Sharif Digital Repository

This paper presents a novel approach to isolated word speech recognition using fuzzy modeling which is specifically designed to ignore noise. The task is based on conversion of speech spectrogram into a linguistic fuzzy description and comparison of this representation with fuzzy linguistic descriptions of words. The method is tested on single speaker and multiple speaker tests and the results are compared with a widely used speech recognition approach, showing much higher noise resistance. Copyright - World Automation Congress (WAC) 2006  

This paper studies the subject of adaptive noise cancelation using the Kalman filtering technique to achieve high precision and fast convergence. It is shown that the Kalman filter can successfully be designed to detect and extract periodic noises which may be constituted of different sinusoidal components with possibly unknown and/or time-varying frequencies. This highlights the feature of Kalman filter in synthesizing periodic noises in the time-domain which is not possible using Fourier-based methods such as DFT. Usefulness of the method is discussed in the context of two examples: active cancelation of periodic noises from audio waveforms and filtering of electrocardiogram measurements.... 

Relationship between respiratory sounds and flow has always been of interest for researchers and physicians. However, the flow-sound relationship at very low flow rate has been questionable because breath sounds must exceed a minimum flow in order to be audible and different from the background noise. This study aimed to find the minimum critical flow rates for respiratory sounds to be audible and different from background noise. Tracheal and lung sound signals of healthy subjects in two groups of adults (12 subjects) and children (9 subjects) were studied. The values of minimum critical flow were determined comparing the spectrogram of the respiratory sounds at very low flow with that of... 

Echo and sound resonance in a conference room cause obscure speech and make listeners tired. Thus, the acoustical properties of a conference room are vitally important. The conference room 412 at Sharif University Physics Department failed to meet basic acoustical standards. The aim of this research is to improve reverberation time (RT) of the conference room using Helmholtz resonators with defined dimensions, diffusers, and sound absorbers. Helmholtz resonators are widely used to absorb sound noise especially at low frequencies. They are particularly useful when noise has a narrow-frequency band. One of the advantages of using Helmholtz resonators is their capacity to be tuned on different... 

Squeak and rattle (S&R) noises are important in-cabin sources of annoyance for occupants. Originally, S&R is generated as a result of colliding and slamming of car's trim and body structure which in turn occurs because of the dynamic displacements of components excited by road and power-train. Squeak noise is interpreted as periodic stick and slip phenomena in the contact boundary of two neighbor surfaces. While rattle noise is the emitted noise when adjacent surfaces collide and impact. Squeak noise takes place at low frequency while rattle phenomenon happens in high-frequency range, even though the excitation sources (road and power-train line) works in low frequency range. In practice,... 

These days, the pace of utilizing CAE tools is increasing with an eye to the vehicle development time and cost considerations. This paper deals with the NVH virtual analyses performed for a trimmed body of a B-segment sedan car. Since the main source of annoyance in low frequency range is the booming noise, the NVH diagnoses are performed by FEM tools. Firstly, the finite element model of the car is generated and this is followed by the modal analysis simulations for the car and cavity models in order to investigate the frequency attributes of the car and identify the NVH characteristics of body structure and acoustic cavity. Afterwards, noise transfer function (NTF) analyses are performed... 

A method for noise reduction in active-$RC$ circuits is introduced. It is shown that the output noise in an active-$RC$ circuit can be considerably reduced, without disturbing the circuit transfer function by inserting appropriate passive or active components in the circuit. The inserted components introduce new signal paths in the circuit for noise reduction while the original circuit transfer function is kept unchanged. The procedure to define the proper paths in the circuit and their transfer functions is given. The effectiveness of the presented method is demonstrated using a second-order active-RC filter fabricated in a 0.18-$ {m}$ CMOS technology  

The conventional delay-line discriminator method for phase noise measurement is modified to achieve better sensitivity. In the proposed technique, to decrease delay-line loss, the under-test oscillator's microwave frequency is down-converted by another oscillator, and delay-line is implemented in the IF range. Full validation of the technique is presented. In adition, we experimentally demonstrate that system sensitivity is considerably improved compared to the conventional method  

Switched reluctance motors (SRM) are one of the most reliable and cost effective motors and their applications are increasing in industry. However, it suffers from high level of torque ripple. In this paper, a new configuration for stator and rotor of SRM is presented. In the proposed method, a new saliency is developed to remove negative torque and therefore decrease torque ripple and acoustic noise, increase efficiency and as a result, expand speed range. The simulation results demonstrate that the new motor structure has a smooth torque profile with possibility to work at higher speed lower acoustic noise  

A three-dimensional dynamic model of the electrical activity of the heart is presented. The model is based on the single dipole model of the heart and is later related to the body surface potentials through a linear model which accounts for the temporal movements and rotations of the cardiac dipole, together with a realistic ECG noise model. The proposed model is also generalized to maternal and fetal ECG mixtures recorded from the abdomen of pregnant women in single and multiple pregnancies. The applicability of the model for the evaluation of signal processing algorithms is illustrated using independent component analysis. Considering the difficulties and limitations of recording long-term... 

