Post-processing enhancement of reverberation-noise suppression in dual-frequency SURF imaging

A post-processing adjustment technique to enhance dual-frequency second-order ultrasound field (SURF) reverberation-noise suppression imaging in medical ultrasound is analyzed. Two variant methods are investigated through numerical simulations. They both solely involve post-processing of the propagated high-frequency (HF) imaging wave fields, which in real-time imaging corresponds to post-processing of the beamformed receive radio-frequency signals. Hence, the transmit pulse complexes are the same as for the previously published SURF reverberation-suppression imaging method. The adjustment technique is tested on simulated data from propagation of SURF pulse complexes consisting of a 3.5-MHz HF imaging pulse added to a 0.5-MHz low-frequency soundspeed manipulation pulse. Imaging transmit beams are constructed with and without adjustment. The post-processing involves filtering, e.g., by a time-shift, to equalize the two SURF HF pulses at a chosen depth. This depth is typically chosen to coincide with the depth where the first scattering or reflection occurs for the reverberation noise one intends to suppress. The beams realized with post-processing show energy decrease at the chosen depth, especially for shallow depths where, in a medical imaging situation, a body-wall is often located. This indicates that the post-processing may further enhance the reverberation- suppression abilities of SURF imaging. Moreover, it is shown that the methods might be utilized to reduce the accumulated near-field energy of the SURF transmit-beam relative to its imaging region energy. The adjustments presented may therefore potentially be utilized to attain a slightly better general suppression of multiple scattering and multiple reflection noise compared with non-adjusted SURF reverberation-suppression imaging.     

EMAT noise suppression using information fusion in stationary wavelet packets

An important issue in ultrasonic nondestructive testing is the detection of flaw echoes in the presence of background noise created by instrumentation and by clutter noise. Signal averaging, autoregressive analysis, spectrum analysis, matched filtering, and the wavelet transform have all been used to filter noise in ultrasonic signals. Widely-used wavelet threshold estimation algorithms are not designed for electromagnetic acoustic transducer (EMAT) pulse-echo signals, and therefore do not exploit their unique impulse nature. The approach to ultrasonic signal filtering proposed in this paper is based on stationary wavelet packet denoising with a threshold influenced by several information sources: a statistical echo detection, the amplitude distribution of the wavelet transform coefficients, and a priori known system frequency characteristics. The proposed method was evaluated on signals measured with EMAT probes and under various SNR conditions; it outperforms the wavelet transform with the Stein unbiased risk estimate (SURE) threshold estimation method and split-spectrum processing (SSP). The results indicate SNR enhancement of 19 dB with real EMAT data.     

Mains noise suppression for SQUID biomagnetic measurements using a phase-sensitive detector technique

Mains (50 Hz) pickup in SQUID magnetometers used for biomagnetic measurements on the human body is a well known problem, particularly when the SQUID is used in an unshielded environment. We describe a simple phase-sensitive detector system which will suppress this undesirable 50 Hz signal by up to 45 dB, depending on the level of the 50 Hz signal.     

In-band noise suppression using novel monolithically integrated semiconductor optical amplifier-based ultra-compact interferometers

Novel all-optical noise suppressors based on the nonlinear transfer function properties of monolithically integrated active waveguide interferometers are proposed and demonstrated. Through a power map imbalance between the two arms of the interferometers, each of which contains multi-contact semiconductor optical amplifiers, a nonlinear transfer function is created, which can then be exploited to achieve in-band noise suppression. The authors demonstrate the use of such a mechanism in ultra-compact Mach-Zehnder and Michelson interferometers (MIs). Experimental work demonstrates a 5.0-dB optical signal-to-noise ratio improvement for the Mach-Zehnder and an 8.4-dB improvement for the MIs, respectively. It is shown that for input data the Mach-Zehnder is capable of providing a Q factor improvement of 4.1 dB. To the authors knowledge, these devices constitute the smallest integrated interferometer structures reported to date demonstrating in-band noise suppression.     

