An imaging system includes transmit circuitry, a transducer array with an array of capacitive micromachined ultrasonic transducer elements, a beamformer, a decoder and a display. The transmit circuitry includes a signal generator and at least one excitation coding scheme. The transmit circuitry combines an excitation signal generated by the signal generator with an excitation coding scheme of the at least one excitation coding scheme, generating a coded excitation signal. The array of transducer elements is excited with the coded excitation signal to emit ultrasound signals. The coding scheme does not introduce heating on the capacitive micromachined ultrasonic transducer elements. The array of ultrasonic transducer elements receives echo signals produced in response to the ultrasound signals interacting with structure and generates electrical signals indicative thereof. The beamformer beamforms the electrical signals, the decoder removes the coding from the beamformed signals, and the display that displays an image with the decoded signals.

A method and a system for reducing undesired interference in a target zone. A set of M pickup sensors pick up undesired signals in real time and generate M pickup signals, M being an integer greater than or equal to 1. A beam forming network coupled to the M pickup sensors comprises a receiving beam forming module and a transmitting beam forming module. The receiving beam forming module receives the M pickup signals and generates K beam signals, K being an integer greater than or equal to 1. The transmitting beam forming module receives the K beam signals and generates N interference signals, N being an integer greater than 1. A set of N injectors coupled to the transmitting beam forming module receives the N interference signals, respectively, and radiates the N interference signals to the target zone.

A signal generator generates an electrical signal that is sent to an amplifier, which increases the power of the signal using power from a power source. The amplified signal is fed to a sender transducer to generate ultrasonic waves that can be focused and sent to a receiver. The receiver transducer converts the ultrasonic waves back into electrical energy and stores it in an energy storage device, such as a battery, or uses the electrical energy to power a device. In this way, a device can be remotely charged or powered without having to be tethered to an electrical outlet.

A system for generating and injecting acoustic interference signals to mitigate undesired acoustic noise over a target zone. M pickup sensors pick up acoustic noise signals from one or more noise sources in real time and generate M noise signals, M>1. A beam forming network includes M acoustic beam forming modules to process the M noise signals respectively and generate N acoustic interference signals. N acoustic injectors condition, amplify and inject the N acoustic interference signals over the target zone, N>1. Each of the M acoustic beam forming modules includes a 1-to-N distribution network to transform a respective one of the M noise signals into N signals, and N finite-impulse-response filters to perform amplitude and phase weighting on the respective N signals and generate N intermediate signals which are combined respectively with corresponding intermediate signals generated by remaining M1 acoustic beam forming modules to generate the N acoustic interference signals.

Embodiments of the present invention relate to ultrasound (acoustic) data transmission systems, in particular data transmission over wide-band acoustic channels with frequency-dependant multi-path propagation. More specifically, embodiments of the invention involve increasing the bit rate in the acoustic channel by means of utilization of the entire ultrasound spectrum available for data transmission inside a human body.

Omnidirectional high resolution tracking and recording apparatus and method are disclosed. The high resolution tracking and recording apparatus comprises a pan/tilt/zoom camera executable rotation and zoom-in; assistant cameras configured to have fisheye lens; microphones performable beam steering; and a processor configured to control to search a location of an important object in a recorded image by analyzing an image taken by the pan/tilt/zoom camera and the assistant cameras and a sound source recorded by the microphones, rotate the pan/tilt/zoom camera to the searched location, perform zoom-in of the pan/tilt/zoom camera, and amplify a sound occurred in a direction of a sound source by searching the direction of the sound source through preset algorithm.

A sonar system to image the seabed, comprises at least one emission antenna to emit an acoustic beam covering a useful angular sector delimited by a first direction and a second direction, the distance between the antenna and the seabed being more significant in the first direction than in the second direction. The emission device is configured to form an emission pattern whose maximum is situated substantially in the first direction and which decreases from the first direction to the second direction and from the first direction in the sense opposite to the second direction, the energy attenuation being faster in the sense opposite to the second direction than toward the second direction.

The instant application discloses, among other things, devices and techniques for using high-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) for detonation of explosives. In one embodiment, a device configured to hold small, disposable, ultrasonic transducer arrays suitable for disposal, detonation, or other manipulation of explosives and hazardous materials is provided.

A quiet zone generation technique for acoustic/audio signals is proposed for mitigation of selected noise or interferences over limited areas in free space by injecting the very acoustic noise, interference, or audio feedback signals via iterative processing, generating quiet zones dynamically. This creates undesired noise-free quiet zones. Optimization loops operating iteratively to electronically process cancellation signals consist of three interconnected functional blocks: (1) an acoustic injection array, consisting of pick-up arrays to obtain the interference signals, beam forming networks for element weighting and/or re-positioning, and array elements for noise injections, (2) a diagnostic network with strategically located probes, and (3) an optimization processor with cost minimization algorithms to calculate element weights for updating.

A sound generator comprising: a digital processing unit, an amplifying circuit and an array of ultrasonic transducers. The digital processing unit mixes a data signal with a digital carrier signal to produce a modulated digital signal. The data signal represents sound information on a digital format and the digital carrier signal has a constant frequency. The amplifying circuit receives the modulated digital signal, and based thereon produces an amplified analog ultrasonic-frequency signal. The array of ultrasonic transducers emits at least one ultrasonic signal beam having an envelope representing the sound information. Thus, for example, audible sound may be produced.