Os circuitos ou modelos elétricos equivalentes destinam-se à modelagem de transdutores piezoelétricos, incluindo todo seu comportamento eletromecânico. Os modelos elétricos convencionais e clássicos foram elaborados inicialmente para materiais cerâmicos e cristalinos e só posteriormente adaptados para a simulação de polímeros piezoelétricos. Seguindo estes estudos, este trabalho apresenta um circuito elétrico equivalente para transdutores construídos com a tecnologia dos piezoeletretos termo-formados, desenvolvida no Grupo de Alta Tensão e Materiais da Escola de Engenharia de São Carlos (EESC-USP). Este circuito, baseado em um modelo proposto por Fiorillo (2000) para simular um transdutor curvo de fluoreto de polivinilideno (PVDF), foi aprimorado para melhor representar o comportamento em baixas frequências. Nele existem dois ramos: um mecânico e um elétrico. Os parâmetros do ramo mecânico foram calculados nas proximidades da frequência de ressonância das amostras, enquanto que os componentes do ramo elétrico foram determinados pelos ajustes das curvas de condutância e de susceptância para frequências distantes da ressonância. Esta etapa compreendeu o desenvolvimento de um algoritmo baseado na taxa de variação da condutância pela frequência, o qual permitiu determinar um método para separação do espectro de frequência em uma região próxima e outra distante da frequência de ressonância. Após a determinação de todos os parâmetros do modelo elétrico, circuitos para simulação no software Pspice foram elaborados para cada transdutor. Os resultados das simulações da condutância, da susceptância, do módulo da impedância e do ângulo de fase dos circuitos mostraram relevante concordância com as medições quando comparados grafica e numericamente. Esta última análise foi feita através da expressão de erro relativo percentual médio. Neste trabalho, empregou-se a metodologia fundamentada nas medidas da condutância e da susceptância de diferentes amostras, incluindo filmes de polipropileno (PP), de PVDF e de piezoeletretos de canais tubulares abertos de Teflon®FEP. / Equivalent electric circuits or models are regularly employed in piezoelectric transducers modeling, including its electromechanical behavior. Conventional and classic electric models were initially developed for ceramic and crystalline materials and later adapted for simulating piezoelectric polymers. Following these studies, this work presents an equivalent electric circuit for transducers built with the piezoelectret thermo-formed technology, developed by the High Voltage and Materials Group of São Carlos Engineering School (EESC-USP). This circuit, based on a model proposed by Fiorillo (2000) for simulating a curved polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) transducer, was improved to represent the behavior at low frequencies. There are two branches in this circuit: a mechanical and an electrical branches. The mechanical branch parameters were calculated in the vicinity of the resonance frequency, whereas the components of the electrical branch were determined by conductance and susceptance curves fittings for frequencies far from resonance. This stage included the development of an algorithm based on the rate of change of conductance, which allowed determining a method to separate the frequency spectrum in near resonance and far from resonance. After determining all parameters, electrical circuits were designed to perform simulations using Pspice software. The results for conductance, susceptance, impedance magnitude and phase angle simulations presented relevant agreement with measurements when compared graphically and numerically. This latter analysis was done by error relative expression. In this work, the methodology was based on conductance and susceptance measurements for different samples, including porous polypropylene (PP), PVDF and Teflon®FEP piezoelectrets with open-tubular channels films.

The second most common cause of cancer deaths in the developed world is bowel cancer. Improving the ability to detect and classify lesions as early as possible, allows treatment earlier. The work presented in this thesis is structured around the following detailed aims:Development of high frequency, broadband µUS (micro-ultrasound) imaging transducers through optimization of ultra-thinning processes for lithium niobate (LNO) and fabrication of novel ‘mass-spring’ matching layers using carefully controlled vacuum deposition is demonstrated. The effectiveness of this technique was quantified by applying multiple matching layers to 3 mm diameter 45 MHz LNO µUS transducers using carefully controlled vacuum deposition. The bandwidth of single mass-spring layer µUS transducer was measured to be 46% with an insertion loss of 21 dB. The bandwidth and insertion loss of a multiple matching layer µUS transducer was measured to be 59% and 18 dB respectively. The values were compared with an unmatched transducer which had a bandwidth and insertion loss of 28% and 34 dB respectively. All the experimentally measured values were in agreement with unidimensional acoustic model predictions. µUS tools that can detect and measure microscopic changes in precancerous tissue using a mouse small bowel model with an oncogenic mutation was developed. µUS transducer was used to test the hypothesis that the intestinal tissue morphology of WT (wild type) and ApcMin/+ (adenomatous polyposis coli) diverges with progressing age intervals (60, 90 and 120 days) of mice. A high frequency ultrasound scanning system was designed and the experiments were performed ex vivo using a focused 45 MHz, f-# = 2.85, µUS transducer. The data collected by scanning was used to compute the backscatter coefficients (BSC) and acoustic impedance (Z) of WT and ApcMin/+ mice. The 2D and 3D ultrasound images showed that µUS detects polyps < 500 µm in the scan plane. The measured values of BSC and Z showed differences between normal and precancerous tissue. The differences detected in precancerous murine intestine and human tissue using µUS were correlated with high resolution 3D optical imaging. This novel approach may provide a powerful adjunct to screening endoscopy for improved identification and monitoring, allowing earlier treatment of otherwise undetectable lesions.

