Transmission of Images With Ultrasonic Elastic Shear Waves...

1192 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ULTRASONICS, FERROELECTRICS, AND FREQUENCY CONTROL, VOL. 67, NO. 6, JUNE 2020

Transmission of Images With Ultrasonic ElasticShear Waves on a Metallic Pipe Using

Amplitude Shift Keying ProtocolAlexander Heifetz , Dmitry Shribak, Xin Huang, Boyang Wang, Jafar Saniie, Life Fellow, IEEE,

Jacey Young, Sasan Bakhtiari, Senior Member, IEEE, and Richard B. Vilim

Abstract— Transmission of information using ultrasonicelastic waves on existing metallic pipes provides an alter-native communication option across physical barriers ina highly partitioned industrial complex, such as a nuclearfacility. This work investigates the feasibility of the trans-mission of digital images over metallic pipes. Ultrasoniccommunication systems for transmission of images ona nuclear-grade stainless steel pipe were assembled forbench-scale demonstration. Information carriers in this sys-tem are refracted shear waves transmitted and receivedwith piezoelectric transducers (PZTs) operating at 2-MHznominal frequency. The refraction and propagation of ultra-sonic shear waves were modeled with COMSOL software.An amplitude shift keying (ASK) communication protocolfor image transmission was developed and implemented inthe GNURadio software-defined radio (SDR) environment.Digital information was converted to analog ultrasonic sig-nals using Red Pitaya electronic boards. The performanceof the ASK protocol is evaluated at the output of every blockin the GNURadio program by monitoring the transmission ofselect characters. Using the ASK communication protocol,the transmission of the 32-KB image was demonstrated at2-Kbps bitrate across 6-ft-long stainless steel pipe. Prelim-inary evaluation of ultrasonic communication on the pipingof a nuclear facility, such as signal transmission on bentpipes, was performed with COMSOL computer simulations.

Index Terms— Amplitude shift keying (ASK), digitalimages, ultrasonic transducers.

Manuscript received November 27, 2019; accepted January 16, 2020.Date of publication January 23, 2020; date of current version May 26,2020. This work was supported by the U.S. Department of Energy,Nuclear Energy Enabling Technology (NEET) Advanced Sensors andInstrumentation (ASI) program under Contract DE-AC02-06CH11357.(Corresponding author: Alexander Heifetz.)

Alexander Heifetz, Sasan Bakhtiari, and Richard B. Vilim are with theNuclear Science and Engineering Division, Argonne National Laboratory,Argonne, IL 60439 USA (e-mail: [email protected]; [email protected];[email protected]).

Dmitry Shribak was with the Nuclear Science and Engineering Division,Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, IL 60439 USA, and also withthe Physics Department, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637 USA.He is now with the Department of Electrical Engineering, Georgia Insti-tute of Technology, Atlanta, GA 30332 USA (e-mail: [email protected];[email protected]).

Xin Huang, Boyang Wang, and Jafar Saniie are with the Electricaland Computer Engineering Department, Illinois Institute of Technology,Chicago, IL 60616 USA (e-mail: [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]).

Jacey Young is with the Physics Department, St. Norbert College,De Pere, WI 54115 USA (mail: [email protected]).

Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/TUFFC.2020.2968891

I. INTRODUCTION

TRANSMISSION of information using ultrasonic wavesas information carriers on pipes provides an alterna-tive communication option for scenarios when conventionalwired or wireless communications are ineffective or disabled.For example, using existing pipes as communication channelsin a nuclear facility provides an option to transmit informationto hard-to-reach places and across physical barriers in thepost-accident scenario [1]. The main components of a nuclearfacility are isolated from the outside world with 3–4-ft-thickconcrete walls of a containment building. In most of thedesigns, the concrete walls of a containment building are alsoplated with a metallic liner. A barrier of this type blocks awireless RF communication channel [2]. Existing penetrationsof the containment building wall consist of specially designedtunnels for heat exchanger pipes, which deliver water fromand back to the ambient reservoir [3]. The tunnels are sealedwith metallic plates on both ends, which prevents the insertionof any electrical or fiber optics communication cables. Themetallic pipes are not in physical contact with concrete ofthe tunnel, which allows for the propagation of elastic waveson pipes for sufficient distance to traverse the concrete wallbarrier [4]. Because mounting ultrasonic transducers on pipesinvolves minimal hardware modifications, such a communica-tion system would be compliant with requirements of nuclearfacility operations, which are subject to strict regulations.In addition, this approach provides a degree of physical cyber-security and accident resilience since the channel consisting ofa metallic pipe is difficult to sever, compared to conventionalcommunication cables [5].