Rail noise prediction models enable consideration of different scenarios for the optimal management of noise prevention and mitigation. This project is aimed at developing an equation that enables computation of LA,max for the Tehran-Karaj commuter train, a type of Diesel-Electric Locomotive. The form of the proposed model is derived from equations for predicting LA,max for a single locomotive pass-by, proposed in the manual prepared by Harris Miller Miller & Hanson Inc. for the US Federal Transit Administration, and in the French rail noise prediction model. The algorithm for predicting LA,max for the Tehran-Karaj commuter train has been developed on the basis of the 50 measurements from 5... 

Smoothing, while preserving edges, has always been a major challenge in image processing. In this paper, we propose a new approach that uses segmentation in order to avoid inter-region smoothing thus preserving the edges. It is common to smooth the image prior to region growing. The opposite procedure does not work properly in the presence of noise since region growing is very noise sensitive. To overcome this difficulty we adapted a robust region growing algorithm. Since region growing is very resource consuming, we do not perform it for every pixel. Instead, we divide the image into a number of overlapping blocks for which we carry out the segmentation. Then, we use the results for some of... 

Phase noise in two mutually coupled oscillators is analyzed by the describing function method, and the after-lock phase noise of the oscillators is calculated in terms of their free-running phase noise. A new phase-noise measurement technique based on inter-injection locking of two similar oscillators is proposed. Experimental results are presented, which confirm the theory. It is shown that in the case of zero phase of coupling coefficient, the system is in the optimum state where the only required parameter for the measurement is the locking bandwidth. In this optimum state, as far as the locking bandwidth is measured correctly, imperfections such as the frequency drift, parameters... 

An analytic method to predict the oscillation amplitude and supply current values of a differential CMOS LC oscillator is discussed. The phase noise performance for this kind of oscillator is predicted by using a simplified model. This method enables us to design an optimized oscillator in terms of minimum phase noise and power consumption. The validity of the presented method is demonstrated by designing an LC CMOS oscillator in a 0.24μm CMOS technology. The predictions obtained from the derived expressions are in good agreement with simulation results over a wide range of the supply voltage. © 2004 IEEE  

Cysts are one of the most common lesions in kidneys and can be diagnosed exploiting ultrasound images. In this paper, we develop an automatic approach for cyst segmentation in ultrasound images. The proposed approach comprises three steps: finding a seed point in the object exploiting the Gibbs random field, detecting the boundary based on multiresolution signal processing and edge refining, and finally shape model features extracting to verify whether the object is a cyst. The proposed approach is fast and less complex to suit ultrasound exploration applications. © 2004 IEEE  

This paper addresses a new mixed model for characterizing LPC excitation on a 3-band basis through analyzing harmonic structure of the residual signal. In addition, a sub-frame based analysis is developed for detecting both aperiodic pulses and noisy signals, which plays a major role in reduction of perceptual errors introduced by some certain consonants. Preliminary results show that near natural speech is achieved at 1050 bps, allocated to the excitation parameters, suggesting superiority of the proposed coding scheme to the MELP-2400 coding standard, in the sense of perceptual quality of reconstructed speech  

This paper presents application of high-Q cavity resonator in phase-shifter less technique. A mathematical analysis is presented to show the dependency of the measured phase noise in terms of loaded quality factor and resonance frequency of the high-Q cavity resonator. Experimental measurements resulted from different methods for a synthesized oscillator at 9.976 GHz show great validity and accuracy of the proposed technique. This technique needs no tuning for the phase-shifter and can introduce better sensitivity compared to the setup that uses a delay-line as a frequency discriminator element due to much lower insertion loss particularly at high carrier frequencies. The sensitivity of -113... 

The level and character of noise emitted by exhaust system has significant effect on the overall acoustic performance of vehicle powertrain and sound quality which is received by occupants. In addition to meeting aforementioned objective, the exhaust system must meet exterior noise regulation which is ordered by governments. In this study, acoustic performance of the vehicle exhaust system is investigated. Numerical simulation is applied for this aim that is the fastest and the most economical method in early design stages of vehicle development process. Thickness optimum design is performed in order to improve acoustic performance of exhaust system. Robust parameter design, based on Taguchi... 

Noise pollution in urban areas has many harmful effects on the citizens. There are varieties of noise generation sources of which the traffic noise could be a major source. The point which is perhaps less noticed is that sound level is not the only parameter to indicate the extent and intensity of noise pollution. Situation of urban land uses, distribution of population centers and types of passages can deeply affect the concern on this environmental issue but not with a similar ratio. This article presents an overlaying technique to define noise prone areas using all different factors involved. A case study was carried out in the District 14 of Tehran Metropolitan City where there are busy... 

This paper utilizes IJA stochastic learning automaton for detecting noise and tuning value of alpha parameter which is used for image sharpening via gas diffusion model. The method has been applied to gray-scale images in an automatic and adaptive fashion. It is shown that the IJA automaton detects noise and can reform it appropriately. It glides the image to find the pattern of noise and replace it by the relevant characteristics of neighborhood to carry out the local restoration. Then, the automaton makes the image sharp with gas diffusion model by learning alpha parameter. The IJA automaton calculates appropriate local value for each pixel. Finally, experiments are presented and...