Compressive Sensing For Sparsely Excited Speech Signals

Compressive sensing (CS) has been proposed for signals with sparsity in a linear transform domain. We explore a signal dependent unknown linear transform, namely the impulse response matrix operating on a sparse excitation, as in the linear model of speech production, for recovering compressive sensed speech. Since the linear transform is signal dependent and unknown, unlike the standard CS formulation, a codebook of transfer functions is proposed in a matching pursuit (MP) framework for CS recovery. It is found that MP is efficient and effective to recover CS encoded speech as well as jointly estimate the linear model. Moderate number of CS measurements and low order sparsity estimate will result in MP converge to the same linear transform as direct VQ of the LP vector derived from the original signal. There is also high positive correlation between signal domain approximation and CS measurement domain approximation for a large variety of speech spectra.

LPG Gas-Sensing System With SnO2 Thin-Film Transducer and 0.7-mu m CMOS Signal Conditioning ASIC

The design and implementation of a complete gas sensor system for liquified petroleum gas (LPG) gas sensing are presented. The system consists of a SnO2 transducer, a lowcost heater, an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC) with front-end interface circuitry, and a microcontroller interface for data logging. The ASIC includes a relaxation-oscillator-based heater driver circuit that is capable of controlling the sensor operating temperature from 100degC to 425degC. The sensor readout circuit in the ASIC, which is based on the resistance to time conversion technique, has been designed to measure the gas sensor response over three orders of resistance change during its interaction with gases.

An accurate method for the experimental evaluation of the acoustical impedance of a black box

Among different methods, the transmission-line or the impedance tube method has been most popular for the experimental evaluation of the acoustical impedance of any termination. The current state of method involves extrapolation of the measured data to the reflecting surface or exact locations of the pressure maxima, both of which are known to be rather tricky. The present paper discusses a method which makes use of the positions of the pressure minima and the values of the standing-wave ratio at these points. Lippert's concept of enveloping curves has been extended. The use of Smith or Beranek charts, with their inherent inaccuracy, has been altogether avoided. The existing formulas for the impedance have been corrected. Incidentally, certain other errors in the current literature have also been brought to light.Subject Classification: 85.20.

Measurement of the acoustical impedance of a black box at low frequencies using a shorter impedance tube

For the experimental evaluation of the acoustical impedance of a termination by the impedance-tube method at low frequencies, the length of the impedance tube is a problem. In the present paper, the method of exact analysis of standing waves developed by the authors for the stationary medium as well as for mean flow, has been extended for measurement of the acoustical impedance of a termination at low frequencies. The values of the tube attenuation factor and the wave number at the low frequency of interest are established from the experiment conducted, with the given impedance tube, at a higher frequency. Then, exciting the tube at the desired low frequency it is sufficient to measure sound pressure at three differenct locations (not necessarily the minima) in order to evaluate reflection coefficient and hence the impedance of the termination at that frequency.

Method for evaluation of the acoustical impedance of a black box, with or without mean flow, measuring pressures at fixed positions

The transmission-line or the impedance-tube method for the measurement of the acoustic impedance of any termination involves a search for various minima and maxima of pressure. For this purpose, arrangement has to be made for the microphone to travel along the length of the impedance tube, and this complicates the design of the tube considerably. The present paper discusses a method which consists in evaluating the tube attenuation factor at any convenient frequency by making use of measured SPL's at two (or more) fixed locations with a rigid termination, calculating the tube attenuation factor and wave number at the required frequency of interest with or without mean flow (as applicable), and finally evaluating the impedance of the given termination by measuring and using SPL's at three (or more) fixed locations. Thus, the required impedance tube is considerably smaller in length, simpler in design, easier to manufacture, cheaper in cost and more convenient to use. The design of the tube is also discussed. Incidentally, it is also possible to evaluate the impedance at any low frequency without having to use a larger impedance tube.

