Automated Classification of Transient Contamination in Stationary Acoustic Data

An automated procedure for the classification of transient contamination of stationary acoustic data is proposed and analyzed. The procedure requires the assumption that the stationary acoustic data of interest can be modeled as a band-limited, Gaussian random process. It also requires that the transient contamination be of higher variance than the acoustic data of interest. When these assumptions are satisfied, it is a blind separation procedure, aside from the initial input specifying how to subdivide the time series of interest. No a priori threshold criterion is required. Simulation results show that for a sufficient number of blocks, the method performs well, as long as the occasional false positive or false negative is acceptable. The effectiveness of the procedure is demonstrated with an application to experimental wind tunnel acoustic test data which are contaminated by hydrodynamic gusts

Assessment of Unsteady Propagation Characteristics and Corrections in Aeroacoustic Wind Tunnels Using an Acoustic Pulse

Two types of aeroacoustic wind tunnel test section configurations have been tested in the NASA Langley Quiet Flow Facility. The first is a more traditional open-jet configuration, where test section flow passes unbounded through the facility anechoic chamber. The second is the more recent Kevlar wall configuration, where a tensioned Kevlar sheet bounds the test section flow from the facility anechoic chamber. For both configurations, acoustic instrumentation is in the surrounding quiescent space. Both configurations are evaluated with a laser-based pulsed acoustic source, which provides unique capability for assessing the facility unsteady acoustic propagation characteristics. Metrics based on the wander and spread of the pulses are evaluated and show that measurements using Kevlar walls experience dramatically reduced unsteady effects when compared to the open-jet configuration. This leads to a corresponding improvement in coherence between microphones with the Kevlar configuration. Corrections for magnitude and phase for propagation through Kevlar as compared to open-jet propagation are calculated. While limitations in the experimental setup make quantitative analysis difficult, qualitative analysis shows Kevlar magnitude corrections similar to those determined in previous literature. Directivity effects beyond those already present for open-jet configurations are minimal. Phase corrections relative to open-jet configurations are indeterminate within the limitations of the experiment, though data suggest such corrections are not extreme. The background noise produced by the Kevlar is found to be its one drawback when compared with the open-jet configuration, showing significantly greater levels at high frequencies

Wavespace-Based Coherent Deconvolution

Array deconvolution is commonly used in aeroacoustic analysis to remove the influence of a microphone array's point spread function from a conventional beamforming map. Unfortunately, the majority of deconvolution algorithms assume that the acoustic sources in a measurement are incoherent, which can be problematic for some aeroacoustic phenomena with coherent, spatially-distributed characteristics. While several algorithms have been proposed to handle coherent sources, some are computationally intractable for many problems while others require restrictive assumptions about the source field. Newer generalized inverse techniques hold promise, but are still under investigation for general use. An alternate coherent deconvolution method is proposed based on a wavespace transformation of the array data. Wavespace analysis offers advantages over curved-wave array processing, such as providing an explicit shift-invariance in the convolution of the array sampling function with the acoustic wave field. However, usage of the wavespace transformation assumes the acoustic wave field is accurately approximated as a superposition of plane wave fields, regardless of true wavefront curvature. The wavespace technique leverages Fourier transforms to quickly evaluate a shift-invariant convolution. The method is derived for and applied to ideal incoherent and coherent plane wave fields to demonstrate its ability to determine magnitude and relative phase of multiple coherent sources. Multi-scale processing is explored as a means of accelerating solution convergence. A case with a spherical wave front is evaluated. Finally, a trailing edge noise experiment case is considered. Results show the method successfully deconvolves incoherent, partially-coherent, and coherent plane wave fields to a degree necessary for quantitative evaluation. Curved wave front cases warrant further investigation. A potential extension to nearfield beamforming is proposed

Advanced Background Subtraction Applied to Aeroacoustic Wind Tunnel Testing

An advanced form of background subtraction is presented and applied to aeroacoustic wind tunnel data. A variant of this method has seen use in other fields such as climatology and medical imaging. The technique, based on an eigenvalue decomposition of the background noise cross-spectral matrix, is robust against situations where isolated background auto-spectral levels are measured to be higher than levels of combined source and background signals. It also provides an alternate estimate of the cross-spectrum, which previously might have poor definition for low signal-to-noise ratio measurements. Simulated results indicate similar performance to conventional background subtraction when the subtracted spectra are weaker than the true contaminating background levels. Superior performance is observed when the subtracted spectra are stronger than the true contaminating background levels. Experimental results show limited success in recovering signal behavior for data where conventional background subtraction fails. They also demonstrate the new subtraction technique's ability to maintain a proper coherence relationship in the modified cross-spectral matrix. Beam-forming and de-convolution results indicate the method can successfully separate sources. Results also show a reduced need for the use of diagonal removal in phased array processing, at least for the limited data sets considered