Os equipamentos de imagens por ultrassom com varredura eletrônica usam transdutores que não se moldam à superfície a ser examinada, pois são rígidos. Há transdutores com curvaturas fixas para aplicações específicas. Em aplicações médicas, esse não é um problema na maioria dos casos, pois os tecidos do corpo humano tomam a forma da face do transdutor. Isso não ocorre quando há estruturas ósseas próximas às camadas externas de tecidos moles. Nas aplicações industriais as superfícies são sólidas e, portanto, não se ajustam à superfície do transdutor, sendo necessário uma camada variável de acoplamento acústico. A possibilidade de uso de um transdutor flexível exige que sua curvatura seja conhecida para o direcionamento correto do feixe acústico usado na formação de imagens. Assim sendo, um transdutor multielemento flexível apresentaria a vantagem de poder ser acoplado na superfície curva diretamente, tanto em aplicações médicas quanto industriais. Os transdutores flexíveis relatados na literatura científica não são compactos e dispõe de complicados sistemas de sensoriamento usados na determinação de curvaturas, além de demandar por sofisticados sistemas de aquisição e processamento dos sinais. Este trabalho propõe o desenvolvimento de transdutores multielementos flexíveis compactos para serem acoplados diretamente em superfícies curvas de peças mecânicas ou do corpo humano. Neste trabalho os sensores de curvatura responsáveis pela medição da curvatura foram desenvolvidos segundo os princípios básicos de extensômetria e resistência dos materiais para serem embebidos nas camadas do transdutor flexível de ultrassom. No desenvolvimento, foram fabricadas quatro versões de transdutores, com frequências de 1 e 2,25MHz. Todos os materiais usados na fabricação dos protótipos foram especificados segundo suas propriedades mecânicas e acústicas. Os protótipos fabricados foram caracterizados tendo sido medidas a largura de banda de cada elemento do transdutor, o comprimento e a duração dos pulsos, e uma medida da resolução axial. Para o protótipo de 2,25MHz, uma medida estimada da resolução lateral foi feita pela simulação do campo acústico, considerando o transdutor curvado em uma superfície cilíndrica. Para se testar o desempenho dos protótipos, foram realizados diferentes testes de formação de imagem. A versão de transdutor flexível de 1MHz e sem sensor de curvatura foi curvado sobre um cilindro e imerso em um tanque com água para a realização de testes de formação de imagem usado na detecção de objetos e obstáculos. Para as versões de transdutores médicos com sensor de curvatura, construiu-se duas versões de phantom simulando uma interface óssea cortical densa dentro de um tecido mole humano. O phantom usado para testar o protótipo de 2,25MHz foi concebido por uma amostra de tíbia bovina fraturada embebida dentro de um material com propriedades acústicas muito próximas a da água. Os testes de imagem foram realizados com o transdutor de 2,25MHz curvado sobre a superfície cilíndrica do phantom. As imagens de ultrassom das regiões fraturadas do osso foram detectadas, e uma comparação entre as técnicas de varredura setorial e STA usadas na obtenção das imagens foram feitas. Mostrou-se que é possível fabricar, de uma forma simples, transdutores multielementos flexíveis mais compactos e dotados de sensor de curvatura, e sem a necessidade de se usar tecnologias sofisticadas e caras ou de se valer de sistemas complexos de formação e processamento de sinais. As imagens obtidas pelos protótipos mostraram que os protótipos podem ser usados em diferentes aplicações NDT na indústria. Em especial, o protótipo de 2,25MHz mostrou ainda que tem potencial no uso médico para a obtenção de imagens de fraturas em contornos ósseos mais densos. / Ultrasound image equipment with electronic scanning considers that transducers cannot take the shape of the surface to be examined because they are rigid. There are transducers with fixed curvatures for specific applications. In medical applications, this is not a serious problem in most cases, since the face of the transducer can be coupled to the soft tissues of the body. This does not occur when there are bone structures close to the external layers of soft tissue. In industrial applications, the surfaces are solid and therefore do not fit to the transducer surface, where a variable layer of acoustic coupling is necessary. The possibility of using a flexible transducer requires its curvature to be known in order to the correct the direction of the acoustic beam which will be used in imaging applications. Thus, a flexible array transducer would have the advantage of being directly coupled to the curved surface in medical and in industrial applications. Flexible ultrasound transducers reported in the scientific literature are not compact, having complex sensing systems used to determine curvature; furthermore, they require sophisticated signal acquisition and processing systems. The development of flexible compact ultrasound linear array transducers to be coupled directly onto curved surfaces of mechanical parts as well of the human body is proposed here. The bend sensors responsible for measuring the curvature were developed according to the basic principles of strain gauge in extensometry and strength of materials to be embedded in the layers of the flexible ultrasound transducer. During this development, four versions of transducers were manufactured, with frequencies of 1 and 2.25MHz. All the materials used in the prototypes manufacturing were selected based on their mechanical and acoustic properties. The manufactured prototypes were characterized in terms of measured parameters, such as the bandwidth of each transducer element, the length and duration of the pulses, and a measure of axial resolution. For the 2.25MHz prototype, the value of the lateral resolution was estimated by simulating the acoustic field considering the transducer curved over a cylindrical surface. In order to test the transducer prototypes, different ultrasound imaging tests were conducted. The 1MHz flexible transducer version without curvature sensor was bent over a cylinder and immersed in a water tank for performing image formation tests used to detect objects and obstacles. For the medical transducers version with curvature sensor, two versions of phantoms were constructed simulating a dense cortical bone interface located inside the soft human tissue. The phantom applied to test the 2.25 MHz prototype consists of a fractured sample of bovine tibia which was embedded within a material having acoustic properties very close to that of the water. Ultrasound imaging tests were performed with the 2.25MHz transducer curved over the cylindrical surface of the phantom. The regions of the fractured bone were detected in the ultrasound images, and a comparison between the STA and sector scanning techniques used for obtaining the images was made. The study showed that it is possible to manufacture flexible and more compact array transducers provided with curvature sensor, without the need of using sophisticated and expensive technologies or taking advantage of complex formation and signal processing systems. The images obtained by the prototypes showed that they can be employed in different NDT applications in the industry. Particularly, the 2.25MHz prototype also showed its potential for medical imaging fractures in dense bone contours.

