Biomedical subjects

David R Dowling

Publications and source records attributed to David R Dowling.

7 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2003

Broadband performance of a moving time reversing array.

Acoustic time reversal exploits reciprocity between sources and receivers to generate backward propagating waves that automatically focus at their point of origin. In underwater acoustics, an array of transducers that can both transmit and receive, referred to as a time reversing array (TRA) or time reversal mirror (TRM), generates the back-propagating waves. Such arrays have been shown to spatially and temporally focus sound in unknown complicated multipath environments, and are therefore of interest for active sonar and underwater communication applications. Although stationary vertical linear TRAs have been favored in prior studies, practical applications of acoustic time reversal in underwater environments are likely to involve towed, tilted, horizontal, or bottom-mounted arrays. In particular, array motion introduces Doppler effects and eliminates source-receiver reciprocity, two factors that potentially impact the automatic focusing capability of TRAs. This paper presents the results from a theoretical and computational investigation into how array motion and orientation influence TRA retrofocusing in the shallow ocean. Here, the TRA tow speed is assumed constant, and the array is assumed to be straight and linear (vertical, horizontal, or tilted). And, for simplicity, the TRA is assumed to respond to a stationary point source emitting a broadband pulse. When a TRA moves, the retrofocus is predicted to shift in the direction of array motion due to the translation of the array between its reception and broadcast times. In addition, the performance of a towed horizontal TRA is predicted to degrade more rapidly with towing speed than that of an equivalent (but clearly idealized) towed vertical array because of range-dependent Doppler phase differences that do not influence the vertical array. However, short tilted arrays may approach vertical array performance and appear to be a potentially versatile compromise for implementing TRA concepts in active sonar or underwater communication systems.

Journal Article↗

PubMed2003

High-sensitivity photoacoustic leak testing.

The photoacoustic effect may be exploited for the detection and localization of gas leaks from otherwise sealed components. The technique involves filling the test component with a tracer gas, and radiating the component to produce photoacoustic sound from any leak site where tracer gas is present. This paper describes demonstration experiments utilizing 10.6-micro radiation from a carbon-dioxide laser and sulfur hexafluoride as a tracer gas for photoacoustic leak testing at leak rates between 6 x 10(-5) cm3/s (1 cm3 in 4.6 h) and 5 x 10(-9) cm3/s (1 cm3 in 6.3 years). The technique may reach or exceed the capabilities of the most sensitive commercial leak test systems using helium mass-spectrometers. In addition, comparison of the measured results to a simple scaling law suggests that tracer gas cloud geometry influences the photoacoustic signal amplitude.

Journal Article↗

PubMed2003

Effect of ocean currents on the performance of a time-reversing array in shallow water.

Active acoustic time reversal may be accomplished by recording sounds with an array of transducers--a time-reversing array (TRA) or time-reversal mirror (TRM)--and then replaying the recorded and time-reversed sounds from the same array to produce back-propagating waves that converge at the location(s) of the remote sound source(s). Future active sonar and underwater communication systems suitable for use in unknown shallow ocean waters may be developed from the automatic spatial and temporal focusing properties of TRAs. However, ocean currents affect time reversal because they alter acoustic reciprocity in the environment. This paper presents a theoretical and computational investigation into how ocean currents influence TRA retrofocusing in shallow ocean environments for various array orientations. The case of TRA retrofocusing in a three-dimensional range-independent sound channel with a steady horizontal ocean current is covered here, based on a normal-mode propagation model valid for low Mach number currents. The main finding is that in the presence of ocean currents (typically <1 m/s), a TRA performs well (the associated retrofocus amplitude decay is less than 1 dB) except that a retrofocus shift (up to a few wavelengths at 500 Hz at a range of 2.5 km) may occur due to the differing interaction between the ocean current profile and each acoustic normal mode. In addition, TRA performance is predicted to depend on the array orientation relative to the ocean current direction, especially for horizontal arrays.

Journal Article↗

PubMed2003

Gas-phase generation of photoacoustic sound in an open environment.