Clinical Evolution of New Delhi Metallo-β-Lactamase (NDM) optimizes resistance under Zn(II) Deprivation

Carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae (CRE) are rapidly spreading and taking a staggering toll on all health care systems, largely due to the dissemination of genes coding for potent carbapenemases. An important family of carbapenemases are the Zn(II)-dependent β-lactamases, known as metallo-β-lactamases (MBLs). Among them, the New Delhi metallo-β-lactamase (NDM) has experienced the fastest and widest geographical spread. While other clinically important MBLs are soluble periplasmic enzymes, NDMs are lipoproteins anchored to the outer membrane in Gram-negative bacteria. This unique cellular localization endows NDMs with enhanced stability upon the Zn(II) starvation elicited by the immune system response at the sites of infection. Since the first report of NDM-1, new allelic variants (16 in total) have been identified in clinical isolates differing by a limited number of substitutions. Here, we show that these variants have evolved by accumulating mutations that enhance their stability or the Zn(II) binding affinity in vivo, overriding the most common evolutionary pressure acting on catalytic efficiency. We identified the ubiquitous substitution M154L as responsible for improving the Zn(II) binding capabilities of the NDM variants. These results also reveal that Zn(II) deprivation imposes a strict constraint on the evolution of this MBL, overriding the most common pressures acting on catalytic performance, and shed light on possible inhibitory strategies.Fil: Bahr, Guillermo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Rosario. Instituto de Biología Molecular y Celular de Rosario. Universidad Nacional de Rosario. Facultad de Ciencias Bioquímicas y Farmacéuticas. Instituto de Biología Molecular y Celular de Rosario; ArgentinaFil: Vitor Horen, Luisina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Rosario. Instituto de Biología Molecular y Celular de Rosario. Universidad Nacional de Rosario. Facultad de Ciencias Bioquímicas y Farmacéuticas. Instituto de Biología Molecular y Celular de Rosario; ArgentinaFil: Bethel, Christopher R.. Louis Stokes Cleveland VA Medical Center; Estados UnidosFil: Bonomo, Robert A.. Louis Stokes Cleveland VA Medical Center; Estados UnidosFil: Gonzalez, Lisandro Javier. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Rosario. Instituto de Biología Molecular y Celular de Rosario. Universidad Nacional de Rosario. Facultad de Ciencias Bioquímicas y Farmacéuticas. Instituto de Biología Molecular y Celular de Rosario; ArgentinaFil: Vila, Alejandro Jose. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Rosario. Instituto de Biología Molecular y Celular de Rosario. Universidad Nacional de Rosario. Facultad de Ciencias Bioquímicas y Farmacéuticas. Instituto de Biología Molecular y Celular de Rosario; Argentin

Experimental Study of Noise Shielding by a NACA 0012 Airfoil

The effects of sound source location, Mach number and angle of attack on the shielding of a laser-induced sound source by a NACA 0012 airfoil are examined. The sound source is a small plasma generated by a high energy, laser beam focused to a point. In-flow microphone measurements are acquired in the midspan plane of the airfoil over a broad range of streamwise stations, and shielding levels are calculated over different frequency ranges from the measurements acquired with and without the airfoil installed. Shielding levels are shown to increase as the source is positioned closer to the mid-chord of the airfoil, and to significantly decrease with increasing flow Mach number, except when the source is positioned near the leading edge of the airfoil. Both with and without flow, changes in angle of attack are associated with a corresponding shift of the shadow region. Finally, the effects of multipath signals, observer distance and signal scatter on the measured shielding levels are discussed

A Comparison of the Noise Characteristics of a Conventional Slat and Krueger Flap

