Analytic wavelet packets for robust ultrasonic flow measurement

A key element in robust transit-time ultrasonic flow measurement is the accurate estimation of the transit time difference. Conventional methods, such as cross correlation or the estimation in the phase domain, are limited in their robustness against signal distortions, interfering signals or noise. In this work, we present a novel method to estimate the transit-time difference through the fusion of selected analytic wavelet packet coefficients. The combination of the complex coefficients, which represent a projection of the signal on analytic wavelets, with a configurable time-frequency resolution allows a sub-sample estimation at the frequency of interest. After giving an introduction into the fundamentals of analytic wavelet packets based on multi-scale filtering, we introduce two features that correlate strongly with the transit-time difference. The selection and fusion of these features is done by using correlation coefficients with a calibration set and principal component analysis. Finally, using a clamp-on flow measurement system, the robustness against temperature variation and measurement noise is shown and compared with conventional methods.