Highly compact imaging using Bessel beams generated by ultraminiaturized multi-micro-axicon systems

Employing Bessel beams in imaging takes advantage of their self-reconstructing properties to achieve small focal points while maintaining a large depth of focus. Bessel beams are efficiently generated using axicons, and their utility in scanning imaging systems, such as optical coherence tomography (OCT), has been demonstrated. As these systems are miniaturized to allow, for example, endoscopic implementations, micro-axicons are required to assure the maintenance of a large depth of focus. We demonstrate here the design, fabrication, and application of molded micro-axicons for use in silicon-based micro-optical benches. It is shown that arrangements of multiple convex and concave axicons may be implemented to optimize the depth of focus in a miniaturized OCT system, using a telescopic optical arrangement of considerably shorter optical system length than that achievable with classical micro-optics.     

Sidelobe suppression in ultrasound imaging using dual apodization with cross-correlation

This paper introduces a novel sidelobe and clutter suppression method in ultrasound imaging called dual apodization with cross-correlation or DAX. DAX dramatically improves the contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR) allowing for easier visualization of anechoic cysts and blood vessels. This technique uses dual apodization or weighting strategies that are effective in removing or minimizing clutter and efficient in terms of computational load and hardware/software needs. This dual apodization allows us to determine the amount of mainlobe versus clutter contribution in a signal by cross-correlating RF data acquired from 2 apodization functions. Simulation results using a 128 element 5 MHz linear array show an improvement in CNR of 139% compared with standard beamformed data with uniform apodization in a 3 mm diameter anechoic cylindrical cyst. Experimental CNR using a tissue-mimicking phantom with the same sized cyst shows an improvement of 123% in a DAX processed image.     

Signal detection and noise suppression using a wavelet transform signal processor: application to ultrasonic flaw detection

The utilization of signal processing techniques in nondestructive testing, especially in ultrasonics, is widespread. Signal averaging, matched filtering, frequency spectrum analysis, neural nets, and autoregressive analysis have all been used to analyze ultrasonic signals. The Wavelet Transform (WT) is the most recent technique for processing signals with time-varying spectra. Interest in wavelets and their potential applications has resulted in an explosion of papers; some have called the wavelets the most significant mathematical event of the past decade. In this work, the Wavelet Transform is utilized to improve ultrasonic flaw detection in noisy signals as an alternative to the Split-Spectrum Processing (SSP) technique. In SSP, the frequency spectrum of the signal is split using overlapping Gaussian passband filters with different central frequencies and fixed absolute bandwidth. A similar approach is utilized in the WT, but in this case the relative bandwidth is constant, resulting in a filter bank with a self-adjusting window structure that can display the temporal variation of the signal's spectral components with varying resolutions. This property of the WT is extremely useful for detecting flaw echoes embedded in background noise. The detection of ultrasonic pulses using the wavelet transform is described and numerical results show good detection even for signal-to-noise ratios (SNR) of -15 dB. The improvement in detection was experimentally verified using steel samples with simulated flaws.     

Clutter filters adapted to tissue motion in ultrasound color flow imaging

The quality of ultrasound color flow images is highly dependent on sufficient attenuation of the clutter signals originating from stationary and slowly moving tissue. Without sufficient clutter rejection, the detection of low velocity blood flow will be poor, and the velocity estimates will have a large bias. In some situations, e.g., when imaging the coronary arteries or when the operator moves the probe in search for small vessels, there is considerable movement of tissue. It has been suggested that clutter rejection can be improved by mixing down the signal with an estimate of the mean frequency prior to high pass filtering. In this paper, we compare this algorithm with several other adaptive clutter filtering algorithms using both experimental data and simulations. We found that realistic accelerations of the tissue have a large effect on the clutter rejection. The best results were obtained by mixing down the signal with non-constant phase increments estimated from the signal. This adapted the filter to a possibly accelerated tissue motion and produced a significant improvement in clutter rejection     

Optimal noise suppression in Fresnel incoherent correlation holography (FINCH) configured for maximum imaging resolution

An optimal setup in the sense of imaging resolution for the Fresnel incoherent correlation holography (FINCH) system is proposed and analyzed. Experimental results of the proposed setup in reflection mode suffer from low signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) due to a granular noise. SNR improvement is achieved by two methods that rely on increasing the initial amount of phase-shifted recorded holograms. In the first method, we average over several independent complex-valued digital holograms obtained by recording different sets of three digital phase-shifted holograms. In the second method, the least-squares solution for solving a system of an overdetermined set of linear equations is approximated by utilizing the Moore-Penrose pseudoinverse. These methods improve the resolution of the reconstructed image due to their ability to reveal fine and weak details of the observed object.     