Bibliography: p. 85.

This thesis presents work in the area of automatic speech recognition (ASR). The thesis focuses on methods for increasing the efficiency of speech recognition systems and on techniques for efficient representation of different types of knowledge in the decoding process. In this work, several decoding algorithms and recognition systems have been developed, aimed at various recognition tasks. The thesis presents the KTH large vocabulary speech recognition system. The system was developed for online (live) recognition with large vocabularies and complex language models. The system utilizes weighted transducer theory for efficient representation of different knowledge sources, with the purpose of optimizing the recognition process. A search algorithm for efficient processing of hidden Markov models (HMMs) is presented. The algorithm is an alternative to the classical Viterbi algorithm for fast computation of shortest paths in HMMs. It is part of a larger decoding strategy aimed at reducing the overall computational complexity in ASR. In this approach, all HMM computations are completely decoupled from the rest of the decoding process. This enables the use of larger vocabularies and more complex language models without an increase of HMM-related computations. Ace is another speech recognition system developed within this work. It is a platform aimed at facilitating the development of speech recognizers and new decoding methods. A real-time system for low-latency online speech transcription is also presented. The system was developed within a project with the goal of improving the possibilities for hard-of-hearing people to use conventional telephony by providing speech-synchronized multimodal feedback. This work addresses several additional requirements implied by this special recognition task. / QC 20100811

