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Development, Investigation and Application of Acoustic Sensors: Part II

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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 (20 March 2023) | Viewed by 18314

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Prof. Dr. Iren E. Kuznetsova

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Kotelnikov Institute of Radio Engineering and Electronics of RAS, 125009 Moscow, Russia
Interests: acoustic waves propagating in piezoelectric materials and structures; development of acoustoelectronic devices (signal processing, hydroacoustical emmiter/receiver) and sensors (biological, chemical and physical); acoustic methods for definition of acoustic and electric characteristics of new materials (nanocomposite polymeric materials, graphen likely materials, etc.); interaction of electric and magnetic fields with piezoactive acoustic waves
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Dear Colleagues,

The development of acoustic sensors is an important scientific and technical issue. Acoustic sensors are widely applied in various technical systems that monitor the environment, provide biological and chemical safety, and are used in robotics, vehicles, signal processing devices, and numerous other applications. The Special Issue of Sensors entitled “Development, Investigation and Application of Acoustic Sensors” intends to present original research and critical review articles covering the recent advances in all aspects of the development, production, testing, and application of acoustic sensors. It will provide an opportunity for researchers to publish their latest achievements related to the design, fabrication, modeling, testing, characterization, and application of selective, small-sized, cost-effective, and high-performance acoustic sensors. Authors are also invited to present advanced research trends in acoustic sensor technology combined with other physical principles (conductometric, optic, calorimetric, etc.).

Papers dealing with one or several of the following aspects will be considered for publication:

Operating principles of various types of acoustic sensors;
Design and production of various types of acoustic sensors;

Characterization of electrophysical properties of acoustic sensors;
Application of acoustic sensors in various fields of science and technics;
Acoustic sensing platforms—combination of signal processing and sensor functions;
Combination of various physical principles (acoustic, optic, conductometric, electronic, etc.) in common sensing platforms;
Hybrid acoustic sensors, including wearable and flexible sensors.

Prof. Dr. Iren E. Kuznetsova
Guest Editor

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Keywords

acoustic sensors
hybrid sensors
wearable and flexible sensors
signal processing
characterization of sensors
acoustic sensing platforms

Related Special Issues

Development, Investigation and Application of Acoustic Sensors in Sensors (21 articles)
Development, Investigation and Application of Acoustic Sensors: 3rd Edition in Sensors (3 articles)

Published Papers (11 papers)

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11 pages, 4077 KiB

Open AccessArticle

The Effect of the Method of Downhole Deployment on Distributed Acoustic Sensor Measurements: Field Experiments and Numerical Simulations

by Boris Gurevich, Konstantin Tertyshnikov, Andrej Bóna, Evgenii Sidenko, Pavel Shashkin, Sinem Yavuz and Roman Pevzner

Sensors 2023, 23(17), 7501; https://doi.org/10.3390/s23177501 - 29 Aug 2023

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 807

Abstract

Distributed acoustic sensing (DAS) is a promising technology for seismic data acquisition, particularly in downhole applications. However, downhole DAS measurements can be affected by the deployment method of the fibre-optic cable. These effects were explored in a field trial in two wells (one vertical and one deviated) drilled at the Otway International Test Centre. The trial in the vertical well shows that (1) fibre-optic cables cemented behind the casing provide data of the highest quality due to the best coupling to the formation, and (2) tubing-conveyed cable shows only slightly weaker coupling, but the data quality can be severely degraded by source-generated noise. A cable loosely suspended in the deviated well provided data quality comparable to that of the cemented DAS cable. To better understand the nature of the observed effects, the field experiments were supplemented by numerical modelling with a 1.5D full wave reflectivity algorithm (3D wave propagation in a 1D model), where cement, casing and wellbore were represented by infinite vertical layers. The results show that (1) a cement layer has only a slight effect (<5%) on the DAS amplitude; (2) the vertical strain in a liquid-filled borehole is comparable to that in the formation; and (3) the strain amplitude in the cable is of the same order of magnitude both in the formation and in the fluid. The strain in the cable is zero both when the cable’s Poisson’s ratio is zero and when the borehole fluid is air. The results confirm the feasibility of borehole DAS measurements with fibre-optic cables suspended in a borehole liquid (but not gas!). Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Development, Investigation and Application of Acoustic Sensors: Part II)