Damage detection in beams from modal and wavelet analysis using a stationary roving mass and noise estimation

This paper uses the Continuous Wavelet Transform Analysis on mode shapes for damage identification. The wavelet analysis is applied to the difference in the mode shapes between a healthy and a damaged state. The paper also includes a novel methodology for estimating the level of noise of the experimental mode shapes based on a standard Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR). The estimated SNRs are used for identifying and making emphasis on the less noisy data. Moreover, a mass attached to the structure is considered to enhance the sensitivity of the structure to damage. Modal analysis is performed for different positions of the mass along the beam. The results obtained for all the positions of the mass are combined so an averaging process is implicitly applied. The paper presents the results from an experimental test of a cantilever steel beam with different severity levels of damage at the same location. The results show that the use of the attached mass reduces the effect of noise and increases the sensitivity to damage. Little damage can be identified with the proposed methodology even using a small number of sensors and only the first five bending modes.     

On using corrugated skins to carry shear in sandwich beams

A simplified approach is used to study the potential of using a corrugated skin in a sandwich to carry shear loads. Shear carrying capability is a major requirement for ship bottom panels, among other structures. The simplifications in the paper are quite major and in particular the corrugated skin is modeled as a conventional material with a homogenized stiffness. The goal of the paper is to point out some of the potentials as well as limitations of using a corrugated skin to carry shear loads. The major analysis tool was finite elements, although some analytical analyses were also performed. It was found that the introduction of a corrugated skin provided improved shear carrying capability and offered weight savings, particularly for heavily loaded sandwich beams. Alternative methods to increase shear strength were briefly reviewed.     

Wideband dielectric characterization using a dielectric filledcavity adapted to the end of a transmission line

The concept, analysis, and testing of a technique for characterizing dielectric materials over a wide band of frequencies are presented. The technique utilizes a cylindrical cavity completely filled with a sample of the dielectric material under test and adapted to the end of the precision air line. The complex permittivity of the filling dielectric is derived from the measured reflection coefficient. This technique offers great advantages over conventional methods where the sample is placed in a resonant cavity or inserted in a transmission line     

Exploring minimal scenarios to produce transversely bright electron beams using the eigen-emittance concept

Next generation hard X-ray free electron lasers require electron beams with low transverse emittance. One proposal to achieve these low emittances is to exploit the eigen-emittance values of the beam. The eigen-emittances are invariant under linear beam transport and equivalent to the emittances in an uncorrelated beam. If a correlated beam with two small eigen-emittances can be produced, removal of the correlations via appropriate optics will lead to two small emittance values, provided non-linear effects are not too large. We study how such a beam may be produced using minimal linear correlations. We find it is theoretically possible to produce such a beam, however, it may be more difficult to realize in practice. We identify linear correlations that may lead to physically realizable emittance schemes and discuss promising future avenues.     

利用自适应噪声抵消消除工频脉冲干扰仿真

介绍一种将自适应噪声抵消算法应用于消除周期性工频脉冲干扰的方法。该方法利用周期sinc函数仿真工频脉冲干扰信号,与白噪声叠加作为参考输入,利用最小均方(Least Mean Square,LMS)算法与归一化最小均方(Normalized Least Mean Square,NLMS)算法进行自适应噪声抵消滤波仿真实验。MATLAB仿真处理结果显示,在无增益、增益饱和、增益过饱和这三种情况下,当信噪比为3 d B时,分别用LMS算法与NLMS算法滤波后可以清晰地分辨多次回波。     

New approach to generalized two-dimensional correlation spectroscopy. II: Eigenvalue manipulation transformation (EMT) for noise suppression

This paper introduces the concept of eigenvalue manipulating transformation (EMT) of a data matrix for noise suppression in two-dimensional (2D) correlation spectroscopy. The FT-IR spectra of a polystyrene/methyl ethyl ketone/toluene solution mixture during the solvent evaporation process, to which were added a substantial amount of artificial noise, have been analyzed. By uniformly raising the power of a set of eigenvalues, the major eigenvalues become more prominent. As a consequence, minor eigenvectors representing the noise component are no longer strongly represented in the reconstructed data. This EMT operation is similar to the simple truncation of noise-dominated minor factors practiced in standard principal component analysis (PCA), as demonstrated in our preceding paper on PCA-2D correlation spectroscopy. The effect of this new EMT scheme is more gradual, with attractive flexibility to continuously fine-tune the balance between the desired noise reduction effect and the retention of pertinent spectral information.     