Close integration of front-end electronics and the transducer array within the catheter is critical for successful implementation of CMUT-based intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) imaging catheters to enable next generation imaging tools. Therefore, this research developed and implemented custom-designed electronic circuits and systems integrated with an IC compatible transducer technology for realization of miniature IVUS imaging catheters operating at 10-50 MHz frequency range. In one path of this research, an IC is custom designed in a 0.35-um CMOS process to monolithically integrate with a CMUT array (CMUT-on-CMOS) to realize a single-chip, highly-flexible, forward-looking (FL) IVUS imaging system. The amplifiers that are custom-designed achieved transducer thermal-mechanical noise dominated receive performance in a CMUT-on-CMOS implementation. In parallel to the FL-IVUS effort, for realization of a side-looking IVUS catheter based on an annular phased array, a dynamic receive beamformer IC is custom designed also in a 0.35-um CMOS process. Overall, the circuits and systems developed as part of this dissertation form a critical step in the translation of the research on CMUT-based IVUS catheters into real clinical applications for better management of coronary arterial diseases.

University of Macau / Faculty of Science and Technology / Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering

The objective of this project is to develop a device that can monitor the heart rate and respiration of cetaceans. This would provide a way to quantitatively measure stress and determine the impact of human activity on cetaceans, especially for certain species that have been difficult to monitor in the past. There are many challenges to developing such a device, including determining the appropriate type of sensor, reducing the effect of flow noise, and designing an effective attachment method; this paper primarily focuses on determining the most suitable acoustic transducer. Experiments were conducted to compare various acoustic sensors in detecting heart rate. The electronic stethoscope performed the best in the experiments, but the results showed that other transducers, such as accelerometers and pressure sensors, also performed well and could be successful options with further development. Data processing methods to identify heartbeats and characterize signals are also discussed in this paper. Future work on the project involves subsequent tests to address other design variables as well as replicate experiments on animals.

In this paper we investigate the relationship between classes of tree-to-tree-series (for short: t-ts) and o-tree-to-tree-series (for short: o-t-ts) transformations computed by restricted deterministic bottom-up weighted tree transducers (for short: deterministic bu-w-tt). Essentially, deterministic bu-w-tt are deterministic bottom-up tree series transducers [EFV02, FV03, ful, FGV04], but the former are de ned over monoids whereas the latter are de ned over semirings and only use the multiplicative monoid thereof. In particular, the common restrictions of non-deletion, linearity, totality, and homomorphism [Eng75] can equivalently be de ned for deterministic bu-w-tt. Using well-known results of classical tree transducer theory (cf., e.g., [Eng75, Fül91]) and also new results on deterministic bu-w-tt, we order classes of t-ts and o-t-ts transformations computed by restricted deterministic bu-w-tt by set inclusion. More precisely, for every commutative monoid we completely specify the inclusion relation of the classes of t-ts and o-t-ts transformations for all sensible combinations of restrictions by means of inclusion diagrams.

The conventional flexural plate-wave (FPW) device has advantages of high mass sensitivity, low phase velocity and low operation frequency. However, conventional FPW devices usually present a high insertion loss and low fabrication yield. This thesis aimed to reduce the insertion loss of conventional FPW devices. The influences of geometry of inter-digital transducers (IDTs), pair number of IDTs, depth of focus and length of delay line on the insertion loss of FPW device are investigated. This research utilizes bulk micromachining technique to develop a low insertion-loss FPW device and the main fabrication steps include seven thin-film deposition and four photolithography processes. As the wavelength is 100 £gm, pair number of IDTs is 20, depth of focus is 1000 £gm and length of delay line is 500 £gm, the measured insertion loss of the implemented FPW device with conventional parallel-type IDTs and novel focus-type IDTs are equal to -48 dB and -45.06 dB, respectively. On the other hand, the insertion loss of FPW device with focus-type 25-pairs IDTs (-43.69 dB) is smaller than that of FPW device with focus-type 20-pairs IDTs (-45.06 dB). Additional, the measured insertion loss of FPW device with 500 £gm focus depth (-41.47 dB) is smaller than that of FPW devices with 1000 £gm focus depth (-43.69 dB) or with 1500 £gm focus depth (-45.39 dB). Furthermore, the FPW device with 500 £gm delay line presents a smaller insertion loss (-40.46 dB) than that of FPW devices with 250 £gm delay line (-41.47 dB) or with 750 £gm delay line (-40.95 dB). Finally, under the optimized specifications (focus-type/25 pairs IDTs, 500 £gm focus depth and 500 £gm delay line), the FPW-based microsensor demonstrates a high sensitivity (91.53 cm2/g), high sensing linearity (99.18 %) and low insertion loss (-40.46 dB), hence it is very suitable for development of biomedical sensing microsystem.