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13 pages, 7876 KiB

Open AccessCommunication

Surface Roughness Effects on the Vibration Characteristics of AT-Cut Quartz Crystal Plate

by Mengjie Li, Peng Li, Nian Li, Dianzi Liu, Iren E. Kuznetsova and Zhenghua Qian

Sensors 2023, 23(11), 5168; https://doi.org/10.3390/s23115168 - 29 May 2023

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1393

Abstract

With the miniaturization and high-frequency requirements of quartz crystal sensors, microscopic issues affecting operating performance, e.g., the surface roughness, are receiving more and more attention. In this study, the activity dip caused by surface roughness is revealed, with the physical mechanism clearly demonstrated. Firstly, the surface roughness is considered as a Gaussian distribution, and the mode coupling properties of an AT-cut quartz crystal plate are systematically investigated under different temperature environments with the aid of two-dimensional thermal field equations. The resonant frequency, frequency–temperature curves, and mode shapes of the quartz crystal plate are obtained through the partial differential equation (PDE) module of COMSOL Multiphysics software for free vibration analysis. For forced vibration analysis, the admittance response and phase response curves of quartz crystal plate are calculated via the piezoelectric module. The results from both free and forced vibration analyses demonstrate that surface roughness reduces the resonant frequency of quartz crystal plate. Additionally, mode coupling is more likely to occur in a crystal plate with a surface roughness, leading to activity dip when temperature varies, which decreases the stability of quartz crystal sensors and should be avoided in device fabrication. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Development, Investigation and Application of Acoustic Sensors: Part II)

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13 pages, 2808 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Microwave Diamond-Based HBAR as a Highly Sensitive Sensor for Multiple Applications: Acoustic Attenuation in the Mo Film

by Boris Sorokin, Nikita Asafiev, Dmitry Yashin, Nikolay Luparev, Anton Golovanov and Konstantin Kravchuk

Sensors 2023, 23(9), 4502; https://doi.org/10.3390/s23094502 - 5 May 2023

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1457

Abstract

The application of microwave diamond-based HBAR as a sensor of microwave acoustic attenuation α was considered, using the Mo film as an object of research. A multilayered piezoelectric structure, as the Al/Al_0.73Sc_0.27N/Mo/(100) diamond/Mo, was produced using aluminum–scandium nitride composition, and was studied in detail for a number of the Mo films with different thicknesses obtained by magnetron deposition. The operational frequency band of 3.3 … 18 GHz was used. It was found that the dependence of the resonant frequency shift vs. the h(Mo) thickness for all the overtones to be investigated was linear. For a given sensor, it was found that the mass sensitivity per unit area r_m was equal to −26 × 10⁻¹² and −8.7 × 10⁻¹² g/(cm²∙Hz) at 6.0 GHz and 18.3 GHz, respectively. The frequency dependencies of quality factor Q, which changed as a result of Mo film deposition, were considered as the basic experimental data. A method for extracting the α(Mo) values was proposed. The Q-factor under the complete deposition of Mo film was 936 nm, and dropped moderately to ~25%. Such values were enough for an aim of the given experiment. The α(f) in molybdenum was obtained, and demonstrated a dependence that was close to quadratic, corresponding to the Akhiezer attenuation law. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Development, Investigation and Application of Acoustic Sensors: Part II)

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16 pages, 2865 KiB

Open AccessArticle

A New Design to Rayleigh Wave EMAT Based on Spatial Pulse Compression

by Chuanliu Jiang, Zhichao Li, Zeyang Zhang and Shujuan Wang

Sensors 2023, 23(8), 3943; https://doi.org/10.3390/s23083943 - 13 Apr 2023

Cited by 8 | Viewed by 2028

Abstract

The main disadvantage of the electromagnetic acoustic transducer (EMAT) is low energy-conversion efficiency and low signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). This problem can be improved by pulse compression technology in the time domain. In this paper, a new coil structure with unequal spacing was proposed for a Rayleigh wave EMAT (RW-EMAT) to replace the conventional meander line coil with equal spacing, which allows the signal to be compressed in the spatial domain. Linear and nonlinear wavelength modulations were analyzed to design the unequal spacing coil. Based on this, the performance of the new coil structure was analyzed by the autocorrelation function. Finite element simulation and experiments proved the feasibility of the spatial pulse compression coil. The experimental results show that the received signal amplitude is increased by 2.3~2.6 times, the signal with a width of 20 μs could be compressed into a δ-like pulse of less than 0.25 μs and the SNR is increased by 7.1–10.1 dB. These indicate that the proposed new RW-EMAT can effectively enhance the strength, time resolution and SNR of the received signal. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Development, Investigation and Application of Acoustic Sensors: Part II)

