Blind Source Extraction for Noisy Mixtures by Combining Gaussian Moments and Generalized Autocorrelations

In the blind source extraction problem, the concept of generalized autocorrelations has been successfully used when the desired signal has special temporal structures. However, their applications are only limited to noise-free mixtures, which is not realistic. Therefore, this paper addresses the extraction of the noisy model based on these temporal characteristics of sources. An objective function, which combines Gaussian moments and generalized autocorrelations, is proposed. Maximizing this objective function, we present a blind source extraction algorithm for noisy mixtures. Simulations on synthesized signals, images, artificial electrocardiogram (ECG) data and the real-world ECG data show the better performance of the proposed algorithm. Moreover, comparisons with the existing algorithms further indicate its validity and also show its robustness to the estimated error of time delay.     

Blind source extraction using generalized autocorrelations.

This letter addresses blind (semiblind) source extraction (BSE) problem when a desired source signal has temporal structures, such as linear or nonlinear autocorrelations. Using the temporal characteristics of sources, we develop objective functions based on the generalized autocorrelations of primary sources. Maximizing the objective functions, we propose simple fixed-point source extraction algorithms. We give the stability analysis and prove convergence properties of the algorithms as the generalized autocorrelation function is linear or nonlinear. Especially, as the generalized autocorrelation function is linear, the algorithm has interesting character of "one-iteration" convergence under some conditions. Computer simulations and real-data application experiments show that the algorithms are appealing BSE methods for temporal signals of interest by capturing the linear or nonlinear autocorrelations of the desired sources.     

MISEP method for postnonlinear blind source separation

In this letter, a standard postnonlinear blind source separation algorithm is proposed, based on the MISEP method, which is widely used in linear and nonlinear independent component analysis. To best suit a wide class of postnonlinear mixtures, we adapt the MISEP method to incorporate a priori information of the mixtures. In particular, a group of three-layered perceptrons and a linear network are used as the unmixing system to separate sources in the postnonlinear mixtures, and another group of three-layered perceptron is used as the auxiliary network. The learning algorithm for the unmixing system is then obtained by maximizing the output entropy of the auxiliary network. The proposed method is applied to postnonlinear blind source separation of both simulation signals and real speech signals, and the experimental results demonstrate its effectiveness and efficiency in comparison with existing methods.     

On-line Algorithm for Blind Signal Extraction of Arbitrarily Distributed,but Temporally Correlated Sources Using Second Order Statistics

Most of the algorithms for blind separation/extraction and independent component analysis (ICA) can not separate mixtures of sources with extremely low kurtosis or colored Gaussian sources. Moreover, to separate mixtures of super- and sub-Gaussian signals, it is necessary to use adaptive (time-variable) or switching nonlinearities which are controlled via computationally intensive measures, such as estimation of the sign of kurtosis of extracted signals. In this paper, we develop a very simple neural network model and an efficient on-line adaptive algorithm that sequentially extract temporally correlated sources with arbitrary distributions, including colored Gaussian sources and sources with extremely low values (or even zero) of kurtosis. The validity and performance of the algorithm have been confirmed by extensive computer simulation experiments.     

Noisy component extraction with reference

Blind source extraction (BSE) is particularly attractive to solve blind signal mixture problems where only a few source signals are desired. Many existing BSE methods do not take into account the existence of noise and can only work well in noise-free environments. In practice, the desired signal is often contaminated by additional noise. Therefore, we try to tackle the problem of noisy component extraction. The reference signal carries enough prior information to distinguish the desired signal from signal mixtures. According to the useful properties of Gaussian moments, we incorporate the reference signal into a negentropy objective function so as to guide the extraction process and develop an improved BSE method. Extensive computer simulations demonstrate its validity in the process of revealing the underlying desired signal.     