In general, ultrasonic information transmission involveseither free space (acoustic waves in fluids in solids) or guidedwave (elastic waves in solids) communications. The majorityof work in free space ultrasonic transmission is directed towardunderwater acoustic communications [6], [7], but communica-tion through air [8], [9] and metallic media have been studiedrecently [10], [11]. Guided-wave ultrasonic communicationon pipes combines elements of communication theory withultrasonic transducers and wave propagation in solids, whichare traditionally investigated in the context of nondestruc-tive testing [12], [13]. Prior work on ultrasonic information

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HEIFETZ et al.: TRANSMISSION OF IMAGES WITH ULTRASONIC ELASTIC SHEAR WAVES 1193

transmission with guided elastic waves on metallic pipes hasconsidered energy-efficient low bitrate (∼100 bps) communi-cation using ON/OFF keying (OOK) modulation and chirpedOOK to mitigate frequency selectivity of the channel [14],and explored several approaches to modulation/demodulationusing time-reversal position modulation [15], and cyclic fre-quency shifting [16]. In addition, using different types ofultrasonic transducers, such as the electromagnetic acoustictransducers (EMAT), for communications using elastic guidedwaves on plates has been studied recently [17], [18].

In this article, we investigate the ultrasonic transmissionof a large volume of data, such as images, at a high bitrate, along the metallic nuclear-grade pipes. Because of thelimited bandwidth of ultrasonic transducers, amplitude shiftkeying (ASK) modulation, which is one of the realizationsof OOK protocol, was used for information transmission.A preliminary description of an ultrasonic communicationsystem on pipes was presented in [5]. The communicationscheme is implemented using GNURadio software-definedradio (SDR) environment. Recent studies investigated SDR-based communications using longitudinal wave transmissionthrough solids and guided elastic waves communication onplates [19]–[21]. Transmission of small volumes of data, suchas text, has been demonstrated [21]. This article contains adetailed analysis of the image transmission protocol developedin the GNURadio SDR environment and demonstration of thecommunication protocol performance in transmitting an imagewith ultrasonic shear waves on a pipe. Images were transmittedalong the metallic pipe using ultrasonic carrier frequencyelastic shear waves at 2-Kbps bitrate. The analysis presentedin this article allows us to evaluate the performance of theultrasonic communication system and investigate strategies forfurther improvement.

This article is organized as follows. Section II discussesthe hardware and software of the ultrasonic communicationsystem. Section III presents the analysis of the communicationprotocol by monitoring transmission of a simple messagethrough the communication system. Section IV briefly dis-cusses potential challenges for deployment of the ultrasoniccommunication in a nuclear facility. Section V contains thesummary and conclusions.

II. ULTRASONIC COMMUNICATION SYSTEM DESIGNA. Ultrasonic Communication System Hardware

A literature review of common reactor designs has identifieda chemical volume and control system (CVCS) water carryingpipe, which penetrates the reactor containment building wallin several reactor designs, as a viable conduit for communi-cations [3]. A laboratory bench-scale system consisting of anuclear-grade CVCS-like stainless steel pipe and ultrasonicpiezoelectric transducers (PZTs) was assembled for a pre-liminary communication system analysis. The pipe used inthe bench-scale study is a 6-ft-long schedule 160 stainlesssteel 304 L with 2.375-in outer diameter and 0.344-in wallthickness.

This study used commercial paintbrush PZTs operatingat a nominal frequency of 2 MHz. While other types of

Fig. 1. Hardware of OOK shear wave acoustic communication on pipesetup. (1) Digital computer with GNURadio software. (2) Red Pitayatransmitter board. (3) Power amplifier. (4) Angled-wedge mounted PZTtransmitting refracted shear waves. (5) Stainless steel pipe. (6) Angled-wedge mounted PZT receiving shear waves. (7) Low-noise amplifier.(8) Red Pitaya receiver board. (9) Digital oscilloscope.

ultrasonic transducers, such as high-temperature compatibleelectromagnetic transducers (EMATs), can be used for datatransmission, PZT has better coupling efficiency for non-ferromagnetic pipes. The PZT is mounted on a commercialacrylic angled wedge, and the angle of which exceeds the firstcritical angle of 27.6◦ for the acrylic/stainless steel interface.Although the nominal frequency of the PZTs is 2 MHz, itwas determined that, once coupled to the pipe through angledwedges, the largest amplitude signal was obtained by operatingPZT at 1.8 MHz.