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13 pages, 3645 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Highly Sensitive Capacitive MEMS for Photoacoustic Gas Trace Detection

by Tarek Seoudi, Julien Charensol, Wioletta Trzpil, Fanny Pages, Diba Ayache, Roman Rousseau, Aurore Vicet and Michael Bahriz

Sensors 2023, 23(6), 3280; https://doi.org/10.3390/s23063280 - 20 Mar 2023

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1903

Abstract

An enhanced MEMS capacitive sensor is developed for photoacoustic gas detection. This work attempts to address the lack of the literature regarding integrated and compact silicon-based photoacoustic gas sensors. The proposed mechanical resonator combines the advantages of silicon technology used in MEMS microphones and the high-quality factor, characteristic of quartz tuning fork (QTF). The suggested design focuses on a functional partitioning of the structure to simultaneously enhance the collection of the photoacoustic energy, overcome viscous damping, and provide high nominal capacitance. The sensor is modeled and fabricated using silicon-on-insulator (SOI) wafers. First, an electrical characterization is performed to evaluate the resonator frequency response and nominal capacitance. Then, under photoacoustic excitation and without using an acoustic cavity, the viability and the linearity of the sensor are demonstrated by performing measurements on calibrated concentrations of methane in dry nitrogen. In the first harmonic detection, the limit of detection (LOD) is 104 ppmv (for 1 s integration time), leading to a normalized noise equivalent absorption coefficient (NNEA) of 8.6 ⋅ 10⁻⁸ Wcm⁻¹ Hz^−1/2, which is better than that of bare Quartz-Enhanced Photoacoustic Spectroscopy (QEPAS), a state-of-the-art reference to compact and selective gas sensors. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Development, Investigation and Application of Acoustic Sensors: Part II)

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18 pages, 9470 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Features of the Formation of Sensitive Films Based on Mycelium of Higher Fungi for Surface and Plate Acoustic Waves Gas Sensors

by Andrey Smirnov, Vladimir Anisimkin, Larissa Krasnopolskaya, Olga Guliy, Ilya Sinev, Viacheslav Simakov, Alexander Golyshkin, Nailya Almyasheva, Nikita Ageykin and Iren Kuznetsova

Sensors 2023, 23(4), 2216; https://doi.org/10.3390/s23042216 - 16 Feb 2023

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1451

Abstract

A comparative analysis of the responses of two types of acoustic waves (surface SAW and plate APW) with close frequencies and the same type of waves (SAW) with different frequencies toward various liquid vapors (water, acetone, ethanol) was carried out in this paper. Two types of films based on mycelium of higher fungus Ganoderma lucidum (Curtis) P. Karst (G. lucidum) prepared by various methods were used as sensitive coatings. These films were based on G. lucidum mycelium ethanolic (48% v/v) homogenizate (MEGl) and extract (EGl). A film deposition procedure compatible with acoustic devices technology was developed. Various piezoelectric substrates (YX-LiNbO₃, 128 YX-LiNbO₃) were used for appropriate acoustic delay lines production. It was found that additional SAW and APW attenuation associated with the appearance of mycelium films on the surface of the acoustic waveguide is two times greater for MEGL than for EGL films in the frequency range of 20–80 MHz The changes in acoustic wave amplitude and phase due to vapor absorption were measured and compared with each other, taking into account the differences in geometry of the samples. It was found that the phase response of the SAW delay lines with EGL films is three times higher than one with the presence of MEGL films for water and ethanol vapors. The films used are demonstrated good reproducibility and long-term stability for at least 2 months. Based on the results obtained, it was concluded that MEGl film is not appropriate for use in high frequency SAW delay lines as a sensitive coating. However, both types of the films (MEGl and EGl) could be used as sensitive coatings for low frequency SAW and APW sensors based on corresponding delay lines. Additionally, it was found that the films used are not sensitive to acetone vapor. As a result of the work carried out, a technique for creating sensitive films based on the mycelium of higher fungi compatible with the planar technology of acoustoelectronic delay lines was developed. The possibility of using such films for the development of gas SAW and APW sensors was shown. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Development, Investigation and Application of Acoustic Sensors: Part II)