A new approach to radionuclide imaging using compressed sensing

Abstract

Single-photon emission computerised tomography (SPECT) and positron emission tomography (PET) are essential medical imaging tools, with inherent drawback of slow data acquisition process. We present a novel compressed sensing-based reconstruction of these images from significantly fewer measurements than traditionally required, thus demonstrating potential of reduction in scan time and radiopharmaceutical doze with benefits for patients and health care economics. Our work effectively shows that high fidelity two-dimensional (2D) SPECT/PET image is reconstructed using compressive sensing with considerably reduced numbers of samples in acquisition stage. The reconstruction of tomographic images is realised by compressed sensing the 2D Fourier projections of k-space data. These 2D projections being sparse in transform domain need fewer samples in k-space and are reconstructed without loss of fidelity. These undersampled Fourier projections can then be backprojected by employing the iterative reconstruction approach for a complete three-dimensional (3D) volume. Compressed sensing of a phantom image and PET bone scintigraphy with radial Fourier samples are performed. The reconstructions of these images are compared to conventionally sampled images using image quality measures like mean square error, peak signal-to-noise ratio and structure similarity (SSIM) index, showing high-quality image reconstruction.     

利用ANP数据预测飞机边线噪声方法研究

不同于飞机进场和起飞时噪声的测量点位置基本固定,在实际噪声测量过程中,边线噪声测量点的位置无法固定,使得边线噪声级难以准确测量。而利用美国汽车工程师学会(Society of Automotive Engineers,SAE)提供的飞机噪声与性能数据库(Aircraft Noise and Performance,ANP),可以计算出不同飞机起飞过程中的边线噪声有效感觉噪声级。其中包括计算起飞剖面航迹,利用噪声-功率距离(Noise-Power-Distance,NPD)数据插值计算,确定噪声级修正参数等内容。通过得出的不同机型在标准状态下的边线噪声数据,可以进一步判定边线噪声测量点的摆放位置,从而使得在实际测量过程中可以得到更准确的噪声数据。这不仅对同类型飞机的边线噪声预测起到一定的帮助作用,还可以缩短新飞机噪声的合格审定周期。     

Methods for increasing noise suppression of digital averaging devices based on adaptation of weighting functions to signal frequency and phase

We present an analysis of noise suppression of averaging devices with rough adaptation of the width of the weighting functions to the period of the signal. We propose a method for increasing noise suppression, based on taking into account the phase of the signal.Translated from Izmeritel'naya Tekhnika, No. 10, pp. 55–58, October, 1995.     

Study of a BGO calorimeter using electron and hadron beams from 1 to 50 GeV

A calorimeter of 25 bismuth germanate (BGO) crystals equipped with silicon photodiode readout has been tested at the CERN SPS in the energy range 1–50 GeV. The response for electrons has been shown to be linear in this energy range and the rms resolution obtained ( ) is approximately 1%, for E > 4 GeV. The electron/pion separation was found to be better than 1:500 in the energy range 1–20 GeV. Data on lateral and longitudinal shower development were compared with the results of a Monte Carlo simulation using the SLAC-EGS program and found to be in good agreement.     

Small-molecule MALDI using the matrix suppression effect to reduce or eliminate matrix background interferences

The matrix suppression effect (MSE) can lead to high-quality MALDI mass spectra: strong analyte signals and weak or negligible matrix background peaks. Experiment and theory suggest that MSE should be widespread and, therefore, generally applicable to measurement of low molecular weight (LMW) substances. These are otherwise impractical with MALDI due to interference from matrix. Appropriate conditions for MSE were investigated and tested on a variety of LMW substances. Straightforward and semiautomated interpretation was possible for 87.7% of these. Another 3.5% gave poor MSE due to sodium cationization rather than protonation of the analyte, but interpretation was possible. MALDI imaging shows that MSE varies significantly across a typical sample. Selective data accumulation could further increase the utility of the method. Samples containing more than one analyte were also studied. Analyte-analyte suppression was not found to be excessive, and moderately abundant minority species can be adequately detected.