Communication with shear waves is advantageous becausethey do not couple into the water, which could be presentinside the pipe. In addition, the excitation of multiple modesthat travel at different velocities along the pipe can leadto intersymbol interference. Below the first critical angle,a refracted wave consists of both longitudinal and shear wavecomponents, while above the critical angle only shear waveis refracted. The study utilized a commercial 45◦ wedge,for which it was determined experimentally that the receivedsignal consisted of shear waves only.

In principle, in nondestructive testing applications, elasticwaves on pipes are frequently generated with the radiallysymmetric collar-type transducer. However, the CVCS pipesare part of the thermal-hydraulic system, and as such areenclosed by a layer of thermal insulation. Thermal insulationmaterials, such as mineral wool, are poor transmitters ofacoustic waves. To achieve efficient coupling of acoustic wavesinto the pipe, the insulation material has to be removed for thetransducer to be directly in contact with the metal pipe. Thus,it is preferable to use a transducer with the smallest formfactor so that minimal amount of thermal insulation needs tobe removed and no thermal imbalances in the coolant systemare created.

A schematic depiction of the communication system isshown in Fig. 1. A digital signal is generated by theGNURadio program (1), which is next converted into ananalog signal through modulation of the amplitude of the



carrier ultrasonic wave by Red Pitaya electronic board (2).In our study, we encoded information using binary ASK. Theanalog wave is amplified with a 50-dB power amplifier (3)and converted into an ultrasonic pressure wave with a PZT(4). The incident longitudinal wave is mode-converted into ashear wave, which subsequently propagates down the stainlesssteel pipe (5). By symmetry, the shear wave is refracted intothe angled wedge at the receiving end of the pipe to becomea longitudinal wave, which is converted by the receiving PZT(6) into an electrical signal. The received signal is amplifiedwith a 20-dB low noise amplifier (LNA) and demodulated withreceiver Red Pitaya board (8) and passed through a low-passfilter to recover the information encoded in the amplitude ofthe carrier. The analog signal is decimated to create a digitalsignal, and the bits are repacked with GNURadio software.In this study, transmitted signals from PA and received signalsfrom LNA were sampled with a digital oscilloscope (9) toanalyze the performance of the communication protocol fortransmission of images.

Preliminary studies have shown that ultrasonic informa-tion transmission over the pipe is resilient to low-frequencynoise. Proof-of-principle demonstrations were performed withmechanical shaker vibrating the pipe at frequencies from100 Hz to 10 KHz, with no observable effects on informationtransmitted with 1.8-MHz carrier shear wave [5].

B. Computer Modeling of RefractedShear Wave Coupling

Computer simulations were performed with the COMSOLMultiphysics Solid Mechanics Module software package tomodel generation of refracted shear waves with an angledwedge-mounted transducer on a CVCS-like pipe.

In the COMSOL model, refracted shear waves are generatedat the boundary of the acrylic wedge and stainless steelpipe through a direct solution of elastodynamic equations inCOMSOL. Instead of explicitly modeling PZT, the source oflongitudinal waves is a boundary load applied to the acrylicwedge surface, which would in contact with the PZT surfacein the experiment. As could be seen in the graphics in Fig. 2,PZT structure is absent from the COMSOL model. Ultrasonicfrequency of 500 KHz was used in the computer simulationsto reduce memory requirements due to coarser grid meshingfor longer wavelength. While this frequency is smaller than the2 MHz of the transducer used in the experiment, the physicsof refracted shear wave generation and transmission does notchange appreciably with frequency. The pipe in the COMSOLmodel has the same diameter and thickness as the experimentalarticle (2.375 in outer diameter and 0.344 in wall thickness),but the length is shortened to 60 cm (2 ft). The amplitudeof the ultrasonic elastic wave is visualized with a pseudo-color map of pressure distribution, with green being zero,and warmer and colder colors corresponding to positive andnegative values, respectively. To increase the visibility ofwavefronts in this coloring scheme, the amplitude of the elasticwave was taken to be 4 × 107 N/m2.

