Accurate Time Delay Measurements Research Articles

Guided Lamb Wave Array Time-Delay-Based MUSIC Algorithm for Impact Imaging.

Composite materials, valued in aerospace for their stiffness, strength and lightness, require impact monitoring for structural health, especially against low-velocity impacts. The MUSIC algorithm, known for efficient directional scanning and easy sensor deployment, is gaining prominence in this area. However, in practical engineering applications, the broadband characteristics of impact response signals and the time delay errors in array elements' signal reception lead to inconsistencies between the steering vector and the actual signal subspace, affecting the precision of the MUSIC impact localization method. Furthermore, the anisotropy of composite materials results in time delay differences between array elements in different directions. If the MUSIC algorithm uses a fixed velocity value, this also introduces time delay errors, further reducing the accuracy of localization. Addressing these challenges, this paper proposes an innovative MUSIC algorithm for impact imaging using a guided Lamb wave array, with an emphasis on time delay management. This approach focuses on the extraction of high-energy, single-frequency components from impact response signals, ensuring accurate time delay measurement across array elements and enhancing noise resistance. It also calculates the average velocity of single-frequency components in varying directions for an initial impact angle estimation. This estimated angle then guides the selection of a specific single-frequency velocity, culminating in precise impact position localization. The experimental evaluation, employing equidistantly spaced array elements to capture impact response signals, assessed the effectiveness of the proposed method in accurately determining array time delays. Furthermore, impact localization tests on reinforced composite structures were conducted, with the results indicating high precision in pinpointing impact locations.

Model selection using time-delay lenses

ABSTRACT The sample of time-delay gravitational lenses appropriate for studying the geometry of the Universe continues to grow as dedicated campaigns, such as the Dark Energy Survey, the (Very Large Telescope) VLT Survey Telescope (VST) ATLAS survey, and the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope, complete their census of high-redshift sources. This catalogue now includes hundreds of strong lensing systems, at least 31 of which have reasonably accurate time-delay measurements. In this paper, we use them to compare the predictions of two competing Friedmann–Lemaître–Robertson–Walker models: flat Lambda cold dark matter (ΛCDM), characterized by two adjustable parameters (H0 and Ωm), and the Rh = ct universe (with H0 as the single free variable). Over the past decade, the latter has accounted for the data better than the standard model, most recently the emergence of well-formed galaxies discovered by JWST at cosmic dawn. Here, we show that the current sample of time-delay lenses favours Rh = ct with a likelihood of ∼$84{{\ \rm per\ cent}}$ versus ∼$16{{\ \rm per\ cent}}$ for the standard model. This level of accuracy will greatly improve as the ongoing surveys uncover many thousands of additional lens systems over the next several years.

A Low Temperature Coefficient Time-to-Digital Converter with 1.3 ps Resolution Implemented in a 28 nm FPGA.

Time-to-digital converter (TDC) is the key technology to realize accurate time delay measurement in high-precision optical fiber time-frequency transmission and synchronization, optical sensing and many scientific applications. The performance of FPGA-TDC based on the carry chain is sensitive to the operating temperature. This paper presents a parallel multichain cross segmentation method, without multitime measurements, which merges multichain into an equivalent chain, achieving low temperature coefficient and maintaining high precision. The equivalent chain breaks the limit of the intrinsic cell delay of a single carry chain, improves the precision and reduces the impact of temperature variation significantly. A two-channel TDC based on parallel multichain cross segmentation method is implemented in a 28 nm fabrication process Kintex-7 FPGA. The results show that the performance of TDC is improved with the increase of the number of chains. The 10-chain TDC with 1.3 ps resolution, 4.6 ps single-shot precision performs much better than the plain TDC with 11.4 ps resolution, 8.7 ps single-shot precision. The resolution is stable with 0.0002 ps/°C temperature coefficient under an operating temperature range from 25 °C to 70 °C. Moreover, the proposed method reduces the complexity of the circuit and the resource usage.

