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Intelligent Sound Measurement Sensor and System

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A special issue of Sensors (ISSN 1424-8220). This special issue belongs to the section "Physical Sensors".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (10 February 2022) | Viewed by 38754

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Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Cheng Siong Chin

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Guest Editor

Intelligent Systems Design, Newcastle University, Singapore 038986, Singapore
Interests: intelligent systems design of complex systems in uncertain environments (underwater/electric vehicle, battery, PV system, acoustic enclosure, and water distribution network) involving predictive analytics (data mining, predictive modeling, and machine learning)
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Prof. Dr. Mohammad Osman Tokhi

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Guest Editor

School of Engineering, London South Bank University, London SE1 0AA, UK
Interests: active noise and vibration control; adaptive/intelligent control; soft-computing modeling and control of dynamic systems; assistive robotics
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Comfort and wellbeing of an individual in a room depends largely on the sound pressure level within the room and psychoacoustics. The importance of accurate prediction of acoustics parameters is vital during the initial room's design stage. Many researchers provide a detailed study on the interaction between the acoustics and psychoacoustics parameters. The implementation of these sound measurement systems is still facing numerous challenges, such as uncertainties in the operating environment, human–instrument interactions, long computational times, background noise, and measurement time.

The aim of this Special Issue in sound measurement for uncertain environments is to contain the latest developments in intelligent algorithms (using different neural networks (NNs) such as the auto encoder, support vector regression, deep neural network, and others) with sensors operating in uncertain environments. Relevant technologies enhancing measurement, dexterity, stability, flexibility, and user experience are desired. Researchers involved in room or environment acoustics should find this particular issue extraordinary, and it will provide the latest perspective on the state-of-the-art.

Topics of interest include (but are not limited to) the following areas:

Sensor design and implementation
Sound diffusion
Sound localization
Room acoustics design
Signal processing and pattern recognition
Wireless communication systems
Multisensor fusion
Intelligent embedded system design
Autonomous measurement systems
Image-based and signal-based processing
Identification and detection
Machine learning methods
Swarm intelligence and evolutionary algorithms
Artificial neural networks
Quantification and measurement of user experience

Prof. Dr. Cheng Siong Chin

Prof. Dr. M. Osman Tokhi
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sensors is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Published Papers (12 papers)

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Research

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15 pages, 34537 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Validation of a 1:8 Scale Measurement Stand for Testing Airborne Sound Insulation

by Agata Szeląg, Katarzyna Baruch-Mazur, Krzysztof Brawata, Bartosz Przysucha and Dominik Mleczko

Sensors 2021, 21(19), 6663; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/s21196663 - 07 Oct 2021

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1711

Abstract

This paper contains a detailed description of the design and validation of a measurement stand for testing the airborne sound insulation of specimens made at a small scale. The stand is comprised of two coupled reverberation rooms in which the geometry represents the full-size reverberation rooms used at the AGH University of Science and Technology at a 1:8 scale. The paper proves that both the scaled measurement stand and the testing methodology conform to the ISO 10140 standards, and that the obtained measurement uncertainty does not exceed the maximum values specified in ISO 12999-1. Moreover, the calculated uncertainty of measurements obtained for the 1:8 scale stand is comparable with the typical uncertainty given in ISO 12999-1 and the uncertainty obtained on the full-scale measurement stand. In connection with the above, the authors have proved that by using the scaled-down measurement stands, one can obtain reliable and repeatable results of measurements of airborne sound insulation. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Intelligent Sound Measurement Sensor and System)

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18 pages, 3218 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Effects of Lake Productivity on Density and Size Structure of Pelagic Fish Estimated by Means of Echosounding in 17 Lakes in Southeast Norway

by Arne N. Linløkken

Sensors 2021, 21(10), 3391; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/s21103391 - 13 May 2021

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1774

Abstract

Density estimation of pelagic fish was performed by means of single beam echosounding in 17 lakes within a period of 34 years, from 1985 to 2018. Surveys were performed repeatedly (two to fourteen times) in five lakes. The density estimates ranged from 34 to 4720 fish/ha and were significantly correlated with total phosphorus concentration. The high density in relatively phosphorus rich lakes (TP > 10 µg/L) was comprised of small fish (<20 cm) and was partly due to the higher number of pelagic fish species. The number of pelagic species varied from one, Arctic charr, in the most elevated and oligotrophic lakes, and whitefish dominated in less elevated oligotrophic lakes. In lowland lakes characterized as mesotrophic or tending to mesotrophy, smelt, vendace, and two to three cyprinids comprised the pelagic fish stock. These fish species predate zooplankton effectively, and species composition and body size of planktonic cladocerans was affected by fish density. Large species of Daphnia were lacking in lakes with high fish density, and body size of present species, D. galeata, D. cristata, and Bosmina spp. were negatively correlated with pelagic fish density. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Intelligent Sound Measurement Sensor and System)