Fig. 2 (top) shows the pressure distribution of 40 µs afterthe start of the simulations when the refracted shear waveis coupled into the pipe. Fig. 2 (middle) shows the pressure

Fig. 2. Computer simulations of coupling and propagation of refractedshear wave on the pipe, excited with 500-kHz PZT on a 45◦ angle wedge.Ultrasonic wavefronts are visualized with a pseudo-color map of pressuredistribution at 40, 110, and 200 µs.

distribution after 110 µs when the wave reaches approximatelythe middle of the pipe (30 cm mark). Since the shear wavevelocity in stainless steel is 3100 m/s, after 110 µs the prop-agation distance is 34 cm, which is qualitatively in agreementwith COMSOL simulations. The longitudinal wave velocityis 5790 m/s so that in 110 µs the longitudinal wave wouldhave traversed 63 cm distance, which is the entire lengthof the pipe. This is not observed in COMSOL simulationsshown in Fig. 2. Therefore, these observations confirm thatthe COMSOL model generates refracted shear waves on apipe. Fig. 2 (bottom) shows the pressure distribution at 200 µsafter the start of the simulations. The pseudo-color map ofpressure distribution indicates that the wave has reached theend of the pipe. This is consistent with estimations basedon shear wave velocity, which predict propagation distanceof 62 cm after 200 µs. This simulation confirms qualitativelythat pure ultrasonic shear wave is generated in the experimen-tal configuration.

Visualizations of ultrasonic wavefronts in Fig. 2 indicatethat while the wave is initially propagating at an angle to the



pipe axis, after propagating for approximately 30 cm distance,the wave is collinear with the pipe axis. For example, in thefar field, the wave from a single transducer has a similar radialprofile as that generated by a ring of transducers. Experimentson transmitting single pulses across the pipe have shownthat the amplitude of the received signal does not changeappreciably when the receiving transducer is positioned at 90◦and 180◦ relative to the transmitting PZT. This indicates thatthe communication system is resilient to the misalignment oftransducers.

C. Overview of GNURadio Communication ProtocolThe data transmission program was implemented in

GNURadio, which is a freeware Defined Radio (SDR) pro-gramming environment. The flowchart of the ASK communi-cation program developed in GNURadio is shown in Fig. 3.The program consists of blocks performing modulation anddemodulation functions. While more elaborate forms of shiftkeying exist that allow for more information to be encodedper key, we chose ASK technique due to the fact that theconstellation symbols are maximally spread out, reducing theimpact of noise on the channel compared to a setup thatencodes more than one bit per symbol.

ASK communication consists of a binary stream of infor-mation. Since an image data has a non-binary format, we havechosen a portable pixel map (PPM) file type to be the imagedata structure. The PPM file type stores the image dimensionsin the first three lines. The rest of the PPM file contains theimage stored as a matrix of ASCII character. We will refer tothe three lines of the PPM file as the “image header” and callthe rest as the “image payload.” Error-free transmission of theimage header is critical to the successful reconstruction of thereceived image. The imaging payload, on the other hand, hasa lower tolerance to errors since a few errors are not likely tomake the file unreadable.

Transmission of the image involves the conversion of thePPM, data structure into a binary one, and reassembling thereceived binary data into the original PPM format. To accom-plish these tasks, we first disassemble the file into a stream ofASCII characters, in the form of bytes (1 byte = 8 bits). Thesecharacters are then converted into a bitstream with an attachedpacket header. After demodulation, the bit stream is parsed toremove the packet header, the bits are converted into theiroriginal bytes, and the file is reassembled. If error correctionis added to the protocol, after the bytes are converted intobits, they are multiplied by a convolution matrix. Once thecommunication packet is received, the bits are decoded by aninverse matrix.

III. ANALYSIS OF GNURADIO COMMUNICATIONPROTOCOL PERFORMANCE

A. Communication Protocol Testing and AnalysisTo analyze the performance of the data transmission pro-

gram, a simple message with characters “!s!” was passedthrough the system and monitored in the output of each blockin the flowchart in Fig. 3. Output signals from select blocks inthe communication program, plotted with Python Matplotlibsoftware, are displayed in Figs. 4–11.

