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

声波导——引导声波的结构——在自然界（例如，耳道）以及工程消费、工业和军事产品（例如，汽车消声器）中无处不在。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，从而产生高度定向的声波导。目标应用是电子产品，比如手机。这一过程将包括一个严格的设计-模型-建造-测试过程，将最先进的理论和数值建模与新的实验技术相结合。亚特兰大大学中心-历史悠久的黑人学院和大学联盟将通过密歇根声学研究员暑期培训（M-STAR）项目的两个暑期实习，向工程专业代表性不足的学生提供服务。实习生将与博士生合作开发Cool Acoustics示范项目并参与项目研究。这种波导设计的新方法将需要新的分析工具来满足各种目的。这是由于由场和梯度信息的前馈产生的空间延迟微分方程（DDE）（与时域DDE不同，这些方程很少被研究）。为了固定设计空间，对这些空间系统的Floquet-Bloch进行修改。对设计的稳定性、健壮性和有效性的分析将被确定，从而允许最有希望的设计在硬件中实现。这项工作的结果是一种新的方法，有可能从根本上改变单向波传播的实现方式，使新型声学系统和设备成为可能。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并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，被认为值得支持。

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.