Wide band time reversal acoustic nonlinear diagnostics

Time reversal acoustic (TRA) focusing allows concentration of elastic energy at a location in the soil being investigated to detect landmines. The TRA process is conducted by broadcasting a wide bandwidth signal and recording the surface vibration by a Laser Doppler Vibrometer (LDV). The system impulse response from speaker to the LDV output can then be computed by cross correlating the original and recorded signals for each channel. Each transducer re-radiates the time reversal impulse response. This provides efficient focusing of the seismic wave in both space and time, thus enhancing the nonlinear effects associated with soil and landmine vibrations. Using orthogonal initial signals the suggested TRA procedure can be implemented simultaneously with multiple transmitters to increase the scanning speed. The nonlinear effects were investigated using a phase inversion method where the TRA signal is broadcast a second time with an opposite sign and the two received signals are added in post processing. The summed signal contains mainly the results of nonlinear wave interaction and tends to cancel the linear response. Small scale land mine detection experiments were conducted using a laser Doppler vibrometer and an array of speakers in the frequency band 50-500Hz. They demonstrate that the TRA system provides high concentration of elastic wave energy in the tested area. The measurements of spectral density of the TRA focused signal reveal increased spectral density in the vicinity of mine resonance frequencies. The nonlinear TRA phase inversion method shows higher contrast between mine and no mine than the linear TRA method.

Time reversal (TR) focusing of ultrasound in granular packings is experimentally investigated. Pulsed elastic waves transmitted from a compressional or shear transducer source are measured by a TR mirror, reversed in time and back-propagated. We find that TR of ballistic coherent waves onto the source position is very robust regardless driving amplitude but provides poor spatial resolution. By contrast, the multiply scattered coda waves offer a finer TR focusing at small amplitude by a lens effect. However, at large amplitude, these TR focusing signals decrease significantly due to the vibration-induced rearrangement of the contact networks, leading to the breakdown of TR invariance. Our observations reveal that granular acoustics is in between particle motion and wave propagation in terms of sensitivity to perturbations. These laboratory experiments are supported by numerical simulations of elastic wave propagation in disordered 2D percolation networks of masses and springs, and should be helpful for source location problems in natural processes.

Time reversal acoustics is based on the time reversal symmetry of the acoustic fields. A detailed description of the acoustic field equation showing the time reversal symmetry property of S the solution is given. A geometric structure of a metamaterial for both an electromagnetic wave and acoustic wave is given. Then, the geometric structure of the metamaterial to implement time reversal acoustics is given. Time reversal acoustics has been successfully applied to non-destructive testing, medical ultrasound imaging, and underwater acoustics. The advantage of using metamaterial in time reversal acoustics is that it supports modes which radiate spatial information of the near field of a source efficiently in the far field.

Time reversal (TR) is the process of generating a spatio-temporal focus at a probe source (PS) location by backpropagating a time-reversed version of a received signal. While TR focusing requires the PS for a coherent acoustic focus at its origin, the requirement of the PS has been partially relaxed by the concept of a virtual source array (VSA) [J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 125, 3828–3834 (2009)]. A VSA can serve as a remote platform or lens and redirect a focused field to a selected location beyond the VSA for which the field is assumed as a homogeneous medium with constant sound speed. The objective of this study is to extend VSA-based single TR focusing to simultaneous multiple focusing. This is achieved using the optimization theory by employing the multiple constraints method derived from a constraint matrix, which consists of appropriately synchronized transfer functions. It is found that simultaneous multiple focusing can be achieved with distortionless response at selected multiple locations, and its performance degrades in the presence of sound speed mismatch. Possible applications for the VSA-based TR focusing are discussed, and numerical simulation results are presentedTime reversal (TR) is the process of generating a spatio-temporal focus at a probe source (PS) location by backpropagating a time-reversed version of a received signal. While TR focusing requires the PS for a coherent acoustic focus at its origin, the requirement of the PS has been partially relaxed by the concept of a virtual source array (VSA) [J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 125, 3828–3834 (2009)]. A VSA can serve as a remote platform or lens and redirect a focused field to a selected location beyond the VSA for which the field is assumed as a homogeneous medium with constant sound speed. The objective of this study is to extend VSA-based single TR focusing to simultaneous multiple focusing. This is achieved using the optimization theory by employing the multiple constraints method derived from a constraint matrix, which consists of appropriately synchronized transfer functions. It is found that simultaneous multiple focusing can be achieved with distortionless response at selected multiple locations, and its perf...