An aeroacoustic test of two types of leading-edge high-lift devices has been conducted in the NASA Langley Quiet Flow Facility. The test compares a conventional slat with a notional equivalent-mission Krueger flap. The test matrix includes points that allow for direct comparison of the conventional and Krueger devices for equivalent-mission configurations, where the two high-lift devices satisfy the same lift requirements for a free air flight path at the same cruise airfoil angle of attack. Measurements are made for multiple Mach numbers and directivity angles. Results indicate that the Krueger flap shows similar agreement to the expected power law scaling of a conventional flap, both in terms of Strouhal number and fixed frequency (as a surrogate for Helmholtz number). Directivity patterns vary depending on the specific slat and Krueger orientations. Varying the slat gap while holding overlap constant has the same influence on both the conventional slat and Krueger flap acoustic signature. Closing the gap shows dramatic reduction in levels for both devices. Varying the Krueger overlap has a different effect on the data when compared to varying the slat overlap, but analysis is limited by acoustic sources that regularly present themselves in model-scale wind tunnel testing but are not present for full-scale vehicles. The Krueger cavity is found to have some influence on level and directivity, though not as much as the other considered parameter variations. Overall, while the spectra of the two devices are different in detail, their scaling behavior for varying parameters is extremely similar

Shelfbreak frontal structure and processes north of Cape Hatteras in winter

Author Posting. © Sears Foundation for Marine Research, 2008. This article is posted here by permission of Sears Foundation for Marine Research for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Journal of Marine Research 66 (2008): 755-799.The circulation north of Cape Hatteras is complicated by the proximity of the shelfbreak front, the Gulf Stream, and convergent shelf flow from the Middle and South Atlantic Bights. A three-week cruise in this region in January/February, 2005 was undertaken in order to study the structure of the shelfbreak front as it terminates near Cape Hatteras and to quantify the freshwater transport from the Middle Atlantic Bight shelf into the Gulf Stream. Two strongly contrasting conditions were identified. Early in the cruise, the Gulf Stream directly abutted the shelfbreak at Cape Hatteras and drove a northward flow over the continental shelf as far north as 35°45′N. All of the Middle Atlantic Bight shelf water terminated by 35°30′N. Ten days later, the Gulf Stream had moved away from the shelfbreak south of Cape Hatteras and strong winds from the north were present. During this time, the shelfbreak frontal jet was strong (maximum southward velocity of approximately 0.5 m s-1 with a Rossby number of 2) and abruptly turned eastward and offshore between 35°35′N and 35°45′N. Freshwater transport eastward from the shelfbreak jet was 7.4 mSv and southward over the shelf was 19.9 mSv, giving a total freshwater transport of 27.3 mSv. This likely represents an upper bound due to the strong wind forcing. Implications of these results for the freshwater budget of the Middle Atlantic Bight shelf, stability properties of the shelfbreak front in this region, and the formation of “Ford water” in the Gulf Stream are discussed.Support for the Rutgers satellite archive is provided by NSF, ONR and NOAA. This work was supported under NSF Grant Number OCE-0327249

A Flexible In Situ Power Monitoring Unit for Environmental Sensor Networks

Wireless radios are a great consumer of energy in sensor networks. Retrieving data from a remote deployment in an energy-efficient fashion is a difficult problem, and while solutions have been proposed in literature, real-world systems typically implement robust though inefficient methods. In an effort to bring efficient monitoring techniques to real-world environmental sensor networks, we seek to now quantify the performance brought by these algorithms in practical terms, i.e., by their resulting reduction in overall station energy consumption. To this end, we have developed a power monitoring extension board that integrates seamlessly with a commercial environmental sensor network platform. The board is capable of measuring all incoming and outgoing power for a station, and can disconnect subsystems, such as the solar panel or sensor bus, as necessary. The board is currently deployed on an outdoor network and is undergoing extensive testing

Acoustic Data Processing and Transient Signal Analysis for the Hybrid Wing Body 14- by 22-Foot Subsonic Wind Tunnel Test

An advanced vehicle concept, the HWB N2A-EXTE aircraft design, was tested in NASA Langley's 14- by 22-Foot Subsonic Wind Tunnel to study its acoustic characteristics for var- ious propulsion system installation and airframe con gurations. A signi cant upgrade to existing data processing systems was implemented, with a focus on portability and a re- duction in turnaround time. These requirements were met by updating codes originally written for a cluster environment and transferring them to a local workstation while en- abling GPU computing. Post-test, additional processing of the time series was required to remove transient hydrodynamic gusts from some of the microphone time series. A novel automated procedure was developed to analyze and reject contaminated blocks of data, under the assumption that the desired acoustic signal of interest was a band-limited sta- tionary random process, and of lower variance than the hydrodynamic contamination. The procedure is shown to successfully identify and remove contaminated blocks of data and retain the desired acoustic signal. Additional corrections to the data, mainly background subtraction, shear layer refraction calculations, atmospheric attenuation and microphone directivity corrections, were all necessary for initial analysis and noise assessments. These were implemented for the post-processing of spectral data, and are shown to behave as expected