Fig. 3. ASK communication protocol signal flow graph created inGNURadio. Each block is numbered at the output.

In the File Source block #1, the file is disassembled intothree ASCII values: 33, 115, 33. The value of 33 corre-sponds to “!” and the value of 115 corresponds to “s.” TheProtocol Formatter block #4 creates a tagged stream of 1’sand 0’s that will be attached to the payload. We use thedefault preamble of “1010010011110010” and access codeof “1010110011011101101001001110001011110010100011000010000011111100.” Fig. 4 visualizes the result of combin-ing the header file with the payload in Tagged Stream MUXblock #5. The first 12 bytes (0–11) are from the protocolformatter, while the last three (12, 13, and 14) correspond tothe ASCII values of the characters “!s!” from the file source.



Fig. 4. Tagged Stream MUX block #5 output (data colored as individualbytes).

Fig. 5. Analog square wave at the Moving Average block #10 output(data colored as individual bytes).

The Repack Bits block #6 unpacks each byte into eightbits. There are 15 bytes in the packet, which means that120 samples are sent through the system (15∗8 = 120).Fig. 5 shows the signals at the output of the Moving Averageblocks #10, following the Rational Resampler block #9. Thedigital signal generated with Repack Bits block #6 is convertedinto an analog square wave. Each bit is interpolated to create600 bits so that the total number of samples increases from12 to 72 000 (120∗600 = 72 000).

The spectrum of the time-domain signal in Fig. 5, calculatedvia digital Fast Fourier Transform (FFT), indicates that theeffective bandwidth of the square wave is less than 50 kHz.Fig. 6 displays the transmitted wave output of Red Pitaya Sinkblock #12. The carrier frequency is 1.8 MHz. The data inFig. 6 is recorded with the digital oscilloscope (#9 in Fig. 1)at a sampling rate of 25 Ms/s, which is much higher thanGNURadio’s rate of 100 Ks/s. The number of samples forthe same signals is 250 times higher than in GNURadio(250 ∗ 100 000 = 25 000 000). The individual bytes from thesquare wave are all translated into a signal with amplitude

Fig. 6. Transmitted wave output of Red Pitaya Sink block #12, recordedwith a digital oscilloscope (data colored as individual bytes).

Fig. 7. Received wave on the pipe before demodulation in Red PitayaSource block #13 (data colored as individual bytes).

ranging from −0.3 to 0.3 V. Note that in the experimentalsetup in Fig. 1, this signal passes through a 50-dB poweramplifier (#3), and the PZT (#4) senses a signal with approx-imately 95-V amplitude. One can observe in Fig. 6 that theRed Pitaya board introduces ringing noise into the system inevery pulse ON/OFF transition. This behavior is the reason whybinary ASK is preferable to quad ASK since ringing noisewould be amplified in each additional OOK event.

Fig. 7 displays the received signal waveform from RedPitaya Source block #13, but before demodulation is per-formed. The data are recorded with the digital oscilloscope(#9 in Fig. 1). The received signal is amplified with an LNA(#7 in Fig. 1) but still appears to be attenuated by an orderof magnitude relative to the transmitted signal in Fig. 6.In addition, a dc offset of −0.075 V is added to the signal.Compared to the transmitted signal in Fig. 6, there are moredistortions on the peaks of the received waveform, as well asa much larger amount of noise around the dc offset.

Fig. 8 shows the received signal with the Red Pitayaboard demodulated with Red Pitaya Source block #13.



Fig. 8. Received signal with Red Pitaya board after demodulation withRed Pitaya Source block #13 (data colored as individual bytes).

The system produces a noisy waveform lacking informa-tion (sample numbers


Fig. 11. GNURadio screen capture of recovered received image ofANL logo.

propagation over complex piping structures. Detailed analysisof practical deployment considerations is beyond the scope ofthe present study. In this section, we briefly review severalpossible challenges and their potential resolution.

In principle, piping deterioration, in particular, corrosionand cracking, could have a negative impact on the data trans-mission performance. However, the condition of the nuclearfacility pipes is rigorously maintained through controlling pHand filtering out debris in the fluid, as well as performingthorough inspections during regular reactor shutdown periods.Therefore, deterioration of piping is not expected to have amajor impact on the ultrasonic communication at a nuclearfacility.