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20 pages, 3636 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Vibroacoustical Performance Analysis of a Rigid Device Casing with Piezoelectric Shunt Damping

by Krzysztof Mazur, Jaroslaw Rzepecki, Anna Pietruszewska, Stanislaw Wrona and Marek Pawelczyk

Sensors 2021, 21(7), 2517; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/s21072517 - 04 Apr 2021

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2282

Abstract

Noise and vibration are common issues that may have a negative impact on human’s’ health. To minimize their consequences, several vibroacoustical methods may be employed. One well-known method is Piezoelectric Shunt Damping (PSD). Over the years, many approaches have been investigated, from passive, state switching circuits to active pulse-switching. In this paper, the authors propose three PSD implementations—passive Synchronized Switch Damping on Inductor (SSDI), semi-active SSDI and active Synchronized Switch Damping on Voltage source (SSDV)—for a single-panel structure mounted on a rigid-frame casing. The nine Macro Fiber Composite (MFC) elements were mounted on the plate based on preliminary simulations in FreeFEM. Then, the theoretical results were validated by an identification experiment. The main research is concentrated on the Sound Pressure Level (SPL) and structural vibrations reduction for selected frequencies. The active method provided the highest reduction of vibration—up to 5.5 dB for maximal possible loudspeaker level without overdrive and up to 7.5 dB for lower excitation levels. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Intelligent Sound Measurement Sensor and System)

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21 pages, 10003 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Development of Scientific Fishery Biomass Estimator: System Design and Prototyping

by Pranesh Sthapit, MinSeok Kim, Donhyug Kang and Kiseon Kim

Sensors 2020, 20(21), 6095; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/s20216095 - 27 Oct 2020

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2354

Abstract

This paper presents a new compact single beam advanced echosounder system designed to estimate fish count in real time. The proposed device is a standalone system, which consists of a transducer, a processing unit, a keypad, and a display unit to show output. A fish counting algorithm was developed and implemented in the device. The device is capable of performing all the functions required for fish abundance estimation including target strength calculation, simultaneous echo integration, and echogram generation. During operation, the device analyzes ping data continuously and calculates various parameters in real time while simultaneously displaying the echogram and results on the screen. The device has been evaluated by technical verification in a lab and on-site experiments. The experimental results demonstrate that the proposed device is on par with a commercial echosounder and is capable of accurately estimating the fish abundance. The proposed device is beneficial for fish management. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Intelligent Sound Measurement Sensor and System)

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16 pages, 5028 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Mapping Small-Scale Horizontal Velocity Field in Panzhinan Waterway by Coastal Acoustic Tomography

by Haocai Huang, Xinyi Xie, Yong Guo and Hangzhou Wang

Sensors 2020, 20(19), 5717; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/s20195717 - 08 Oct 2020

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2396

Abstract

Mapping small-scale high-precision velocity fields is of great significance to oceanic environment research. Coastal acoustic tomography (CAT) is a frontier technology used to observe large-scale velocity field in the horizontal slice. Nonetheless, it is difficult to observe the velocity field using the CAT in small-scale areas, specifically where the flow field is complex such as ocean ranch and artificial upwelling areas. This paper conducted a sound transmission experiment using four 50 kHz CAT systems in the Panzhinan waterway. Notably, sound transmission based on the round-robin method was recommended for small-scale CAT observation. The travel time between stations, obtained by correlation of raw data, was applied to reconstruct the horizontal velocity fields using Tapered Least Square inversion. The minimum net volume transport was 8.7 m³/s at 12:32, 1.63% of the total inflow volume transport indicating that the observational errors were acceptable. The relative errors of the range-average velocity calculated by differential travel time were 1.54% (path 2) and 0.92% (path 6), respectively. Moreover, the inversion velocity root-mean-square errors (RMSEs) were 0.5163, 0.1494, 0.2103, 0.2804 and 0.2817 m/s for paths 1, 2, 3, 4 and 6, respectively. The feasibility and acceptable accuracy of the CAT method in the small-scale velocity profiling measurement were validated. Furthermore, a three-dimensional (3-D) velocity field mapping should be performed with combined analysis in horizontal and vertical slices. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Intelligent Sound Measurement Sensor and System)

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19 pages, 12565 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Chladni Figures in Modal Analysis of a Double-Panel Structure

by Jaroslaw Rzepecki, Anna Chraponska, Sebastian Budzan, Chukwuemeke William Isaac, Krzysztof Mazur and Marek Pawelczyk

