Approximate estimates of limiting errors of passive wireless SAW sensing with DPM

This paper discusses approximate statistical estimates of limiting errors associated with single differential phase measurement of a time delay (phase difference) between two reflectors of the passive surface acoustic wave (SAW) sensor. The remote wireless measurement is provided at the ideal coherent receiver using the maximum likelihood function approach. Approximate estimates of the mean error, mean square error, estimate variance, and Cramér-Rao bound are derived along with the error probability to exceed a threshold in a wide range of signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) values. The von Mises/Tikhonov distribution is used as an approximation for the phase difference and differential phase diversity. Simulation of the random phase difference and limiting errors also is applied.     

A multi-resolution wireless force sensing system based upon a passive SAW device

Referring to the technology of SAW wireless identification systems, a multi-resolution wireless force sensing system, including a passive time-delay SAW device and a specific interrogation unit, is introduced in this paper. Using an IDT, which connects with an antenna, as the force sensing element is a design to transduce the electromagnetic wave into surface acoustic wave and vice versa. Several reflectors are designed to get multi-resolution. Sample/hold devices are used instead of high-speed A/D converter to construct a low-cost interrogation system. Properties of the sensing system are theoretically predicted and experimentally verified.     

An interrogation unit for passive wireless SAW sensors based on fourier transform

The application of surface acoustic wave (SAW) resonators as sensor elements for different physical parameters such as temperature, pressure, and force has been well-known for several years. The energy storage in the SAW and the direct conversion from physical parameter to a parameter of the wave, such as frequency or phase, enables the construction of a passive sensor that can be interrogated wireless. This paper presents a temperature-measurement system based on passive wireless SAW sensors. The principle of SAW sensors and SAW sensor interrogation is discussed briefly. A new measurement device developed for analyzing the sensor signals is introduced. Compared to former interrogation units that detect resonance frequency of the SAW resonator by comparing amplitudes of sensor response signals related to different stimulating frequencies, the new equipment is able to measure the resonance frequency directly by calculating a Fourier transformation of the resonator response signal. Measurement results of an experimental setup and field tests are presented and discussed.     

The RF-powered surface wave sensor oscillator--a successful alternative to passive wireless sensing

A novel, passive wireless surface acoustic wave (SAW) sensor providing a highly coherent measurand proportional frequency, frequency modulated (FM) with identification (ID) data and immune to interference with multiple-path signals is described. The sensor is appropriate for bandwidth-limited applications requiring high-frequency accuracy. It comprises a low-power oscillator, stabilized with the sensing SAW resonator and powered by the rectified radio frequency (RF) power of the interrogating signal received by an antenna on the sensor part. A few hundred microwatts of direct current (DC) power are enough to power the sensor oscillator and ID modulation circuit and achieve stable operation at 1.0 and 2.49 GHz. Reliable sensor interrogation was achieved over a distance of 0.45 m from a SAW-based interrogation unit providing 50 mW of continuous RF power at 915 MHz. The -30 to -35 dBm of returned sensor power was enough to receive the sensor signal over a long distance and through several walls with a simple superheterodyne FM receiver converting the sensor signal to a low measurand proportional intermediate frequency and retrieving the ID data through FM detection. Different sensor implementations, including continuous and pulsed power versions and the possibility of transmitting data from several measurands with a single sensor, are discussed.     

A review of wireless SAW sensors

Wireless measurement systems with passive surface acoustic wave (SAW) sensors offer new and exciting perspectives for remote monitoring and control of moving parts, even in harsh environments. This review paper gives a comprehensive survey of the present state of the measurement systems and should help a designer to find the parameters required to achieve a specified accuracy or uncertainty of measurement. Delay lines and resonators have been used, and two principles have been employed: SAW one-port devices that are directly affected by the measurand and SAW two-port devices that are electrically loaded by a conventional sensor and, therefore, indirectly affected by the measurand. For radio frequency (RF) interrogation, time domain sampling (TDS) and frequency domain sampling (FDS) have been investigated theoretically and experimentally; the methods of measurement are described. For an evaluation of the effects caused by the radio interrogation, we discuss the errors caused by noise, interference, bandwidth, manufacturing, and hardware tuning. The system parameters, distance range, and measurement uncertainty are given numerically for actual applications. Combinations of SAW sensors and special signal processing techniques to enhance accuracy, dynamic range, read out distance, and measurement repetition rate (measurement bandwidth) are presented. In conclusion, an overview of SAW sensor applications is given.     

Direct sequence spread spectrum differential phase shift keying SAW correlator on GaAs

This paper presents the design, fabrication, and experimental results for a differential phase shift keying (DPSK) single SAW-based correlator on GaAs for direct sequence spread spectrum applications. The DPSK modulation format allows for noncoherent data demodulation; the SAW device correlator acts as the despreader. Unlike the conventional technique of using two parallel correlators and a one data bit delay element, this new system uses two inline correlators. When implemented on SAW devices, this in-line structure has the advantage of an inherent one data bit delay, lower insertion loss, and less signal distortion than the parallel structure. The DPSK correlator is fabricated on a {100} cut GaAs substrate with SAW propagation in the 110 direction, Using this cut, which is widely used in electronics, Rayleigh waves are generated with a piezoelectric coupling coefficient of the same order as ST-cut quartz. The piezoelectric semiconductor GaAs is of great interest because it is the only substrate that can be used to integrate SAW devices directly with electronics on the same chip, resulting in smaller packaging, reduction of packaging parasitics, lower cost, and greater system integration. This paper presents experimental results for SAW in-line correlator structures on GaAs along with their despreading system performances. Experimental measurements in both the time and frequency domains were performed and were found to be in good agreement with theoretical predictions.     

