Single layer near-field acoustic imaging in space-invariant reflective environments

Abstract: The visualization of optical fields, or widely known as photography, is a common practice that can also be applied to acoustic fields. No less than three decades of research in acoustic imaging demonstrate its potential and relevance in plenty applications such as sound source identification and localization, as well as characterization of noise generation mechanisms. In particular, the resolution of the acoustic images can be greatly enhanced by means of measuring the sound in the acoustic near-field. Nevertheless, it is often the case that the field is disturbed by the measurement environment, in the form of noise and reflections, and the source must then be transported to a much quieter place, for instance, an echo-free chamber. Current state-of-the-art methods tackle the aforesaid complications, at the cost, however, of measuring two images instead of one: resulting in twice as many measurement sensors. The contribution of this thesis is the introduction of a novel technique that only requires a single image to be captured, and is specially tailored for acoustic imaging in space-invariant reflective environments, that is, in the presence of reflecting surfaces that are parallel to the measurements.