The study in this article focused on ultrasonic data trans-mission on a straight pipe. In principle, a straight section ofpiping might not be available for mounting transducers. Pipingelbows and bends are fairly common at nuclear facilities, andtransmission of over such piping manifolds could be necessaryto connect specific locations in the facility with a piping com-munication channel. We conducted a preliminary evaluation ofthe signal transmission across a bent piping structure with a90◦ turn using COMSOL computer simulations. The model ofthe structure, consisting of two 30-cm-long straight sectionsjoined with an elbow, is shown in Fig. 12. All other parametersof the metallic structure in the COMSOL model are the sameas those in Fig. 2. Longitudinal ultrasonic waves at 500-kHzfrequency were coupled as boundary pressure load to theacrylic wedge angled at 45◦. Elastic waves are visualized witha pseudo-color plot of pressure distribution. The amplitudeof the pressure is amplified compared to actual experimentalvalues to enhance the elastic wave visibility.

Fig. 12 (top) shows the pressure distribution of 40 µs afterthe start of the simulations when the refracted shear waveis coupled into the pipe. Fig. 12 (middle) shows pressuredistribution after 110 µs when the wave reaches the elbow.Note that the propagation distance to the geometrical centerof the bent section is slightly larger than 30 cm because theelbow increases the length of the overall piping structure byapproximately 10 cm. Fig. 12 (bottom) shows the pressuredistribution at 200 µs after the start of the simulations.At this point, the ultrasonic shear wave has propagated acrossthe elbow and reached the middle of the second straightsection.

Fig. 12. Propagation of 500-kHz refracted shear wave on a metallicbent pipe, visualized with pseudo-color map of pressure distribution at40, 110, and 200 µs.

Since the shear wave velocity in stainless steel is 3100 m/s,in 110 and 200 µs the propagation distances are 34 and 62 cm,respectively, which is in qualitative agreement with COMSOLsimulations. No reverberations or scattering from the elbowbend are observed in computer simulations. This confirmsqualitatively that ultrasonic shear waves travel across uniformpiping bend without mode conversion, which is consistent withprior studies [22].



However, it should be noted that piping bends are typicallyformed by welding of several piping sections. The weldsintroduce discontinuities in the piping material, which cancause significant scattering of the ultrasonic shear wave. A testarticle consisting of a stainless steel pipe bent at 90◦ wasdeveloped for preliminary laboratory analysis. The bent pipingtest article developed by welding two straight three-foot-long pipes to an elbow. For consistency, the diameter andwall thickness of the bent pipe is the same as that of thestraight pipe (6-ft-long schedule 160 pipes with 2.375-in outerdiameter). Industrial-grade welding was performed to achieveleak proof under the 2000 psi pressure test. After welding, theouter surface was ground to achieve a visibly smooth finish.Preliminary results of 500-kHz ultrasonic refracted shear wavetransmission across the bent piping structure indicate thatthe shear wave is significantly distorted by the welds. Onepossible mitigation strategy is to use time-reversal modulation(TRM) to remove noise from the received signal. Integration ofTRM filter into ultrasonic communication on complex pipingmanifolds will be investigated in future studies.

V. CONCLUSION

In this article, we discussed the design and performanceevaluation of an ultrasonic communication system on anuclear-grade stainless steel pipe. A laboratory bench-scalesystem consisting of a nuclear-grade chemical volume controlsystem (CVCS)-like pipe and commercial PZT ultrasonictransducers were assembled for a preliminary communicationsystem demonstration. Carriers of information are ultrasonicrefracted shear waves on the pipe. ASK communicationprotocol for image transmission was developed using theGNURadio software environment. Detailed analysis of thecommunication protocol, including the output of each block,is presented in this article. Using the communication system,a 32-KB image was transmitted at a data bitrate of 2 Kbpsacross the stainless steel pipe. The next phase of this workwill investigate the strategy for increasing communicationbitrate. In addition, instead of PZTs designed for operation,data transmission with high-temperature ultrasonic transducerswill be investigated. Finally, signal processing strategies forultrasonic signal transmission over complex piping manifoldswill be investigated.

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Alexander Heifetz received the B.S. degree(summa cum laude) in applied math, the M.S.degree in physics, and the Ph.D. degree in elec-trical engineering from Northwestern University,Evanston, IL, USA, in 1999, 2002, and 2006,respectively.

