Using Distributed Control to Achieve One-Way Wave Propagation in Acoustic Systems

声波波导-引导声波的结构-无处不在，在自然界（例如耳道）以及工程消费品，工业和军事产品（例如汽车中的消声器）中发现。 在这项研究中，研究人员将探索如何使用传感器，执行器和放大器网络来改善对声音传输的控制，从而实现高度定向的声波波导。 目标应用是电子产品，例如手机。这一过程将涉及一个严格的设计-模型-建造-测试过程，将最先进的理论和数值模拟与新的实验技术相结合。 从亚特兰大大学历史上黑人学院和大学的中心联盟的工程中代表性不足的学生的外联将通过在密歇根州夏季培训声学研究员（M-STAR）计划的两个夏季实习来实现。实习生将与博士生合作开发Cool Acoustics演示项目并参与项目研究。这种新的波导设计方法将需要用于各种用途的新分析工具。 这是由于场和梯度信息的前馈导致的空间延迟微分方程（DDE）的生成（与时域DDE不同，这些方程很少被研究）。为了确定设计空间，将对这些空间系统的Floquet-Bloch进行修改。 分析的稳定性，鲁棒性和有效性的设计将被确定允许最有前途的设计在硬件中实现。 这项工作的成果是一种新的方法，它有可能从根本上改变单向波传播的实现方式，从而实现新的声学系统和设备类别。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并被认为值得通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估来支持。

Acoustic waveguides - structures that guide sound waves - are ubiquitous and found in nature (for example, the ear canal) as well as in engineered consumer, industrial, and military products (for example, mufflers in automobiles). In this research, investigators will explore how a network of sensors, actuators and amplifiers can be used to improve control over transmission of sound, leading to highly directional acoustic waveguides. The target applications are in electronics, such as in cell phones. The process will involve a rigorous design-model-build-test process combining state-of-the-art theoretical and numerical modeling with new experimental techniques. Outreach to underrepresented students in engineering from the Atlanta University Center-Consortium of Historically Black Colleges and Universities will be realized through a two-summer internship in the Michigan Summer Training in Acoustics Researcher (M-STAR) program. Interns will team with PhD students to develop Cool Acoustics demonstration projects and take part in the project research.This new approach to waveguide design will require new analysis tools for a variety of purposes. This is due to the generation of a spatial delay differential equation (DDE) resulting from feedforward of the field and gradient information (unlike the time domain DDE, these equations are seldom studied). In order to fix the design space, Floquet-Bloch of these spatial systems will be modified. The analysis of stability, robustness, and effectiveness of the designs will be identified allowing for the most promising designs to be realized in hardware. The outcome of work is a new approach that has the potential to radically change how one-way wave propagation is achieved enabling new classes of acoustic systems and devices.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.