Probing gravitational slip with strongly lensed fast radio bursts

The rapid accumulation of observed Fast Radio Bursts (FRBs) originating from cosmological distances makes it likely that some will be strongly lensed by intervening matter along the line of sight. Detection of lensed FRB repeaters, which account for a noteworthy fraction of the total population, will allow not only an accurate measurement of the lensing time delay, but also follow-up high-resolution observations to pinpoint the location of the lensed images. Recent works proposed to use such strongly-lensed FRBs to derive constraints on the current expansion rate $ H_{0} $ as well as on cosmic curvature. Here we study the prospects for placing constraints on departures from general relativity via such systems. Using an ensemble of simulated events, we focus on the gravitational slip parameter $\gamma_{\rm PN}$ in screened modified gravity models and show that FRB time-delay measurements can yield constraints as tight as $ \left| \gamma_{\rm PN}-1\right| \lesssim 0.04\times(\Lambda/100\rm kpc)\times[N/10]^{-1/2} $ at $1\sigma$ with $10$ detections.

Large-Scale 3D Baseline Measurement Based on Phase-Stabilized GNSS-Over-Fiber System

Multi-antenna GNSS-over-fiber system is considered an effective solution for three-dimension (3D) baseline measurement. By precisely determining the transmission time delays between the antennas and the receiver, the vertical precision can be improved based on the single difference (SD) model. This method, however, would encounter problems if the baseline is too long, since a high precision measurement of the time delay of a long fiber link is usually time-consuming. Here, we propose and demonstrate a high-speed phase-stabilized GNSS-over-fiber system for large-scale 3D baseline measurement. A relatively slow but accurate time delay measurement module is used to calibrate the link delay, then a fast active compensation device is employed to keep the time delay constant. If the delay variation exceeds the compensation range, the time delay measurement module would measure the link delay again and bias the active compensation device at a new operating state. In a proof-of-concept experiment, the precision of the 3D baseline measurement obtained by the proposed system with a 20-km optical fiber is around 2.82 mm thanks to the rigid active compensation and the high-precision time delay measurement. If the active compensation device is disabled, the vertical precision of the baseline measurement obtained would be degraded from 2.82 mm to 16.46 mm in 10 minutes.

Achieving the Ultimate Quantum Timing Resolution

Accurate time-delay measurement is at the core of many modern technologies. We present a temporal-mode demultiplexing scheme that achieves the ultimate quantum precision for the simultaneous estimation of the temporal centroid, the time offset, and the relative intensities of an incoherent mixture of ultrashort pulses at the single-photon level. We experimentally resolve temporal separations 10 times smaller than the pulse duration, as well as imbalanced intensities differing by a factor of 102. This represents an improvement of more than an order of magnitude over the best standard methods based on intensity detection.Received 3 September 2020Accepted 12 November 2020DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PRXQuantum.2.010301Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article's title, journal citation, and DOI.Published by the American Physical SocietyPhysics Subject Headings (PhySH)Research AreasNonlinear opticsPhotonicsQuantum metrologyQuantum opticsQuantum parameter estimationAtomic, Molecular & OpticalQuantum Information

Accurate measurement of optical fiber time delay based on frequency domain reflectometry

Optical fiber time delay system has been widely used in optical-controlled phased array antenna, radar distributed network, interferometric optical fiber hydrophone and high-speed photoelectric chip. These applications require high-accuracy and high-stability time delay generated by the system. Time delay measurement directly determines the precision and resolution of the system. Therefore, high-precision time delay measurement method is of great significance in developing the optical fiber delay system. In this paper, progress and problems of optical fiber time delay measurements are discussed. A new method of precisely measuring the time delay in optical fiber is proposed. We use the frequency domain reflectometry (FDR) to avoid the discrepancy between measuring range and measuring precision, which exists in both time-of-flight (TOF) method and phase discrimination approach. An intensity modulated 1064 nm laser signal is used as a light source. The modulation frequency is tuned from 10 MHz to 200 MHz in steps of 0.5 MHz. The spectrum of echo signal is obtained by measuring the amplitudes and phases of echo signals at different frequency points. The delay information is obtained via the inverse fast Fourier transform (IFFT). The precision of delay measurement in our method is determined by step size of frequency variation, and a higher-precision measurement is realized by using interpolation zero algorithm. Since our method is not to modulate the optical frequency, but to control the frequency of the modulation signal loaded on the electro-optic modulator, it is easy to achieve the high-precision and high-linearity frequency modulation. In this paper, theoretical analysis and time delay measurement are used to compare the FDR method with conventional TOF measurement method. The accurate measurement of 33–200 ps is realized, and measurement error is lower than 7 ps. We also design an incremental measurement experiment to study the resolution of the FDR method, which achieves a delay resolution of 3.3 ps. The influence of temperature jitter is analyzed to prove the reliability of experimental results. It proves that the FDR method has a higher measuring accuracy than the TOF method. The time delay measurement precision can be further improved by expanding the modulation bandwidth. Our method is to be applied to an optical fiber delay system to improve the precision and resolution of system delay.