Structural, dielectric, impedance and optical properties of CaBi2B2O7 glasses and glass-nanocrystal composites

Optically clear glasses were fabricated by quenching the melt of CaCO3-Bi2O3-B2O3 (in equimolecular ratio). The amorphous and glassy characteristics of the as-quenched samples were confirmed via the X-ray powder diffraction (XRD) and differential scanning calorimetric (DSC) studies These glasses were found to. have high thermal stability parameter (S). The optical transmission studies carried out in the 200-2500 nm wavelength range confirmed both the as-quenched and heat-treated samples to be transparent between 400 nm and 2500 nm. The glass-plates that were heat-treated just above the glass transition temperature (723 K) for 6 h retained approximate to 60% transparency despite having nano-crystallites (approximate to 50-100 nm) of CaBi2B2O7 (CBBO) as confirmed by both the XRD and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) studies. The dielectric properties and impedance characteristics of the as-quenched and heat-treated (723 K/6 h) samples were studied as a function of frequency at different temperatures. Cole-Cole equation was employed to rationalize the impedance data.

NO2 and humidity sensing characteristics of few-layer graphenes

Sensing characteristics of few-layer graphenes for NO2 and humidity have been investigated with graphene samples prepared by the thermal exfoliation of graphitic oxide, conversion of nanodiamond (DG) and arc-discharge of graphite in hydrogen (HG). The sensitivity for NO2 is found to be highest with DG. Nitrogen-doped HG (n-type) shows increased sensitivity for NO2 compared with pure HG. The highest sensitivity for humidity is observed with HG. Sensing characteristics of graphene have been examined for different aliphatic alcohols and the sensitivity is found to vary with the chain length and branching.

Assimilation of remote sensing and hydrological data using adaptive filtering techniques for watershed modelling

The knowledge of hydrological variables (e. g. soil moisture, evapotranspiration) are of pronounced importance in various applications including flood control, agricultural production and effective water resources management. These applications require the accurate prediction of hydrological variables spatially and temporally in watershed/basin. Though hydrological models can simulate these variables at desired resolution (spatial and temporal), often they are validated against the variables, which are either sparse in resolution (e. g. soil moisture) or averaged over large regions (e. g. runoff). A combination of the distributed hydrological model (DHM) and remote sensing (RS) has the potential to improve resolution. Data assimilation schemes can optimally combine DHM and RS. Retrieval of hydrological variables (e. g. soil moisture) from remote sensing and assimilating it in hydrological model requires validation of algorithms using field studies. Here we present a review of methodologies developed to assimilate RS in DHM and demonstrate the application for soil moisture in a small experimental watershed in south India.

A FEM-Based Forward Solver for Studying the Forward Problem of Electrical Impedance Tomography (EIT) with A Practical Biological Phantom

A Finite Element Method based forward solver is developed for solving the forward problem of a 2D-Electrical Impedance Tomography. The Method of Weighted Residual technique with a Galerkin approach is used for the FEM formulation of EIT forward problem. The algorithm is written in MatLAB7.0 and the forward problem is studied with a practical biological phantom developed. EIT governing equation is numerically solved to calculate the surface potentials at the phantom boundary for a uniform conductivity. An EIT-phantom is developed with an array of 16 electrodes placed on the inner surface of the phantom tank filled with KCl solution. A sinusoidal current is injected through the current electrodes and the differential potentials across the voltage electrodes are measured. Measured data is compared with the differential potential calculated for known current and solution conductivity. Comparing measured voltage with the calculated data it is attempted to find the sources of errors to improve data quality for better image reconstruction.

Novel fluorescence detection technique for non-contact temperature sensing in microchip PCR

DNA amplification using Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) in a small volume is used in Lab-on-a-chip systems involving DNA manipulation. For few microliters of volume of liquid, it becomes difficult to measure and monitor the thermal profile accurately and reproducibly, which is an essential requirement for successful amplification. Conventional temperature sensors are either not biocompatible or too large and hence positioned away from the liquid leading to calibration errors. In this work we present a fluorescence based detection technique that is completely biocompatible and measures directly the liquid temperature. PCR is demonstrated in a 3 ILL silicon-glass microfabricated device using non-contact induction heating whose temperature is controlled using fluorescence feedback from SYBR green I dye molecules intercalated within sensor DNA. The performance is compared with temperature feedback using a thermocouple sensor. Melting curve followed by gel electrophoresis is used to confirm product specificity after the PCR cycles. (c) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Possible application of carbon nanotube bundles for low temperature sensing

We report on the R-T measurement of carbon nanotube bundles from room temperature down to 1 K. The resistance at a particular temperature depends on the diameter of the bundle. The larger the bundle diameter is, the lower the value of the resistance. The resistance increases with the decrease in temperature as in the case of carbon, carbon glass resistance thermometer, and carbon nanotubes reported in the literature. The rate of the variation of resistance depends on the resistance of the bundle at room temperature which can be explored for the low temperature thermometry. Overall, the resistance and the sensitivity of the bundle depend on the bundle diameter which can be monitored easily.