Nonholonomic orthogonal learning algorithms for blind source separation

Independent component analysis or blind source separation extracts independent signals from their linear mixtures without assuming prior knowledge of their mixing coefficients. It is known that the independent signals in the observed mixtures can be successfully extracted except for their order and scales. In order to resolve the indeterminacy of scales, most learning algorithms impose some constraints on the magnitudes of the recovered signals. However, when the source signals are nonstationary and their average magnitudes change rapidly, the constraints force a rapid change in the magnitude of the separating matrix. This is the case with most applications (e.g., speech sounds, electroencephalogram signals). It is known that this causes numerical instability in some cases. In order to resolve this difficulty, this article introduces new nonholonomic constraints in the learning algorithm. This is motivated by the geometrical consideration that the directions of change in the separating matrix should be orthogonal to the equivalence class of separating matrices due to the scaling indeterminacy. These constraints are proved to be nonholonomic, so that the proposed algorithm is able to adapt to rapid or intermittent changes in the magnitudes of the source signals. The proposed algorithm works well even when the number of the sources is overestimated, whereas the existent algorithms do not (assuming the sensor noise is negligibly small), because they amplify the null components not included in the sources. Computer simulations confirm this desirable property.     

Extracting post-nonlinear signal with reference

Constrained independent component analysis (cICA) is an important technique which can extract the desired sources from the mixtures. The post-nonlinear (PNL) mixture model is more realistic and accurate than the linear instantaneous mixture model in many practical situations. In this paper, we address the problem of extracting the desired source as the first output from the PNL mixture. The prior knowledge about the desired source, such as its rough template (reference), is assumed to be available. Two approaches of extracting PNL signal with reference are discussed. Then a novel algorithm which alternately optimizes the contrast function and the closeness measure between the estimated output and the reference signal is proposed. The inverse of the unknown nonlinear function in the PNL mixture model is approximated by the multi-layer perception (MLP) network. The correctness and validity of the proposed algorithm are demonstrated by our experiment results.     

Mixing Audiovisual Speech Processing and Blind Source Separation for the Extraction of Speech Signals From Convolutive Mixtures

Looking at the speaker's face can be useful to better hear a speech signal in noisy environment and extract it from competing sources before identification. This suggests that the visual signals of speech (movements of visible articulators) could be used in speech enhancement or extraction systems. In this paper, we present a novel algorithm plugging audiovisual coherence of speech signals, estimated by statistical tools, on audio blind source separation (BSS) techniques. This algorithm is applied to the difficult and realistic case of convolutive mixtures. The algorithm mainly works in the frequency (transform) domain, where the convolutive mixture becomes an additive mixture for each frequency channel. Frequency by frequency separation is made by an audio BSS algorithm. The audio and visual informations are modeled by a newly proposed statistical model. This model is then used to solve the standard source permutation and scale factor ambiguities encountered for each frequency after the audio blind separation stage. The proposed method is shown to be efficient in the case of 2 times 2 convolutive mixtures and offers promising perspectives for extracting a particular speech source of interest from complex mixtures     

超定条件下的盲信号提取算法

基于信号峭度理论,提出一种超定条件下的盲信号提取算法。该算法将混合矩阵辨识转化为一系列Givens矩阵辨识,从观察信号中一次提取出一个源信号。对于超定盲信号分离问题,待未知所有独立分量分离出后,余下分量可以看作是一个或多个独立分量的拷贝,是冗余信号。在算法运行结束后,所有源信号分离出,实现超定盲信号分离。该算法计算简单,收敛性好。计算机仿真试验验证了算法的有效性。     

An efficient semi-blind source extraction algorithm and its applications to biomedical signal extraction

In many applications, such as biomedical engineering, it is often required to extract a desired signal instead of all source signals. This can be achieved by blind source extraction (BSE) or semi-blind source extraction, which is a powerful technique emerging from the neural network field. In this paper, we propose an efficient semi-blind source extraction algorithm to extract a desired source signal as its first output signal by using a priori information about its kurtosis range. The algorithm is robust t...