He joined the Nuclear Engineering Division,Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, IL, USA,as Director’s Postdoctoral Fellow, in 2008, andbecame an Electrical Engineer (Technical StaffMember) in 2011, and the Principal Electrical

Engineer with Nuclear Science and Engineering Division in 2017.At Argonne, he has been involved in projects related to nuclearenergy enabling technology, including ultrasonic communications, ther-mal tomography nondestructive evaluation for additive manufacturing,and thermal hydraulics sensing and control.

Dr. Heifetz was a co-recipient of the Best Paper Award at 2019 IEEEInternational Conference on Electro-Information Technology (EIT) andhas given invited talks at the Purdue School of Nuclear Engineeringin 2019 and at the UIC Department of Civil and Materials Engineeringin 2017.



Dmitry Shribak received the B.S. degree inphysics and molecular engineering from the Uni-versity of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA, in 2019.

He was a Science Undergraduate LaboratoryIntern (SULI) with Nuclear Science and Engi-neering Division, Argonne National Laboratory,Argonne, IL USA. He is currently a GraduateStudent with the Department of Electrical Engi-neering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta,GA, USA. His current research interests includeRF wave propagation, simulation, and antennadesign.

Xin Huang received the B.S. degree in com-munication engineering from Zhengzhou Univer-sity, Zhengzhou, Henan, China, in 2012, andthe M.S. degree in sensor technology from theUniversity of Shanghai for Science and Technol-ogy, Shanghai, China, and the M.E. degree insensor technology from the Coburg Universityof Applied Science, Coburg, Germany, in 2015.He is currently pursuing the Ph.D. degreewith Embedded Computing and Signal Process-ing Research Laboratory, Illinois Institute of

Technology, Chicago, IL, USA.He is currently a Research Assistant in the Electrical and Computer

Engineering Department, Illinois Institute of Technology. He was theGraduate Student Research Assistant in the Nuclear Science and Engi-neering Division, Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, IL USA, from2017 to 2019. His current research interests include ultrasonic sensors,ultrasonic communications, software-defined radio, modeling and signalanalysis, machine learning, embedded computing, and system-on-chipdesign.

Boyang Wang received the B.S. degree ininformation engineering from the Beijing Instituteof Technology, Beijing, China, in 2013, and theM.S. degree in electrical engineering from theIllinois Institute of Technology, Chicago, IL USA,in 2015, where he is currently pursuing the Ph.D.degree.

He is currently a Research Assistant in theElectrical and Computer Engineering Depart-ment, Illinois Institute of Technology. His researchinterests include ultrasonic signal processing,

software-defined radio, machine vision, automation, internet of things,embedded system development, hardware, and software co-design,system-on-chip design, and artificial intelligence and machine learning.

Jafar Saniie (Life Fellow, IEEE) received the B.S.degree (Hons.) in electrical engineering from theUniversity of Maryland, College Park, MD, USA,in 1974, the M.S. degree in biomedical engi-neering from Case Western Reserve University,Cleveland, OH, USA, in 1977, and the Ph.D.degree in electrical engineering from PurdueUniversity, West Lafayette, IN, USA, in 1981.

In 1981, he joined the Department of AppliedPhysics, University of Helsinki, Finland, to con-duct research in photothermal and photoacoustic

imaging. Since 1983, he has been with the Department of Electrical andComputer Engineering, Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago, IL USA,where he is the Department Chair, the Filmer Endowed Chair Profes-sor, and the Director of Embedded Computing and Signal Processing(ECASP) Research Laboratory. He has over 340 publications and hassupervised 35 Ph.D. dissertations, and 22 M.S. theses to completion.His research interests and activities are in ultrasonic signal and imageprocessing, ultrasonic software-defined communication, artificial intelli-gence and machine learning, statistical pattern recognition, estimationand detection, data compression, time–frequency analysis, embeddeddigital systems, system-on-chip hardware/software co-design, Internetof things, computer vision, deep learning, and ultrasonic nondestructivetesting and imaging.