The BepiColombo solar conjunction experiments revisited

BepiColombo ESA/JAXA mission is currently in its 7 year cruise phase towards Mercury. The Mercury orbiter radioscience experiment (MORE), one of the 16 experiments of the mission, will start its scientific investigation during the superior solar conjunction (SSC) in March 2021 with a test of general relativity (GR). Other solar conjunctions will follow during the cruise phase, providing several opportunities to improve the results of the first experiment. MORE radio tracking system allows to establish precise ranging and Doppler measurements almost at all solar elongation angles (up to 7–8 solar radii), thus providing an accurate measurement of the relativistic time delay and frequency shift experienced by a radio signal during an SSC. The final objective of the experiment is to place new limits to the accuracy of the GR as a theory of gravity in the weak-field limit. As in all gravity experiments, non-gravitational accelerations acting on the spacecraft are a major concern. Because of the proximity to the Sun, the spacecraft will undergo severe solar radiation pressure acceleration, and the effect of the random fluctuations of the solar irradiance may become a significant source of spacecraft buffeting. In this paper we address the problem of a realistic estimate of the outcome of the SSC experiments of BepiColombo, by including in the dynamical model the effects of random variations in the solar irradiance. We propose a numerical method to mitigate the impact of the variable solar radiation pressure on the outcome of the experiment. Our simulations show that, with different assumptions on the solar activity and observation coverage, the accuracy attainable in the estimation of γ lays in the range [–] ×10−6.

Turning Gravitationally Lensed Supernovae into Cosmological Probes

Abstract Recently, there have been two landmark discoveries of gravitationally lensed supernovae: the first multiply imaged SN, “Refsdal”, and the first Type Ia SN resolved into multiple images, SN iPTF16geu. Fitting the multiple light curves of such objects can deliver measurements of the lensing time delays, which are the difference in arrival times for the separate images. These measurements provide precise tests of lens models or constraints on the Hubble constant and other cosmological parameters that are independent of the local distance ladder. Over the next decade, accurate time delay measurements will be needed for the tens to hundreds of lensed SNe to be found by wide-field time-domain surveys such as LSST and WFIRST. We have developed an open-source software package for simulations and time delay measurements of multiply imaged SNe, including an improved characterization of the uncertainty caused by microlensing. Using this package, we describe simulations that suggest that a before-peak detection of the leading image enables a more accurate and precise time delay measurement (by ∼1 and ∼2 days, respectively), when compared to an after-peak detection. We also conclude that fitting the effects of microlensing without an accurate prior often leads to biases in the time delay measurement and over-fitting to the data, but that employing a Gaussian Process Regression technique is sufficient for determining the uncertainty due to microlensing.

Impact of the 3D source geometry on time-delay measurements of lensed type-Ia supernovae

It has recently been proposed that gravitationally lensed type-Ia supernovae can provide microlensing-free time-delay measurements provided that the measurement is taken during the achromatic expansion phase of the explosion and that color light curves are used rather than single-band light curves. If verified, this would provide both precise and accurate time-delay measurements, making lensed type-Ia supernovae a new golden standard for time-delay cosmography. However, the 3D geometry of the expanding shell can introduce an additional bias that has not yet been fully explored. In this work, we present and discuss the impact of this effect on time-delay cosmography with lensed supernovae and find that on average it leads to a bias of a few tenths of a day for individual lensed systems. This is negligible in view of the cosmological time delays predicted for typical lensed type-Ia supernovae but not for the specific case of the recently discovered type-Ia supernova iPTF16geu, whose time delays are expected to be smaller than a day.