Time reversal focusing of electromagnetic waves is investigated in case of source motion. We extract analytical formulation of uniformly moving source in presence of ideal time reversal cavity (TRC) and a more realistic model, time reversal mirror (TRM). Similar to the acoustic case, it has been observed that in case of moving point source spatial focusing is still achievable. Furthermore, we also investigate super resolution efiects on time reversal (TR) focusing of moving source in continuous random media. Results shows that an increase in (multipath) leads to better focusing resolution of the time-reversed signals.

In order to image a source or a scatterer embedded in a three dimensional solid, acoustic/elastic wave data from an actual experiment are time reversed and backpropagated through a numerical model of the medium. The model makes use of estimates for the elastic constants of the laboratory solid. These estimates may not be very precise, for example, due to experimental uncertainties. Poor characterization of the medium leads to the degradation of the time reversal focus, therefore, to poor medium imaging. In this work, we report on the results of investigating the time reversal focus degradation as the estimates depart from the real values. Very small deviations from the medium’s actual elastic constants degrade the time reversal focus dramatically. However, decreasing the total duration of the signals used for time reversal can attenuate the degradation in some cases. We propose a new method to compensate for the deviations of the model medium’s elastic constants from the actual values. Finally, we explore the effects of scatterers that may exist in the laboratory medium, but are not included in the model medium, and show that their presence does not produce significant effects on the time reversal focus.

This chapter contains sections titled: Introduction Theory of Time-Reversal Acoustics Application of TR to Medical Ultrasound Imaging Application of Time-Reversal Acoustics to Ultrasonic Nondestructive Testing Application of TRA to Landmine or Buried Object Detection Application of Time-Reversal Acoustics to Underwater Acoustics References

Time reversal (TR) is the process of generating a spatio-temporal focus at a probe source (PS) location by transmitting a time-reversed version of a received signal. While TR focusing requires the PS for a coherent acoustic focus at its origin, the requirement of the PS has been partially relaxed by the introduction of the concept of a virtual source array (VSA) (J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 2009, 125, 3828–3834). A VSA can serve as a remote platform or lens and redirect a focused field to a selected location beyond the VSA for which the field is assumed as a homogeneous medium with constant sound speed. The objective of this study is to extend VSA-based single TR focusing to simultaneous multiple focusing. This is achieved using the optimization theory by employing the multiple constraints method derived from a constraint matrix, which consists of appropriately synchronized transfer functions. Through numerical simulations, it is found that simultaneous multiple focusing can be achieved with distortionless response at selected multiple locations, and its performance degrades in the presence of sound speed mismatch. For achieving robust multiple focusing in the mismatch environment, singular value decomposition is applied to obtain the weight vector (i.e., backpropagation vector) that best approximates the column vectors of the constraint matrix. Numerical simulation results show that VSA-based multiple TR focusing using SVD is not a method to simultaneously focus on multiple locations, but a method of constructing a field which robustly passes through multiple locations in sound speed mismatch environment.

Acoustic time reversal is a promising technique for spatial and temporal focusing of sound in unknown environments. Acoustic time reversal can be implemented with an array of transducers that listens to a remote sound source and then transmits a time-reversed version of what was heard. In a noisy environment, the performance of such a time-reversing array (TRA) will be degraded because the array will receive and transmit noise, and the intended signal may be masked by ambient noise at the retrofocus location. This article presents formal results for the signal-to-noise ratio at the intended focus (SNRf) for TRAs that receive and send finite-duration broadband signals in noisy environments. When the noise is homogeneous and uncorrelated, and a broadcast power limitation sets the TRA's electronic amplification, the formal results can be simplified to an algebraic formula that includes the characteristics of the signal, the remote source, the TRA, and the noisy environment. Here, SNRf is found to be proportional to the product of the signal bandwidth and the duration of the signal pulse after propagation through the environment. Using parabolic-equation propagation simulations, the formal results for SNRf are illustrated for a shallow water environment at source-array ranges of 1 to 40 km and bandwidths from several tens of Hz to more than 500 Hz for a signal center frequency of 500 Hz. Shallow-water TRA noise rejection is predicted to be superior to that possible in free space because TRAs successfully exploit multipath-propagation.

