Mathematical modelling ano optimization strategies for acoustic source localization in reverberant environments

La presente Tesis se centra en el uso de técnicas modernas de optimización y de procesamiento de audio para la localización precisa y robusta de personas dentro de un entorno reverberante dotado con agrupaciones (arrays) de micrófonos. En esta tesis se han estudiado diversos aspectos de la localización sonora, incluyendo el modelado, la algoritmia, así como el calibrado previo que permite usar los algoritmos de localización incluso cuando la geometría de los sensores (micrófonos) es desconocida a priori. Las técnicas existentes hasta ahora requerían de un número elevado de micrófonos para obtener una alta precisión en la localización. Sin embargo, durante esta tesis se ha desarrollado un nuevo método que permite una mejora de más del 30\% en la precisión de la localización con un número reducido de micrófonos. La reducción en el número de micrófonos es importante ya que se traduce directamente en una disminución drástica del coste y en un aumento de la versatilidad del sistema final. Adicionalmente, se ha realizado un estudio exhaustivo de los fenómenos que afectan al sistema de adquisición y procesado de la señal, con el objetivo de mejorar el modelo propuesto anteriormente. Dicho estudio profundiza en el conocimiento y modelado del filtrado PHAT (ampliamente utilizado en localización acústica) y de los aspectos que lo hacen especialmente adecuado para localización. Fruto del anterior estudio, y en colaboración con investigadores del instituto IDIAP (Suiza), se ha desarrollado un sistema de auto-calibración de las posiciones de los micrófonos a partir del ruido difuso presente en una sala en silencio. Esta aportación relacionada con los métodos previos basados en la coherencia. Sin embargo es capaz de reducir el ruido atendiendo a parámetros físicos previamente conocidos (distancia máxima entre los micrófonos). Gracias a ello se consigue una mejor precisión utilizando un menor tiempo de cómputo. El conocimiento de los efectos del filtro PHAT ha permitido crear un nuevo modelo que permite la representación 'sparse' del típico escenario de localización. Este tipo de representación se ha demostrado ser muy conveniente para localización, permitiendo un enfoque sencillo del caso en el que existen múltiples fuentes simultáneas. La última aportación de esta tesis, es el de la caracterización de las Matrices TDOA (Time difference of arrival -Diferencia de tiempos de llegada, en castellano-). Este tipo de matrices son especialmente útiles en audio pero no están limitadas a él. Además, este estudio transciende a la localización con sonido ya que propone métodos de reducción de ruido de las medias TDOA basados en una representación matricial 'low-rank', siendo útil, además de en localización, en técnicas tales como el beamforming o el autocalibrado

Experimental Investigation of Supersonic Jets Using Optical Diagnostics

The complexity of many fluid flows and phenomena is a well-known characteristic driven primarily by turbulence, which has been a focal point of study for decades. Most engineering applications in fluids will encounter turbulence, and hence the need to understand how turbulence might influence the problem at hand is omnipresent. In many turbulent flows, there are large-scale coherent structures which directly influence macro-scale processes of engineering relevance, such as noise production. Over decades of study, it has been demonstrated that similar structures are often observed across many flowfields, despite differences in characteristic parameters, and this has led to the pursuit of simplified models through the use of these dominant, shared structures. Large-scale, coherent structures are of particular importance in turbulent jets, as they represent efficient sources of sound. Noise reduction of subsonic and supersonic fluid jets represents a large interest in the study of acoustic production in jets, and much of it is viewed in the context of controlling these large-scale structures. Supersonic jets in particular may emit an intense sound known as jet screech as a consequence of these structures. This noise source easily has the potential to be damaging to both structures and humans in close proximity, and is a particular target of noise reduction efforts. Turbulent flowfields from two supersonic, underexpanded, screeching jets are analyzed by means of three non-intrusive, high-speed, optical diagnostics. The first technique is high-speed schlieren. The second technique is pulse-burst particle image velocimetry (PB-PIV). The third technique is known as focused laser differential interferometry (FLDI). Extensive spectral, statistical, and modal decomposition analyses are used in this work to identify, extract, and characterize the most energetic features and coherent structures associated with jet screech. The large field of view of the image-based datasets is fully taken advantage of by creating spatial maps of spectral and statistical quantities, which highlight regions of increased fluctuations or activity. These are shown to agree with, or demonstrate additional features that could not be reproduced by the modal analyses. Modal analyses are used to evaluate the structure of the most energetic components in the flow of both screeching jets

Visualizing Interior And Exterior Jet Aircraft Noise

In today\u27s competitive aerospace industry, the quest for quiet has drawn significant attention to both the interior and exterior design of an airplane. Understanding the noise generation mechanisms of a jet aircraft is a crucial first step toward developing the most cost-effective noise and vibrations abatement methods. In this investigation, the Helmholtz Equation Least Squares (HELS) based nearfield acoustic holography will be used to understand noise transmission caused by jet engine and turbulence into the fuselage of a jet aircraft cruising at 30,000 ft. Modern propulsive jet engines produce exterior noise sources with a high amplitude noise field and complicated characteristics, which makes them very difficult to characterize. In particular, there are turbulent eddies that are moving through the jet at high speeds along the jet boundary. These turbulent eddies in the shear layer produce a directional and frequency dependent noise. The original HELS approach assumes a spherical source at the origin and computes the acoustic field based on spherical emission from this source. This assumption of one source at the origin is not sufficient to characterize a complex source like a jet. As such, a modified HELS approach is introduced that will help improve the source characterization as it is not dependent on a single source at the origin but a number of virtual sources throughout the space. Custom microphones are created to take acoustic pressure measurements around the jet engine. These measured acoustic pressures are then taken as input to the modified HELS algorithm to visualize the noise pattern of a subsonic jet engine

Structure Borne Noise Analysis Using Helmholtz Equation Least Squares Based Forced Vibro Acoustic Components

This dissertation presents a structure-borne noise analysis technology that is focused on providing a cost-effective noise reduction strategy. Structure-borne sound is generated or transmitted through structural vibration; however, only a small portion of the vibration can effectively produce sound and radiate it to the far-field. Therefore, cost-effective noise reduction is reliant on identifying and suppressing the critical vibration components that are directly responsible for an undesired sound. However, current technologies cannot successfully identify these critical vibration components from the point of view of direct contribution to sound radiation and hence cannot guarantee the best cost-effective noise reduction. The technology developed here provides a strategy towards identifying the critical vibration components and methodically suppressing them to achieve a cost-effective noise reduction. The core of this technology is Helmholtz equation least squares (HELS) based nearfield acoustic holography method. In this study, the HELS formulations derived in spherical co-ordinates using spherical wave expansion functions utilize the input data of acoustic pressures measured in the nearfield of a vibrating object to reconstruct the vibro-acoustic responses on the source surface and acoustic quantities in the far field. Using these formulations, three steps were taken to achieve the goal. First, hybrid regularization techniques were developed to improve the reconstruction accuracy of normal surface velocity of the original HELS method. Second, correlations between the surface vibro-acoustic responses and acoustic radiation were factorized using singular value decomposition to obtain orthogonal basis known here as the forced vibro-acoustic components (F-VACs). The F-VACs enables one to identify the critical vibration components for sound radiation in a similar manner that modal decomposition identifies the critical natural modes in a structural vibration. Finally, the dominant F-VAC responsible for acoustic radiation are decomposed into the natural modes of a vibrating structure, and the critical vibration modes responsible for the dominant F-VAC are identified. Experimental validation for this technology was conducted using a baffled square plate and a scaled model vehicle cabin subject to a point force excitation inside a fully anechoic chamber