoustic stimulation (EAS), which keeps the low frequency acoustic information and electrically codes the high frequencies of the signal. One of the goals of the coding strategies is to limit the phenomenon of channel interaction, which can occur in CIs. The “N-of-M” strategy, where only a subset of electrode channels is stimulated, may be of advantage. Generally, this processing is associated with a pre-emphasis filter. Two important parameters for the N-of-M strategy are the number of active channels (N) and the updating rate; the latter corresponds to the stimulation rate. M is the number of electrical channels.The goal of this study was to investigate the influence of these parameters on speech intelligibility in EAS. The signal was presented, in simulation, to normal-hearing (NH) subjects in acoustic (A), electric (E) and electric-acoustic conditions. Recognition performance was measured in quiet and in the presence of background noise (cafeteria noise).Signal-to-noise ratios (SNRs) ranged from 0 to +12 dB. Fifteen listeners participated in the experiment. The N values ranged from 2 to 10 (out of 10); M was 10. The frame updating rate was 250 updates per second (ups) and 1000 ups.Results showed that increasing N from 2 to 10 improved speech intelligibility, especially in the presence of the background noise, under E and EAS conditions. In noisy situations, 2/10 coupled with a high-pass pre-emphasis filter led to results similar to the 10/10 condition. Changing the frame rate from 250 ups to 1000 ups did not modify the performance.Future investigations on patients using EAS are now needed to validate the performance seen with NH listeners. Above all, in the strategy 2 out of 10, the number of pulses per second can be divided by 20, and when the pre-emphasis is used only a slight decrease in performance is expected; this is of interest when interaction between the electrodes corrupts the performance.     

General regression neural network for prediction of sound absorption coefficients of sandwich structure nonwoven absorbers

In this paper, we propose a more general forecasting method to predict the sound absorption coefficients at six central frequencies and the average sound absorption coefficient of a sandwich structure nonwoven absorber. The kernel assumption of the proposed method is that the acoustics property of sandwich structure nonwoven absorber is determined by some easily measured structural parameters, such as thickness, area density, porosity, and pore size of each layer, if the type of the fiber used in nonwoven is given. By holding this assumption in mind, we will use general regression neural network (GRNN) as a prediction model to bridge the gap between the measured structural parameters of each absorber and its sound absorption coefficient. In experiment section, one hundred sandwich structure nonwoven absorbers are particularly designed with ten different types of meltblown polypropylene nonwoven materials and four types of hydroentangled E-glass fiber nonwoven materials firstly. Secondly, four structural parameters, i.e., thickness, area density, porosity, and pore size of each layer are instrumentally measured, which will be used as the inputs of GRNN. Thirdly, the sound absorption coefficients of each absorber are measured with SW477 impedance tube. The sound absorption coefficient at 125 Hz, 250 Hz, 500 Hz, 1000 Hz, 2000 Hz, 4000 Hz and their average value are used as the outputs of GRNN. Finally, the prediction framework will be carried out after the desired training set selection and spread parameter optimization of GRNN. The prediction results of 20 test samples show the prediction method proposed in this paper is reliable and efficient.     

Dependence of cavitation,chemical effect,and mechanical effect thresholds on ultrasonic frequency

Cavitation, chemical effect, and mechanical effect thresholds were investigated in wide frequency ranges from 22 to 4880 kHz. Each threshold was measured in terms of sound pressure at fundamental frequency. Broadband noise emitted from acoustic cavitation bubbles was detected by a hydrophone to determine the cavitation threshold. Potassium iodide oxidation caused by acoustic cavitation was used to quantify the chemical effect threshold. The ultrasonic erosion of aluminum foil was conducted to estimate the mechanical effect threshold. The cavitation, chemical effect, and mechanical effect thresholds increased with increasing frequency. The chemical effect threshold was close to the cavitation threshold for all frequencies. At low frequency below 98 kHz, the mechanical effect threshold was nearly equal to the cavitation threshold. However, the mechanical effect threshold was greatly higher than the cavitation threshold at high frequency. In addition, the thresholds of the second harmonic and the first ultraharmonic signals were measured to detect bubble occurrence. The threshold of the second harmonic approximated to the cavitation threshold below 1000 kHz. On the other hand, the threshold of the first ultraharmonic was higher than the cavitation threshold below 98 kHz and near to the cavitation threshold at high frequency.     

Photoacoustic spectroscopy analysis of silicon crystals

A high resolution fully automated photoacoustic spectrometer (PAS) of the gas-microphone type is used in the photon energy region 0.8–1.6 eV to analyze the optical properties of silicon single crystals at different frequencies between 25 and 312 Hz. At modulating frequencies at which the sample thickness approaches its thermal diffusion length, the results obtained of untreated specimens using different PA cells reveal the presence of several peaks in the absorption tail, some of which are independent of the photon energy. The magnitude of these peaks is seen to be stronger than that of the maximum of the fundamental edge of silicon, thus making it indistinct. At lower modulating frequencies at which the sample thickness is far less than its thermal diffusion length and using a highly reflecting backing material, multiple reflections of the light beam within the sample interfaces are seen to enhance the PA amplitude signal sensitivity response as predicted theoretically. The effect of etching silicon samples in a diluted solution of hydrofluoric acid (5%) on photoacoustic spectra has been investigated. It is observed that this process removes all spurious features in the spectra originating from the surface contaminants making the fundamental absorption edge clearly visible and leaving only one distinct peak at hν=0.9 eV. Transmission-photoacoustic (T-PAS) has also been used to study silicon single crystals. In the light of recent literature a comparison is carried out between the results obtained using the two techniques in determining the absorption coefficient and the gap energy.