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17 pages, 3163 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Comparison of Information Criteria for Detection of Useful Signals in Noisy Environments

by Leonid Berlin, Andrey Galyaev and Pavel Lysenko

Sensors 2023, 23(4), 2133; https://doi.org/10.3390/s23042133 - 14 Feb 2023

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 1461

Abstract

This paper considers the appearance of indications of useful acoustic signals in the signal/noise mixture. Various information characteristics (information entropy, Jensen–Shannon divergence, spectral information divergence and statistical complexity) are investigated in the context of solving this problem. Both time and frequency domains are studied for the calculation of information entropy. The effectiveness of statistical complexity is shown in comparison with other information metrics for different signal-to-noise ratios. Two different approaches for statistical complexity calculations are also compared. In addition, analytical formulas for complexity and disequilibrium are obtained using entropy variation in the case of signal spectral distribution. The connection between the statistical complexity criterion and the Neyman–Pearson approach for hypothesis testing is discussed. The effectiveness of the proposed approach is shown for different types of acoustic signals and noise models, including colored noises, and different signal-to-noise ratios, especially when the estimation of additional noise characteristics is impossible. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Development, Investigation and Application of Acoustic Sensors: Part II)

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17 pages, 18376 KiB

Open AccessArticle

A Lorentz Force EMAT Design with Racetrack Coil and Periodic Permanent Magnets for Selective Enhancement of Ultrasonic Lamb Wave Generation

by Xinfeng Guo, Wujun Zhu, Xunlin Qiu and Yanxun Xiang

Sensors 2023, 23(1), 96; https://doi.org/10.3390/s23010096 - 22 Dec 2022

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 1850

Abstract

This article proposes an electromagnetic acoustic transducer (EMAT) for selectively improving the purity and amplitude of ultrasonic Lamb waves in non-ferromagnetic plates. The developed EMAT consists of a racetrack coil and a group of periodic permanent magnets (PPMs). Two-dimensional finite element simulations and experiments are implemented to analyze the working mechanism and performance of the PPM EMAT. Thanks to the specific design, the eddy currents increase with increasing wire density and the directions of the magnetic fields and Lorentz forces alternate according to the polarities of the magnet units. Wires laid uniformly beneath the magnets, and the gaps between adjacent magnets generate tangential and normal Lorentz forces, resulting in-plane (IP) and out-of-plane (OP) displacements, respectively. The constructive interference occurs when the wavelength of the generated Lamb wave is twice the spacing of the magnets, leading to large amplitudes of the targeted ultrasonic Lamb waves. Therefore, the PPM EMAT is capable of generating pure symmetric or antisymmetric mode Lamb waves at respective frequencies. The results prove that the developed PPM EMAT can generate pure either S0 or A0 mode Lamb waves at respective frequencies. The increase in wire width and wire density further increases the signal amplitudes. Compared with the case of conventional meander-line-coil (MLC) EMAT, the amplitudes of the A0 and S0 mode Lamb waves of our PPM EMAT are increased to 880% and 328%, respectively. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Development, Investigation and Application of Acoustic Sensors: Part II)

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20 pages, 10155 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Langmuir-Blodgett Films of Arachidic and Stearic Acids as Sensitive Coatings for Chloroform HF SAW Sensors

by Ilya Gorbachev, Andrey Smirnov, George Ivanov, Ivan Avramov, Elizaveta Datsuk, Tony Venelinov, Evgenija Bogdanova, Vladimir Anisimkin, Vladimir Kolesov and Iren Kuznetsova