Sensors 2020, 20(15), 4084; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/s20154084 - 22 Jul 2020

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 3489

Abstract

Analysis of the structural vibration, under the sound excitation is an important part of the quality assurance during the design process of devices. One of the most commonly used method is Laser Doppler Vibrometry (LDV). However, under the rapid fluctuations of temperature, structural resonances are shifted into the other frequencies. In such situation LDV method may be inconvenient, due to the scanning time. In this paper the authors proposed Chladni figures to modal analysis of the double-panel structure, excited by the loudspeaker enclosed inside the casing with a rigid frame. Double-panel structure has been proven to be particularly useful for noise and vibration reduction applications. Vision images, obtained during the experiments are converted to binary patterns, using GLCM matrix, and compared with simulations performed in ANSYS. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Intelligent Sound Measurement Sensor and System)

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19 pages, 1594 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Open Set Audio Classification Using Autoencoders Trained on Few Data

by Javier Naranjo-Alcazar, Sergi Perez-Castanos, Pedro Zuccarello, Fabio Antonacci and Maximo Cobos

Sensors 2020, 20(13), 3741; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/s20133741 - 03 Jul 2020

Cited by 10 | Viewed by 5657

Abstract

Open-set recognition (OSR) is a challenging machine learning problem that appears when classifiers are faced with test instances from classes not seen during training. It can be summarized as the problem of correctly identifying instances from a known class (seen during training) while rejecting any unknown or unwanted samples (those belonging to unseen classes). Another problem arising in practical scenarios is few-shot learning (FSL), which appears when there is no availability of a large number of positive samples for training a recognition system. Taking these two limitations into account, a new dataset for OSR and FSL for audio data was recently released to promote research on solutions aimed at addressing both limitations. This paper proposes an audio OSR/FSL system divided into three steps: a high-level audio representation, feature embedding using two different autoencoder architectures and a multi-layer perceptron (MLP) trained on latent space representations to detect known classes and reject unwanted ones. An extensive set of experiments is carried out considering multiple combinations of openness factors (OSR condition) and number of shots (FSL condition), showing the validity of the proposed approach and confirming superior performance with respect to a baseline system based on transfer learning. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Intelligent Sound Measurement Sensor and System)

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18 pages, 3861 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Spectral Analysis of Macro-Fiber Composites Measured Vibration of Double-Panel Structure Coupled with Solenoids

by Anna Chraponska, Jaroslaw Rzepecki, Chukwuemeke William Isaac, Krzysztof Mazur and Marek Pawelczyk

Sensors 2020, 20(12), 3505; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/s20123505 - 21 Jun 2020

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1919

Abstract

Noise may have a negative impact on humans health and well being. Noise is a direct result of the vibration of structures. Many industrial workers and people using household appliances may be exposed to these harmful factors. To minimize their negative consequences, different approaches to noise and vibration reduction may be applied, e.g., active, semi-active or passive methods. In this research, a semi-active approach to vibration reduction of a cubic rigid casing enclosing a noise- and vibration-generating device is presented. One of the casing walls consists of double thin steel panels, coupled with the use of electromagnetic dampers—solenoids installed in the space between the panels. Other casing walls are built of single plywood panels. Vibrations of the outer (radiating) panel of the wall are measured by Macro-Fiber Composite patches. Spectral analysis of structure vibration is carried out to identify the benefits of the proposed coupling solution in terms of vibration reduction of the wall. The frequency range, where vibration reduction is observed, depends on the number of activated solenoids and the duty cycle of a Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) signal. Advantages and drawbacks of the proposed method are discussed and future improvements of the examined setup are suggested. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Intelligent Sound Measurement Sensor and System)

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12 pages, 2723 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Designing a Smart Bath Assistive Device Based on Measuring Inner Water Temperature for Bathing Temperature Monitoring

by Qun Wei, So-Myoung Kang and Jae Ho Lee

Sensors 2020, 20(8), 2405; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/s20082405 - 23 Apr 2020