New properties of SAW gas sensing

Novel attractive properties of SAW gas sensing are theoretically predicted and experimentally verified. The response upon gas exposure of SAW-based gas sensors can be increased, decreased, reversed, cancelled, speeded up, aged down, and selected for a given sensitive layer, simply by changing the substrate material and orientation. When utilized as a tool for analytical chemistry, the steady-state and kinetic properties of adsorption, desorption, and diffusion, together with other related processes, can be simply deduced from pure acoustic measurements. These new properties are shown to be produced by the change of the components of the elliptic polarization of the wave, varying with the propagation direction and the substrate material. Experimental results, obtained for quartz substrates coated with polycrystalline palladium and palladium-nickel films exposed to H(2), CO, N(2)O, and different concentrations of relative humidity in air are presented as an example.     

Estimating phase errors in heterodyne laser interferometer measurement systems

An approach is described for estimating the phase error owing to frequency fluctuations of the laser radiation in laser heterodyne interference measurement systems.     

Precise measurement of SAW velocity using SAW delay line

A method of nondestructive evaluation (NDE) by measuring the acoustic properties of materials using a surface-acoustic-wave (SAW) delay line is presented. A SAW delay line with three interdigital transducers (IDTs) deposited on a piezoelectric substrate is used to measure the SAW velocity of the sample material, using a fluid couplant. The SAW velocity is obtained from the frequency dependence of the delay line, and movement in the z-direction is not required. Measurements have been made for an anisotropic material at frequencies from 35 to 55 MHz. The experimental results agree well with the theoretical results. Moreover, it has been found that the focused SAW excited from a Fresnel-phase-plate IDT is suitable for mapping the two-dimensional variation of SAW velocity on an anisotropic sample surface.     

Turbulence-induced measurement errors in coherent differential absorption lidar ground systems

The presence of atmospheric refractive turbulence makes it necessary to use simulations of beam propagation to examine the uncertainty added to the differential absorption lidar (DIAL) measurement process of a practical heterodyne lidar. The inherent statistic uncertainty of coherent return fluctuations in ground lidar systems profiling the atmosphere along slant paths with large elevation angles translates into a lessening of accuracy and sensitivity of any practical DIAL measurement. This technique opens the door to consider realistic, nonuniform atmospheric conditions for any DIAL instrument configuration.     

Statistical characteristics of phase measurement errors caused by harmonic noise

Translated from Izmeritel'naya Tekhnika, No. 2, pp. 47–48, February, 1992.     

Theory and application of passive SAW radio transponders as sensors

Surface acoustic wave (SAW) radio transponders make it possible to read identification codes or measurement values from a remote location. The decisive advantage of these SAW transponders lies in their passive operation (i.e., no power-supply), and in the possibility of wireless installation at particularly inaccessible locations. The passive SAW transponders are maintenance free. Identification marks respond to an interrogation signal with their nonchanging identification pattern. In wireless SAW sensors the physical or chemical properties to be detected change the propagation characteristics of the SAW. SAW radio transponders are advantageously placed on moving or rotating parts and in hazardous environments such as contaminated or high voltage areas. They also can be used for contactless measurements in high vacuum process chambers, under concrete, extreme heat, or strong radioactive radiation, where the use of conventional sensors is complicated, dangerous, or expensive. In this paper we discuss the principles of wireless passive SAW transponders and present a radio frequency interrogation unit and several passive radio SAW sensors developed for noncontact measurements of temperatures, pressures, torques, and currents.     

Knudsen-effect errors with transient line-source measurement in fluids

This paper decribes the Knudsen-effect errors of the transient line-source method used for accurate measurements of the thermal conductivity and thermal diffusivity of fluids. The analysis demonstrates that the instrument can be used with a good accuracy (>0.5%) to lower densities than previously thought. The principal errors are illustrated by measurements on propane in the temperature range 250–300 K at densities less than 9 kg · m^–3.     

Conceptual uncertainty of measurement errors

It is shown that measurement errors can be viewed in three different ensembles of random values with distinct distribution laws. The conceptual uncertainty of an error associated with this phenomenon is discussed. The problem of an extension of interpretation of measurement errors in metrological normative documents is addressed. Translated from Izmeritel'naya Tekhnika, No. 5, pp. 7–8, May, 1996.     

Distribution of measurement errors with adjustment for the operation time of measurement devices

Translated from Izmeritel'naya Tekhnika, No. 7, pp. 5–6, July, 1992.     

Statistical analysis of process capability indices with measurement errors

Process capability indices (PCIs) have been widely used in manufacturing industries to provide a quantitative measure of process potential and performance. While some efforts have been dedicated in the literature to the statistical properties of PCIs estimators, scarce attention has been given to the evaluation of these properties when sample data are affected by measurement errors. In this work we deal with the problem of measurement‐error effects on the performance of PCIs. The analysis is illustrated with reference to and , i.e. the two most common measures suggested to evaluate process capability. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Least-squares fitting with errors of measurement in both variables

The scope for using least-squares fitting is considered when the measurements on the function and the argument contain errors. General formulas are derived from a statistical approach (maximum likelihood) and an approximation approach, which differ from the traditional case in leading to distinct algorithms.Translated from Izmeritel'naya Tekhnika, No. 12, pp. 7–9, December, 1993.