Sensors 2023, 23(1), 100; https://doi.org/10.3390/s23010100 - 22 Dec 2022

Cited by 6 | Viewed by 2434

Abstract

Properties of the Langmuir-Blodgett (LB) films of arachidic and stearic acids, versus the amount of the films’ monolayers were studied and applied for chloroform vapor detection with acoustoelectric high-frequency SAW sensors, based on an AT quartz two-port Rayleigh type SAW resonator (414 MHz) and ST-X quartz SAW delay line (157.5 MHz). Using both devices, it was confirmed that the film with 17 monolayers of stearic acid deposited on the surface of the SAW delay line at a surface pressure of 30 mN/m in the solid phase has the best sensitivity towards chloroform vapors, compared with the same films with other numbers of monolayers. For the SAW resonator sensing using slightly longer arachidic acid molecules, the optimum performance was reached with 17 LB film layers due to a sharper decrease in the Q-factor with mass loading. To understand the background of the result, Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) in intermittent contact mode was used to study the morphology of the films, depending on the number of monolayers. The presence of the advanced morphology of the film surface with a maximal average roughness (9.3 nm) and surface area (29.7 µm²) was found only for 17-monolayer film. The effects of the chloroform vapors on the amplitude and the phase of the acoustic signal for both SAW devices at 20 °C were measured and compared with those for toluene and ethanol vapors; the largest responses were detected for chloroform vapor. For the film with an optimal number of monolayers, the largest amplitude response was measured for the resonator-based device. Conversely, the largest change in the acoustic phase produced by chloroform adsorption was measured for delay-line configuration. Finally, it was established that the gas responses for both devices coated with the LB films are completely restored 60 s after chamber cleaning with dry air. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Development, Investigation and Application of Acoustic Sensors: Part II)

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13 pages, 3890 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Effect of Source Mispositioning on the Repeatability of 4D Vertical Seismic Profiling Acquired with Distributed Acoustic Sensors

by Roman Isaenkov, Konstantin Tertyshnikov, Alexey Yurikov, Pavel Shashkin and Roman Pevzner

Sensors 2022, 22(24), 9742; https://doi.org/10.3390/s22249742 - 12 Dec 2022

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1318

Abstract

Vertical seismic profiling (VSP) with distributed acoustic sensing (DAS) is an increasingly popular evolving technique for reservoir monitoring. DAS technology enables permanent fibre installations in wells and simultaneous seismic data recording along an entire borehole. Deploying the receivers closer to the reservoir allows for better detectability of smaller signals. A high level of repeatability is essential for the robust time-lapse monitoring of geological reservoirs. One of the prominent factors of repeatability degradation is a shift between source/receiver locations (mispositioning) during baseline and monitor surveys. While the mispositioning effect has been extensively studied for surface 4D seismic, the number of such studies for VSP is quite limited. To study the effects of source mispositioning on time-lapse data repeatability, we performed two VSP experiments at two on-shore sites with vibroseis. The first study was carried out at the Otway International Test Centre during Stage 3 of the Otway project and showed that the effect of source mispositioning on repeatability is negligible in comparison with the effect of temporal variations of the near-surface conditions. To avoid these limitations, we conducted a same-day controlled experiment at the Curtin University site. This second experiment showed that the effect of source mispositioning on repeatability is controlled by the degree of lateral variations of the near-surface conditions. Unlike in marine seismic measurements, lateral variations of near-surface properties can be strong and rapid and can degrade the repeatability for shifts of the source of a few meters. The greater the mispositioning, the higher the chance of such significant variations. When the near-surface conditions are laterally homogeneous, the effect of typical source mispositioning is small, and in all practical monitoring applications its contribution to non-repeatability is negligible. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Development, Investigation and Application of Acoustic Sensors: Part II)

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30 pages, 9687 KiB

Open AccessTechnical Note

Gaussian Process Regression for Single-Channel Sound Source Localization System Based on Homomorphic Deconvolution

by Keonwook Kim and Yujin Hong

Sensors 2023, 23(2), 769; https://doi.org/10.3390/s23020769 - 9 Jan 2023

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1513

Abstract

To extract the phase information from multiple receivers, the conventional sound source localization system involves substantial complexity in software and hardware. Along with the algorithm complexity, the dedicated communication channel and individual analog-to-digital conversions prevent an increase in the system’s capability due to feasibility. The previous study suggested and verified the single-channel sound source localization system, which aggregates the receivers on the single analog network for the single digital converter. This paper proposes the improved algorithm for the single-channel sound source localization system based on the Gaussian process regression with the novel feature extraction method. The proposed system consists of three computational stages: homomorphic deconvolution, feature extraction, and Gaussian process regression in cascade. The individual stages represent time delay extraction, data arrangement, and machine prediction, respectively. The optimal receiver configuration for the three-receiver structure is derived from the novel similarity matrix analysis based on the time delay pattern diversity. The simulations and experiments present precise predictions with proper model order and ensemble average length. The nonparametric method, with the rational quadratic kernel, shows consistent performance on trained angles. The Steiglitz–McBride model with the exponential kernel delivers the best predictions for trained and untrained angles with low bias and low variance in statistics. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Development, Investigation and Application of Acoustic Sensors: Part II)

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