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 4699

Abstract

Today, taking a bath is not only a means to keep clean, but also to reduce fatigue and stress. However, taking a bath with hot water for a long time can also be dangerous, leading to scalding or even a heart attack. To prevent these risks, several studies based on measuring bio-signals have been conducted, but due to high prices, difficulty of use, and restricted functions, these studies’ recommendations cannot be easily adopted by the public. Therefore, developing accurate methods to measure bathing temperature and bathing time should be the most direct approach to solve these problems. In this study, a smart bath assistive device based on an inner water temperature measurement function is proposed. Prior to development of the device, a bathing environment was emulated with six temperature sensors affixed to different depths to find the optimal depth for measuring bathing temperature. According to the measurement results, the device was designed in a mushroom shape with the cap part floating on the water’s surface and housing the electronic components, and temperature sensors within the stem part were immersed in the water approximately 5 cm below the surface to measure the inner water temperature. Due to the low-power consuming Advanced RISC Machine (ARM) processor and waterproof design, the device is able to float in hot water and monitor the bathing temperature variation over a long period of time. The device was compared alongside a commercial analog bathing thermometer to verify the performance of temperature measurements. In addition, a compensation algorithm was developed and programmed into the device to improve the accuracy of measurements. Processed data is transmitted by Bluetooth to a dedicated Android app for data display and storage. The final results show that the proposed device is highly accurate and stable for monitoring bathing temperature. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Intelligent Sound Measurement Sensor and System)

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10 pages, 2741 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Effects of Air Cavity in Dynamic Pressure Sensors: Experimental Validation

by Qian Dong, Xiaolei Song and Haijun Liu

Sensors 2020, 20(6), 1759; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/s20061759 - 22 Mar 2020

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 3085

Abstract

An air-backed diaphragm is the key structure of most dynamic pressure sensors and plays a critical role in determining the sensor performance. Our previous analytical model investigated the influence of air cavity length on the sensitivity and bandwidth. The model found that as the cavity length decreases, the static sensitivity monotonically decreases, and the fundamental natural frequency shows a three-stage trend: increasing in the long-cavity-length range, reaching a plateau value in the medium-cavity-length range, and decreasing in the short-cavity-length range, which cannot be captured by the widely used lumped model. In this study, we conducted the first experimental measurements to validate these findings. Pressure sensors with a circular polyimide diaphragm and a backing air cavity with an adjustable length were designed, fabricated, and characterized, from which the static sensitivities and fundamental natural frequencies were obtained as a function of the cavity length. A further parametric study was conducted by changing the in-plane tension in the diaphragm. A finite element model was developed in COMSOL to investigate the effects of thermoviscous damping and provide validation for the experimental study. Along with the analytical model, this study provides a new understanding and important design guidelines for dynamic pressure sensors with air-backed diaphragms. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Intelligent Sound Measurement Sensor and System)

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Review

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31 pages, 2883 KiB

Open AccessReview

Structural Health Monitoring Using Fibre Optic Acoustic Emission Sensors

by James Owen Willberry, Mayorkinos Papaelias and Gerard Franklyn Fernando

Sensors 2020, 20(21), 6369; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/s20216369 - 08 Nov 2020

Cited by 23 | Viewed by 4825

Abstract

Acoustic emission (AE) is widely used for condition monitoring of critical components and structures. Conventional AE techniques employ wideband or resonant piezoelectric sensors to detect elastic stress waves propagating through various types of structural materials, including composites during damage evolution. Recent developments in fibre optic acoustic emission sensors (FOAES) have enabled new ways of detecting and monitoring damage evolution using AE. An optical fibre consists of a core with a high refractive index and a surrounding cladding. The buffer layer and outer jacket both act as protective polymer layers. Glass optical fibres can be used for manufacturing AE sensors of sufficiently small size to enable their embedding into fibre-reinforced polymer composite materials. The embedding process protects the FOAES against environmental stresses prolonging operational lifetime. The immunity of FOAES to electromagnetic interference makes this type of sensor attractive for condition monitoring purposes across a wide range of challenging operational environments. This paper provides an exhaustive review of recent developments on FOAES including their fundamental operational principles and key industrial applications. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Intelligent Sound Measurement Sensor and System)

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Other

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41 pages, 7014 KiB

Open AccessSystematic Review

Visibility Restoration: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

by Dat Ngo, Seungmin Lee, Tri Minh Ngo, Gi-Dong Lee and Bongsoon Kang

Sensors 2021, 21(8), 2625; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/s21082625 - 08 Apr 2021

Cited by 14 | Viewed by 2810

Abstract

Image acquisition is a complex process that is affected by a wide variety of internal and environmental factors. Hence, visibility restoration is crucial for many high-level applications in photography and computer vision. This paper provides a systematic review and meta-analysis of visibility restoration algorithms with a focus on those that are pertinent to poor weather conditions. This paper starts with an introduction to optical image formation and then provides a comprehensive description of existing algorithms as well as a comparative evaluation. Subsequently, there is a thorough discussion on current difficulties that are worthy of a scientific effort. Moreover, this paper proposes a general framework for visibility restoration in hazy weather conditions while using haze-relevant features and maximum likelihood estimates. Finally, a discussion on the findings and future developments concludes this paper. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Intelligent Sound Measurement Sensor and System)

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