11/02/2022
By Erin Caples

The Francis College of Engineering, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, invites you to attend a doctoral dissertation defense by Pratik Gandhi on “Acoustic Channel Modeling and Source Localization in Indoor Environments.”

Defense Date: Tuesday, Nov. 15, 2022
Time: 2 to 3 p.m.
Location: This will be a hybrid defense via Zoom and at Falmouth 203, North Campus. Those interested in attending should contact pratik_gandhi1@student.uml.edu and committee advisor kavitha_chandra@uml.edu at least 24 hours prior to the defense to request access to the meeting.

Committee Co-Advisors:

  • Prof. Kavitha Chandra, Eng.D, Associate Dean for Undergraduate Affairs, Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Massachusetts Lowell
  • Prof. Charles Thompson, Ph.D, Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, UMass Lowell

Committee Members:

  • Prof. Xuejun Lu, Ph.D, Professor, Electrical and Computer Engineering, UMass Lowell
  • Prof. Joshua Levy, Ph.D, Adjunct Professor, Electrical and Computer Engineering, UMass Lowell
  • Prof. Max Denis, Ph.D, Assistant Professor, Biomedical/Mechanical Engineering, University of District of Columbia

Brief Abstract:
The indoor acoustic channel is characterized using an improved image source based computational model for the point-to-point channel impulse response between a source and a receiver. This model applies spherical waves and frequency dependent reflections from the bounding surfaces, and improves classical geometric and modal based approaches. The impulse response is characterized as composed of a direct line-of-sight signal, early reflections and a scattering component. The relevance of the scattering component for a range of speed of sound ratios in air and the surface material is analyzed. The computationally derived channel impulse responses are statistically analyzed, and their space and temporal spectral features are characterized. These features are applied to the source localization problem in reverberant channels utilizing the two-dimensional wave-number frequency spectrum. The performance of a sensor network comprised of uniform linear receiver elements for localizing source positions is analyzed as a function of number of elements and their spacing.

All interested students and faculty members are invited to attend the online defense via remote access, please contact Kavitha_Chandra@uml.edu for the link.