There are numerous medical applications of ultrasound radiation force (RF) which could be made more effective using the time reversal acoustics (TRA) principles. This paper gives an overview of research into physical and technical bases of RF generation in heterogeneous biological media using TRA focusing systems. A custom-designed compact multichannel TRA system for receiving, digitizing, storing, time reversing, and transmitting acoustic signals in a wide frequency range from 0.01 to 10 MHz has been developed and extensively tested in model systems and ex vivo tissues and bones. Shear strain and shear waves remotely induced in soft tissues and bones by radiation force were detected using various acoustical and optical means. Experimental studies fully confirmed the feasibility of TRA generation of RF and demonstrated several advantages over conventional means of remotely inducing shear stress in biological media. These advantages include a possibility to create highly localized (close to diffraction limit) shear stress in heterogeneous media stir focused ultrasound beam in 3-D volume using very simple hardware. [Work supported by NIH grant.]

: Acoustic time reversal is of interest to the United States Navy because it is an effective means for focusing sound in unknown underwater environments. For the last nine years, the Office of Naval Research has supported theoretical and numerical investigations at the University of Michigan into the performance of time reversing arrays in the ocean. This report summarizes the research accomplishments of these investigations.

In this study, time reversal (TR) signal processing methods are used to create a focus of airborne ultrasound (between approximately 30 kHz and 50 kHz) in a room. There are unique challenges presented by ultrasonic sources, such as the highly directional nature of the sources, and attenuation of ultrasound in air. The aim of this study is to create a TR focus whose amplitude is as high as possible using the clipping processing method. Because ultrasonic sources tend to be very directional, this study explores the impact of using methods to make the sources more omnidirectional, which increases the number of reflective paths that contribute to the TR focus. This study explores various configurations of source and microphone in the room to determine which configuration yields the highest amplitude. Because thermoviscous loses for ultrasound are higher than for audible frequencies, a smaller room is used in the experiments to increase focal amplitudes.In this study, time reversal (TR) signal processing methods are used to create a focus of airborne ultrasound (between approximately 30 kHz and 50 kHz) in a room. There are unique challenges presented by ultrasonic sources, such as the highly directional nature of the sources, and attenuation of ultrasound in air. The aim of this study is to create a TR focus whose amplitude is as high as possible using the clipping processing method. Because ultrasonic sources tend to be very directional, this study explores the impact of using methods to make the sources more omnidirectional, which increases the number of reflective paths that contribute to the TR focus. This study explores various configurations of source and microphone in the room to determine which configuration yields the highest amplitude. Because thermoviscous loses for ultrasound are higher than for audible frequencies, a smaller room is used in the experiments to increase focal amplitudes.

We investigate some of the limitations of time reversal acoustics (TRA) in solid media with transducers attached to the surface. In particular, we consider the limitations due to the finite size of the transducers and elastic wave propagation. Using a theoretical approach, numerical simulations and validation from laboratory ultrasound experiments, we find that finite size transducers and the existence of longitudinal and shear waves play significant roles in perturbing the time reversal process. Despite these limitations, we show that TRA in solids is very robust, providing the means to reconstruct the main features of the source signal. The analysis of TRA retro-focusing properties in solid specimens is of foremost importance for the development of new non-destructive evaluation techniques.

In percutaneous procedures there is often a need to focus therapeutic ultrasound to a predefined area without affecting surrounding tissues. Focusing based on Time Reversal Acoustics (TRA) principles constitutes a promising approach for generating high intensity ultrasound field tailored to the shape of the predefined area. Conventional TRA technique enables ultrasound focusing only at a site, where there is an ultrasound beacon, e.g. piezo-transducer mounted at the tip of a catheter. We developed a method of steering the focus away from the beacon location. The method is based on the measurements of impulse response (IR) in several reference points and calculating virtual IRs for the points outside the reference beacon location. The IR for the point away from the beacon is constructed based on mathematical extrapolation of the measured reference IRs frequency spectra, particularly phases. The effectiveness of extrapolated TRA focusing is explored experimentally and by computer simulation. Potential applications include ultrasounda-ssisted drug delivery, artery recanalization and tumor ablation.

This paper presents an interdisciplinary review of the correlation properties of random wavefields. We expose several important theoretical results of various fields, ranging from time reversal in acoustics to transport theory in condensed matter physics. Using numerical simulations, we introduce the correlation process in an intuitive manner. We establish a fruitful mapping between time reversal and correlation, which enables us to transpose many known results from acoustics to seismology. We show that the multiple-scattering formalism developed in condensed matter physics provides a rigorous basis to analyze the field correlations in disordered media. We discuss extensively the various factors controlling and affecting the retrieval of the Green's function of a complex medium from the correlation of either noise or coda. Acoustic imaging of complex samples in the laboratory and seismic tomography of geologic structures give a glimpse of the promising wide range of applications of the correlation method.