Towards an Automated Acoustic Detection Algorithm for Wood-Boring Beetle Larvae (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae and Buprestidae).

The development of acoustic systems for detection of wood-boring larvae requires knowledge of the features of signals produced both by insects and background noise. This paper presents analysis of acoustic/vibrational signals recorded in tests using tree bolts infested with Anoplophora glabripennis (Motschulsky) (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae) (Asian longhorn beetle) and Agrilus planipennis Fairmaire (Coleoptera: Buprestidae) (emerald ash borer) larvae. Based on features found, an algorithm for automated insect signal detection was developed. The algorithm automatically detects pulses with parameters typical for the larva-induced signals and rejects noninsect signals caused by ambient noise. The decision that a wood sample is infested is made when the mean rate of detected insect pulses per minute exceeds a predefined threshold. The proposed automatic detection algorithm demonstrated the following performance: 12 out of 15 intact samples were correctly classified as intact, 23 out of 25 infested samples were correctly classified as infested, and five samples out of the total 40 were classified as 'unknown.' This means that a successful wood-sample classification of 87.5% was achieved, with the remaining 12.5% classified as 'unknown,' requiring a repeat of the test in a less noisy environment, or manual inspection.

Nonlinear seismo-acoustic land mine detection and discrimination.

A novel technique for detection and discrimination of artificial objects, such as land mines, pipes, containers, etc., buried in the ground, has been developed and tested. The developed approach utilizes vibration (using seismic or airborne acoustic waves) of buried objects, remote measurements of soil surface vibration (using laser or microwave vibrometers), and processing of the measured vibration to extract mine's "vibration signatures." The technique does not depend upon the material from which the mine is fabricated whether it be metal, plastic, wood, or any other material. It depends upon the fact that a mine is a "container" whose purpose is to contain explosive materials and associated detonation apparatus. The mine container is in contact with the soil in which it is buried. The container is an acoustically compliant article, whose compliance is notably different from the compliance of the surrounding soil. Dynamic interaction of the compliant container and soil on top of it leads to specific linear and nonlinear effects used for mine detection and discrimination. The mass of the soil on top of a compliant container creates a classical mass-spring system with a well-defined resonance response. Besides, the connection between mass (soil) and spring (mine) is not elastic (linear) but rather nonlinear, due to the separation of the soil/mine interface in the tensile phase of applied dynamic stress. These two effects, constituting the mine's vibration signature have been measured in numerous laboratory and field tests, which proved that the resonance and nonlinear responses of a mine/soil system can be used for detection and discrimination of buried mines. Thus, the fact that the mine is buried is turned into a detection advantage. Because the seismo-acoustic technique intrinsically detects buried containers, it can discriminate mines from noncompliant false targets such as rocks, tree roots, chunks of metal, bricks, etc. This was also confirmed experimentally in laboratory and field tests.