Dr. Saniie has been a Technical Program Committee Member of theIEEE Ultrasonics Symposium since 1987 (The Chair of Sensors, NDEand Industrial Applications Group, 2004–2013), has been an AssociateEditor of the IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ULTRASONICS, FERROELECTRICS,AND FREQUENCY CONTROL since 1994, the Lead Guest Editor for theIEEE ULTRASONICS, FERROELECTRICS AND FREQUENCY CONTROL (UFFC)Special Issue on Ultrasonics and Ferroelectrics (August 2014), the IEEE

UFFC Special Issue on Novel Embedded Systems for Ultrasonic Imagingand Signal Processing (July 2012), and Special Issue on Advancesin Acoustic Sensing, Imaging, and Signal Processing published in theJournal of Advances in Acoustics and Vibration, 2013. He received the2007 University (Illinois Institute of Technolgy) Excellence in TeachingAward. He was the General Chair of the 2014 IEEE Ultrasonics Sympo-sium in Chicago. He has served as the IEEE UFFC Ultrasonics AwardsChair since 2018. He served as the Ultrasonics Vice President for theIEEE UFFC Society (2014–2017).

Jacey Young received the B.S. degree inphysics from St. Norbert College, De Pere, WI,USA, in 2019.

She interned at Brigham Young University,Provo, UT, USA, where she worked on usingsound pressure to locate acoustical sources.As a Science Undergraduate Laboratory Intern(SULI) at Argonne National Laboratory, Lemont,IL, USA, she was involved in the theoreticalcalculations for acoustical transmission throughsteel pipes for the United States Department of

Energy. In 2019, she joined Epic Systems Corporation, Verona, WI, USA,as a Software Developer.

Sasan Bakhtiari (Senior Member, IEEE)received the B.S.E.E. degree from the IllinoisInstitute of Technology, Chicago, IL USA,in 1983, the M.S.E.E. degree from the Universityof Kansas, Lawrence, KS, USA, in 1987, andthe Ph.D. degree in electrical engineering fromColorado State University, Fort Collins, CO,USA, in 1992.

Since 1993, he has been with ArgonneNational Laboratory, Lemont, IL, USA, where heis currently a Senior Electrical Engineer and the

Section Manager of the Sensors, Instrumentation and NDE Group inthe Nuclear Science and Engineering Division. He has been involvedwith applied research in the areas of electromagnetic guided-wave andradiating structures, induction sensor technology, acoustic sensing,signal processing, and analytical and numerical modeling. He hasconducted theoretical and experimental work on electromagnetic andacoustic/ultrasonic NDE techniques as well as active and passivemillimeter-wave sensing techniques for various industrial and scientificapplications. He has authored more than 150 journal articles, conferenceproceedings, technical reports, and chapter contributions.

Dr. Bakhtiari was a recipient of two Research and Development100 Awards and the Inventor of a number of patents related tononcontact electromagnetic and acoustic sensing technologies.

Richard B. Vilim received the B.Eng. degreein engineering physics from McMaster Univer-sity, Hamilton, ON, Canada, in 1976, the M.Sc.degree in electrical engineering from the Uni-versity of Toronto, Toronto, ON, in 1978, andthe Ph.D. degree in nuclear engineering fromthe Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT),Cambridge, MA, USA, in 1983.

He is currently a Senior Nuclear Engineer andmanages the Plant Analysis and Control andNondestructive Evaluation Sensors Group within

Argonne’s Nuclear Science and Engineering Division. He is also anExpert on modeling and simulation of power plants from both an engi-neering and economic perspective, on power plant instrumentation andcontrol, and on equipment monitoring, with over 35 years of experiencedeveloping new applications for the process and power industries. He ispresently leading the team responsible for designing the instrumenta-tion and control system for an advanced nuclear power plant to bebuilt with international collaboration. His research focuses on the costcompetitiveness of nuclear power operating in both an electric grid withrenewables and in hybrid energy systems. His research also includes thedevelopment of signal-processing methods and automated reasoningmethods for detecting sensor failure and for the diagnosis of incipientequipment degradation in process systems. He has over 250 publica-tions. He holds seven U.S. patents. He has developed a number ofcomputer codes in use by others including General Plant Analyzer andSystem Simulator (GPASS) and Parameter-Free Reasoning Operatorfor Automated Identification and Diagnosis (PRO-AID). He is one offour Argonne inventors whose patents formed the intellectual propertybasis for Smart Signal Corporation, a technology startup company withrevenues of $30M, recently acquired by General Electric.


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