The photoacoustic effect is commonly exploited for molecular spectroscopy, nondestructive evaluation, and trace gas detection. Photoacoustic sound is produced when a photoactive material absorbs electromagnetic radiation and converts it to acoustic waves. This article focuses on the generation of photoacoustic sound from thermal expansion of photoactive gases due to unsteady heating from a laser light source, and extends the work of prior studies on photoacoustic sound generation in an open environment. Starting with the forced free-space wave equation, a simple model is constructed for photoacoustic sounds produced by both acoustically distributed and compact gas clouds. The model accounts for laser absorption through the Lambert-Beer law and includes the effects of photoactive gas cloud characteristics (shape, size, and concentration distribution), but does not include molecular diffusion, thermal conduction, convection, or the effects of acoustic propagation through sound-absorbing inhomogeneous media. This model is compared to experimentally measured photoacoustic sounds generated by scanning a 10.6-micron carbon dioxide (CO2) laser beam through small clouds of a photoactive gas, sulfur hexafluoride (SF6). For the current investigation, the photoactive gas clouds are formed either by low flow-rate calibrated leak sources or by a laminar jet emerging from a 1.6-mm-diam tube. Model-measurement comparisons are presented over a 3- to 160-kHz bandwidth. Signal pulse shapes from simple gas cloud geometries are found to match calculated results when unmeasured gas cloud characteristics within the model are adjusted.

Journal Article↗

PubMed2002

Broadband time-reversing array retrofocusing in noisy environments.

Acoustic time reversal is a promising technique for spatial and temporal focusing of sound in unknown environments. Acoustic time reversal can be implemented with an array of transducers that listens to a remote sound source and then transmits a time-reversed version of what was heard. In a noisy environment, the performance of such a time-reversing array (TRA) will be degraded because the array will receive and transmit noise, and the intended signal may be masked by ambient noise at the retrofocus location. This article presents formal results for the signal-to-noise ratio at the intended focus (SNRf) for TRAs that receive and send finite-duration broadband signals in noisy environments. When the noise is homogeneous and uncorrelated, and a broadcast power limitation sets the TRA's electronic amplification, the formal results can be simplified to an algebraic formula that includes the characteristics of the signal, the remote source, the TRA, and the noisy environment. Here, SNRf is found to be proportional to the product of the signal bandwidth and the duration of the signal pulse after propagation through the environment. Using parabolic-equation propagation simulations, the formal results for SNRf are illustrated for a shallow water environment at source-array ranges of 1 to 40 km and bandwidths from several tens of Hz to more than 500 Hz for a signal center frequency of 500 Hz. Shallow-water TRA noise rejection is predicted to be superior to that possible in free space because TRAs successfully exploit multipath-propagation.

Acoustics↗

PubMed2002

Parametric dependencies for photoacoustic leak localization.

Unintended gas or liquid leaks from manufactured components or manufacturing systems may be detrimental to consumers, manufacturers, and the environment. Thus, leak testing is important for quality, safety, and environmental reasons. This paper describes parametric dependencies for photoacoustic leak localization. The technique is based on the interaction of 10.6-micrometer radiation from a carbon dioxide (CO2) laser and a photoactive tracer gas, sulfur hexafluoride (SF6). For the current investigations, acoustic signals are generated by scanning a laser beam at high speed through gas plumes formed above calibrated leaks. These signals are remotely measured with a four-microphone linear array and analyzed using Bartlett and minimum-variance-distortionless (MVD) matched-field processing (MFP) techniques to determine leak location. This paper extends prior work in photoacoustic leak testing through (i) use of more signal frequencies; (ii) parametric study of four different laser scan rates; and (iii) examination of mismatch between the actual acoustic environment and the propagation model used in the MFP; and (iv) presentation of leak localization results on a curved surface. For a 12-watt CO2 laser exciting the small SF6 gas plume produced by a one-cm3-per-day leak with microphones placed 0.41 m from the leak location, root-mean-square localization uncertainties as small as +/-0.5 mm on a line scan of 0.46 m can be achieved when the largest possible number of signal frequencies fall in a measurement bandwidth of approximately 70 kHz.

Journal Article↗

PubMed2002

Orientation effects on linear time-reversing array retrofocusing in shallow water.

A time-reversing array (TRA) can retrofocus acoustic energy, in both time and space, to the original sound-source location without any environmental information. This paper presents results from an analytical and computational investigation into the effects that array orientation has on linear TRA retrofocusing in shallow water environments. A linear TRA has three limiting orthogonal orientations with respect to a distant sound source in a shallow water waveguide: vertical, endfire, and broadside. Here, TRA retrofocus characteristics are predicted for monochromatic sound propagation in a Pekeris waveguide using a modal sum Green's function and in a more realistic sound channel having vertical sound speed variation using a computed Green's function. Both analytical and computational results are compared for the three orthogonal array orientations with vertical arrays performing best. Differences in TRA retrofocusing performance in the three orientations are primarily determined by geometrical considerations and the extra mode-shape weighting inherent in the back-propagated field of horizontal TRAs.

Acoustics↗