Impedance studies on high energy Li3+ irradiated PZT thin films

The ferroelectric Pb(Zr0.48Ti0.52)O-3 (PZT) thin films prepared by the pulsed laser deposition technique were studied for their response to high energy lithium ion irradiation through impedance spectroscopy. The Debye peaks, observed in the impedance and modulus plots of irradiatedfilms, shifts towards higher frequencies compared to those of unirradiated films. This is equivalent to the trend observed with increase in temperature in the unirradiated films due to the dielectric relaxation. The irradiated films showed a decrease in the grain resistance compared to the unirradiated films. The activation energy of dielectric relaxation increases from 1.25 eV of unirradiated film to 1.62 eV of irradiated film. The observed modifications in the irradiated film were ascribed to the modifications in the grain structure due to the high value of electronic energy loss.

A Simple Instrumentation Calibration Technique for Electrical Impedance Tomography (EIT) Using A 16-Electrode Phantom

A simple analog instrumentation for Electrical Impedance Tomography is developed and calibrated using the practical phantoms. A constant current injector consisting of a modified Howland voltage controlled current source fed by a voltage controlled oscillator is developed to inject a constant current to the phantom boundary. An instrumentation amplifier, 50 Hz notch filter and a narrow band pass filter are developed and used for signal conditioning. Practical biological phantoms are developed and the forward problem is studied to calibrate the EIT-instrumentation. An array of sixteen stainless steel electrodes is developed and placed inside the phantom tank filled with KCl solution. 1 mA, 50 kHz sinusoidal current is injected at the phantom boundary using adjacent current injection protocol. The differential potentials developed at the voltage electrodes are measured for sixteen current injections. Differential voltage signal is passed through an instrumentation amplifier and a filtering block and measured by a digital multimeter. A forward solver is developed using Finite Element Method in MATLAB7.0 for solving the EIT governing equation. Differential potentials are numerically calculated using the forward solver with a simulated current and bathing solution conductivity. Measured potential data is compared with the differential potentials calculated for calibrating the instrumentation to acquire the voltage data suitable for better image reconstruction.

Nanostructured Copper(II) oxide thin film for alcohol sensing

Nanostructured copper(II) oxide film was deposited using reactive DC magnetron sputtering. It has been characterized using XRD, EDAX, XPS, and FESEM. The grain size of copper oxide film was found to be 40-65 nm with size distribution. The entire study was divided into two parts. In the first part, the film has been studied for its response to alcohol at different temperatures to find the optimum sensing temperature, whereas in the second part, the film sensitivity to different alcohol concentrations were studied at fixed optimum operating temperature. The optimum temperature for the response of ethanol was observed to be 400 C,and the response for different concentrations was found to be almost linear.

A Study of Practical Biological Phantoms with Simple Instrumentation for Electrical Impedance Tomography (EIT)

16-electrode phantoms are developed and studied with a simple instrumentation developed for Electrical Impedance Tomography. An analog instrumentation is developed with a sinusoidal current generator and signal conditioner circuit. Current generator is developed withmodified Howland constant current source fed by a voltage controlled oscillator and the signal conditioner circuit consisting of an instrumentation amplifier and a narrow band pass filter. Electronic hardware is connected to the electrodes through a DIP switch based multiplexer module. Phantoms with different electrode size and position are developed and the EIT forward problem is studied using the forward solver. A low frequency low magnitude sinusoidal current is injected to the surface electrodes surrounding the phantom boundary and the differential potential is measured by a digital multimeter. Comparing measured potential with the simulated data it is intended to reduce the measurement error and an optimum phantom geometry is suggested. Result shows that the common mode electrode reduces the common mode error of the EIT electronics and reduces the error potential in the measured data. Differential potential is reduced up to 67 mV at the voltage electrode pair opposite to the current electrodes. Offset potential is measured and subtracted from the measured data for further correction. It is noticed that the potential data pattern depends on the electrode width and the optimum electrode width is suggested. It is also observed that measured potential becomes acceptable with a 20 mm solution column above and below the electrode array level.