Contaminant detection sytem
AssigneeThe B.F. Goodrich Company
InventorsJoseph L. Rose, Aleksander B. Pilarski, deceased, Jeffrey M. Hammer, Michael T. Peterson, Philip O. Readio
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A contaminant detection system includes a transmitter for transmitting a guided wave through the skin at particular resonances, wherein each resonance point utilized will have propagation characteristics sensitive to a condition of interest. A contaminant may then be classified by transmitting several resonances and then carrying out appropriate feature extraction and pattern recognition techniques utilizing a host processor.
Claims25
A method of detecting contaminants on a skin exposed to the environment comprising the steps of:
- disposing a contaminant detection sheet on the skin, wherein the sheet is exposed to the environment and acoustically isolated from the skin;
- transmitting a guided wave through the sheet at a phase velocity corresponding to multiple resonances as indicated on a dispersion curve for the sheet;
- receiving the wave transmitted through the sheet and providing a received signal indicative thereof, wherein the received signal has a frequency signature;
- and
- extracting features from the frequency signature of said received signal for classifying contaminants on the skin.
An apparatus for detecting contaminants on a skin exposed to the environment comprising:
- a contaminant detection sheet disposed on the skin, wherein the sheet is exposed to the environment and is acoustically isolated from the skin;
- a transmitter for transmitting a guided wave through the sheet at a phase velocity corresponding to multiple resonances of the sheet;
- a receiver for receiving said guided wave transmitted through the sheet;
- means for providing a received signal indicative of the received wave, wherein the received wave has a frequency signature;
- and
- a signal processor for extracting features from the frequency signature of said received signal for classifying contaminants on the skin.
An apparatus for detecting contaminants on a skin exposed to the environment, comprising:
- a contaminant detection sheet disposed on top of the skin, wherein said sheet is exposed to contaminants from the environment, and is acoustically isolated from the skin;
- a transmitter acoustically coupled to said sheet to provide an acoustic guided wave at a non-perpendicular incident angle with respect to said sheet for transmitting a guided wave through said sheet at a substantially constant phase velocity selected to provide multiple resonances in said contaminant detection sheet;
- a receiver acoustically coupled to said sheet for receiving said acoustic guided wave transmitted at a non-perpendicular incident angle;
- means for providing a received signal indicative of the received wave, wherein the received wave has a frequency signature;
- and
- a signal processor for extracting features from the frequency signature of said received signal for classifying contaminants on said contaminant detection sheet.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.