Anomalies in Time Delays of Lensed Gravitational Waves and Dark Matter Substructures

Abstract Cold dark matter scenarios of hierarchical large-scale structure formation predict the existence of abundant subhalos around large galaxies. However, the number of observed dwarf galaxies is far from this theoretical prediction, suggesting that most of the subhalos could be dark or quite faint. Gravitational lensing is a powerful tool to probe the mass distribution directly irrespective of whether it is visible or dark. Time delay anomalies in strongly lensed quasar systems are complementary to flux-ratio anomalies in probing dark matter substructure in galaxies. Here we propose that lensed gravitational waves detected by the third-generation ground detectors with quite accurate time delay measurements could be a much better tool for this study than conventional techniques. Combined with good quality images of lensed host galaxies identified by the electromagnetic counterpart measurements, lensed gravitational wave signals could make the systematic errors caused by dark matter substructures detectable at levels of several percent, depending on their mass functions, internal distribution of subhalos, and lensing system configuration.

Accurate measurement of time delay of broadband microwave signal via high-repetition-rate pulse train probing SBS based all-optical pulse compression

We demonstrate a novel scheme to determine the absolute time delay of an unknown signal in an all-optical pulse compression system based on stimulated Brillouin scattering (SBS). Optical pulse train with high repetition rate is utilized as the probe lightwave and unknown broadband microwave signal is modulated on the pump lightwave. The pump and probe lightwaves interact along an optical fiber via SBS. The finite optical fiber length and high pulse repetition rate of probe signal make SBS insufficient since the first several probe pulses meet a part of the entire pump signal. The absolute time delay of the unknown microwave signal is determined through the amplitude variations of the pulse compression results, which are intrinsically carried by the probe pulses suffering insufficient SBS gain. The measurement of the absolute time delay is theoretically analyzed and is experimentally demonstrated. The maximum experimental error is about 7 ns for a linearly frequency-modulated pulse with 1 GHz sweep range at the center frequency of 10 GHz.

Analysis, Measurement, and Compensation of the System Time Delay in a Three-Phase Voltage Source Rectifier

The system time delay, which can be several times greater than the switching period, is typically neglected during the design of a three-phase voltage source rectifier system. As a result, the system time delay can cause different types of deteriorations, including a surge in the ac current, an overshoot in the dc-link voltage, and a decrease in system stability. This study first develops a dc model and linear model to form the basis of the analysis of the relationships between the system time delay and deteriorations. A novel method is then proposed to provide an accurate measurement of the system time delay to improve the efficiency of compensation methods. Based on the analysis and measurement results, two new compensation methods are subsequently proposed to effectively mitigate these deteriorations. The efficiency of the measurement and compensation methods is finally demonstrated via simulations and experiments.

COSMOGRAIL: the COSmological MOnitoring of GRAvItational Lenses

This paper presents optical R-band light curves and the time delay of the doubly imaged gravitationally lensed quasar SDSS J1001+5027 at a redshift of 1.838. We have observed this target for more than six years, between March 2005 and July 2011, using the 1.2-m Mercator Telescope, the 1.5-m telescope of the Maidanak Observatory, and the 2-m Himalayan Chandra Telescope. Our resulting light curves are composed of 443 independent epochs, and show strong intrinsic quasar variability, with an amplitude of the order of 0.2 magnitudes. From this data, we measure the time delay using five different methods, all relying on distinct approaches. One of these techniques is a new development presented in this paper. All our time-delay measurements are perfectly compatible. By combining them, we conclude that image A is leading B by 119.3 ± 3.3 days (1σ, 2.8% uncertainty), including systematic errors. It has been shown recently that such accurate time-delay measurements offer a highly complementary probe of dark energy and spatial curvature, as they independently constrain the Hubble constant. The next mandatory step towards using SDSS J1001+5027 in this context will be the measurement of the velocity dispersion of the lensing galaxy, in combination with deep Hubble Space Telescope imaging.

