Cyclic Beam Direction of Arrival Estimation Method for Ship Propeller Noise

In underwater acoustic applications,the conventional cyclic direction of arrival algorithm faces challenges,including a low signal-to-noise ratio and high bandwidth when compared with modulated frequencies.In response to these issues,this paper introduces a novel,robust,and broadband cyclic beamforming algorithm.The proposed method substitutes the conventional cyclic covariance matrix with the variance of the cyclic covariance matrix as its primary feature.Assuming that the same frequency band shares a common steering vector,the new algorithm achieves superior detection performance for targets with specific modulation frequencies while suppressing interference signals and background noise.Experimental results demonstrate a significant enhancement in the directibity index by 81%and 181%when compared with the traditional Capon beamforming algorithm and the traditional extended wideband spectral cyclic MUSIC(EWSCM)algorithm,respectively.Moreover,the proposed algorithm substantially reduces computational complexity to 1/40th of that of the EWSCM algorithm,employing frequency band statistical averaging and covariance matrix variance.

The Relationship of Cavitation to the Negative Acoustic Pressure Amplitude in Ultrasonic Therapy

The relationship between the cavitation and acoustic peak negative pressure in the high-intensity focused ultrasound （HIFU） field is analyzed in water and tissue phantom. The peak negative pressure at the focus is determined by a hybrid approach combining the measurement with the simulation. The spheroidal beam equation is utilized to describe the nonlinear acoustic propagation. The waveform at the focus is measured by a fiber optic probe hydrophone in water. The relationship between the source pressure amplitude and the excitation voltage is determined by fitting the measured ratio of the second harmonic to the fundamental component at the focus, based on the model simulation. Then the focal negative pressure is calculated for arbitrary voltage excita- tion in water and tissue phantom. A portable B-mode ultrasound scanner is applied to monitor HIFU-indueed cavitation in real time, and a passive cavitation detection （PCD） system is used to acquire the bubble scattering signals in the HIFU focal volume for the cavitation quantification. The results show that： （1） unstable cavitation starts to appear in degassed water when the peak negative pressure of HIFU signals reaches 13.5 MPa; and （2） the cavitation activity can be detected in tissue phantom by B-mode images and in the PCD system with HIFU peak negative pressures of 9.0 MPa and 7.8 MPa, respectively, which suggests that real-time B-mode images could be used to monitor the cavitation activity in two dimensions, while PCD systems are more sensitive to detect scattering and emission signals from cavitation bubbles.

A Simple and Accurate Method for Calculating the Gaussian Beam Expansion Coefficients

The calculation of the diffraction field radiated from the ultrasonic transducer can be simplified by using the Gaussian beam expansion technique. The key problem of this technique is how to determine the coefficients of Gaussian functions. We present a simple and accurate optimization method to calculate the Gaussian beam expansion coefficients, Half of the coefficients are obtained by solving linear equations. The other half are derived from the Fourier series expansion. Wave field simulation results demonstrate the validity of the new method.

Impact of cavitation on lesion formation induced by high intensity focused ultrasound

High intensity focused ultrasound（HIFU） has shown a great promise in noninvasive cancer therapy. The impact of acoustic cavitation on the lesion formation induced by HIFU is investigated both experimentally and theoretically in transparent protein-containing gel and ex vivo liver tissue samples. A numerical model that accounts for nonlinear acoustic propagation and heat transfer is used to simulate the lesion formation induced by the thermal effect. The results showed that lesions could be induced in the samples exposed to HIFU with various acoustic pressures and pulse lengths. The measured areas of lesions formed in the lateral direction were comparable to the simulated results, while much larger discrepancy was observed between the experimental and simulated data for the areas of longitudinal lesion cross-section. Meanwhile,a series of stripe-wiped-off B-mode pictures were obtained by using a special imaging processing method so that HIFUinduced cavitation bubble activities could be monitored in real-time and quantitatively analyzed as the functions of acoustic pressure and pulse length. The results indicated that, unlike the lateral area of HIFU-induced lesion that was less affected by the cavitation activity, the longitudinal cross-section of HIFU-induced lesion was significantly influenced by the generation of cavitation bubbles through the temperature elevation resulting from HIFU exposures. Therefore, considering the clinical safety in HIFU treatments, more attention should be paid on the lesion formation in the longitudinal direction to avoid uncontrollable variation resulting from HIFU-induced cavitation activity.

Interaction between encapsulated microbubbles:A finite element modelling study

Theoretical studies on the multi-bubble interaction are crucial for the in-depth understanding of the mechanism behind the applications of ultrasound contrast agents （UCAs） in clinics. A two-dimensional （2D） axisymmetric finite element model （FEM） is developed here to investigate the bubble-bubble interactions for UCAs in a fluidic environment. The effect of the driving frequency and the bubble size on the bubble interaction tendency （viz., bubbles＇ attraction and repulsion）, as well as the influences of bubble shell mechanical parameters （viz., surface tension coefficient and viscosity coefficient） are discussed. Based on FEM simulations, the temporal evolution of the bubbles＇ radii, the bubble-bubble distance, and the distribution of the velocity field in the surrounding fluid are investigated in detail. The results suggest that for the interacting bubble-bubble couple, the overall translational tendency should be determined by the relationship between the driving frequency and their resonance frequencies. When the driving frequency falls between the resonance frequencies of two bubbles with different sizes, they will repel each other, otherwise they will attract each other. For constant acoustic driving parameters used in this paper, the changing rate of the bubble radius decreases as the viscosity coefficient increases, and increases first then decreases as the bubble shell surface tension coefficient increases, which means that the strength of bubble-bubble interaction could be adjusted by changing the bubble shell visco-elasticity coefficients. The current work should provide a powerful explanation for the accumulation observations in an experiment, and provide a fundamental theoretical support for the applications of UCAs in clinics.