Evaluation of the transmission line model for couplant layer corrections in pulse-echo measurements

An acoustic couplant layer plays an integral role in many ultrasonic nondestructive testing and material characterization applications. It is important to account for this layer for accurate time-delay measurements. In pulse-echo measurements, the couplant layer can be accounted for by modeling the frequency dependence of phase delay. In this paper, two such models are evaluated for robustness in determining an accurate phase velocity: a simple linear relationship and the acoustic transmission line with its associated nonlinear expression. For this evaluation, measurements of acoustic phase delay in an aluminum sample were made by the pulse-echo method using tone bursts of 1800 different carrier frequencies between 35 and 125 MHz. The transmission line model was fit to the measured data using an unconstrained nonlinear least squares fitting routine with two free parameters: the acoustic phase velocity in the sample and the couplant thickness. It was found that this nonlinear model was extremely sensitive to the initial parameter guesses and could not unambiguously determine both the couplant layer thickness and acoustic phase velocity. In contrast, the faster and simpler linear least squares fit to the delay data determines a unique phase velocity in agreement with resonant ultrasound spectroscopy, an independent measurement technique.

Real Time High Accuracy 3-D PHAT-Based Sound Source Localization Using a Simple 4-Microphone Arrangement

This paper investigates wideband sound source localization in outdoor cases. In such cases, time difference of arrival (TDOA)-based methods are commonly used for 2-D and 3-D wideband sound source localization. These methods have lower accuracy in comparison with direction of arrival-based approaches. However, they feature fewer microphones and less computation time. High accuracy sound source localization using these methods needs highly accurate time delay measurement, and therefore, high frequency signal sampling rates. Moreover, the need to use numerical analysis methods for local calculations (solving nonlinear equations of closed-form methods) will increase computation time while the calculations may still not converge. Also, a good initial guess close to the true solution is needed to avoid local minima. In this paper, a simple, fast (real time) and accurate pure geometric phase transform-based exact location calculation approach for 3-D localization of wideband sound sources in outdoor far-field and low degree reverberation cases, using only four microphones, is proposed. Based on the proposed method, a simple arrangement of microphones is implemented. Experimental results show that the proposed method has more accuracy and less computation time simultaneously, in comparison with previous closed-form hyperbolic intersection and other TDOA-based state-of-the-art location calculation methods, overcoming their major weaknesses. Also, as the nonlinear closed-form equations are linearized, no initial guess is required. It features less than 0.2° error for angle of arrival, less than 5% error for 3-D location finding, and computation times as low as 250 ms for the localization of a typical wideband sound source such as a flying object (helicopter).

Strong lensing, cosmology and lensing halos

With future wide and deep cosmological sky surveys, a large number of gravitationallylensed, multiply imaged systems will be found. In addition to multiply imaged galaxies andquasars, sources will include transient events like supernovae and gamma raybursts in which case very accurate time delay measurements are possible. Also,large numbers of systems with several lensed sources behind a single lens will beobserved. In this paper, we review and compare different possibilities for usingfuture strong lensing data to probe lens matter distributions and to determinethe Hubble parameter and the matter density of the universe. Specifically, weinvestigate the possibility of breaking the well-known degeneracy between darkmatter halo profiles and the Hubble parameter using observed flux ratios. We alsoinvestigate how strong lensing can provide useful constraints on the matter densityof the universe independently of the flux ratios and other cosmological probes.

A waveguide-based acoustic microscope

A new instrument is presented which is capable of high resolution acoustic imaging at relatively low frequencies. This approach results in increased complexity of the signal processing required and reduced throughput of the instrument. However, these disadvantages are amply compensated by the ability to create velocity scan images of materials with either high attenuation or low material velocities. These measurements are not possible using traditional acoustic microscopes. The initial performance of the new instrument is demonstrated using thin samples of shim materials to show that acceptable spatial resolution and highly accurate time delay measurements are possible. An application is then shown using the instrument to evaluate subchondral sclerosis in horse bones. It has been hypothesized that changes in the elastic modulus may be associated with fatigue-induced microdamage. The modulus change may further represent bone damage which precedes the development of microcracking. Thin samples are used to allow complementary microradiography to be performed on the bone slices. Because of the low material velocity, surface wave interference methods (so called V( z) curves) are not well suited for use in some bone samples. The thickness of the samples eliminates the potential for the samples to be evaluated using pulse-echo time delay measurements. The new instrument is thus unique in its ability to create velocity scans of these samples.