This paper presents a new simple and accurate frequency estimator of a sinusoidal signal based on the signal autocorrelation function (ACF). Such an estimator was termed as the reformed covariance for half-length autocorrelation (RC-HLA). The designed estimator was compared with frequency estimators well-known from the literature, such as the modified covariance for half-length autocorrelation (MC-HLA), reformed Pisarenko harmonic decomposition for half-length autocorrelation(RPHD-HLA), modified Pisarenko harmonic decomposition for half-length autocorrelation (MPHD-HLA), zero-crossing (ZC), and iterative interpolated DFT (IpDFT-IR) estimators. We determined the samples of the ACF of a sinusoidal signal disturbed by Gaussian noise (simulations studies) and the samples of the ACF of a sinusoidal voltage(experimental studies), calculated estimators based on the obtained samples, and computed the mean squared error(MSE) to compare the estimators. The errorswere juxtaposed with the Cramér–Rao lower bound (CRLB). The research results have shown that the proposed estimator is one of the most accurate, especially for SNR > 25 dB. Then the RC-HLA estimator errors are comparable to the MPHD-HLA estimator errors. However, the biggest advantage of the developed estimator is the ability to quickly and accurately determine the frequency based on samples collected from no more than five signal periods. In this case, the RC-HLA estimator is the most accurate of the estimators tested.
We present computer simulations of a two-way ANOVA gage R&R study to determine the effects on the average speckle width of intensity patterns caused by scattered light reflected from random rough surfaces with different statistical characteristics. We illustrate how to obtain reliable computer data that properly simulate experimental measurements by means of the Fresnel diffraction integral, which represents an accurate analytical model for calculating the propagation of spatially-limited coherent beams that have been phase-modulated after being reflected by the vertical profiles of the generated surfaces. For our description we use four differently generated vertical profiles and five different vertical randomly generated roughness values.
When observations are autocorrelated, standard formulae for the estimators of variance, s2, and variance of the mean, s2 (x), are no longer adequate. They should be replaced by suitably defined estimators, s2a and s2a (x), which are unbiased given that the autocorrelation function is known. The formula for s2a was given by Bayley and Hammersley in 1946, this work provides its simple derivation. The quantity named effective number of observations neff is thoroughly discussed. It replaces the real number of observations n when describing the relationship between the variance and variance of the mean, and can be used to express s2a and s2a (x) in a simple manner. The dispersion of both estimators depends on another effective number called the effective degrees of freedom Veff. Most of the formulae discussed in this paper are scattered throughout the literature and not very well known, this work aims to promote their more widespread use. The presented algorithms represent a natural extension of the GUM formulation of type-A uncertainty for the case of autocorrelated observations.
Prior knowledge of the autocorrelation function (ACF) enables an application of analytical formalism for the unbiased estimators of variance s2a and variance of the mean s2a(xmacr;). Both can be expressed with the use of so-called effective number of observations neff. We show how to adopt this formalism if only an estimate {rk} of the ACF derived from a sample is available. A novel method is introduced based on truncation of the {rk} function at the point of its first transit through zero (FTZ). It can be applied to non-negative ACFs with a correlation range smaller than the sample size. Contrary to the other methods described in literature, the FTZ method assures the finite range 1 < neff ≤ n for any data. The effect of replacement of the standard estimator of the ACF by three alternative estimators is also investigated. Monte Carlo simulations, concerning the bias and dispersion of resulting estimators sa and sa(×), suggest that the presented formalism can be effectively used to determine a measurement uncertainty. The described method is illustrated with the exemplary analysis of autocorrelated variations of the intensity of an X-ray beam diffracted from a powder sample, known as the particle statistics effect.
The correlation of data contained in a series of signal sample values makes the estimation of the statistical characteristics describing such a random sample difficult. The positive correlation of data increases the arithmetic mean variance in relation to the series of uncorrelated results. If the normalized autocorrelation function of the positively correlated observations and their variance are known, then the effect of the correlation can be taken into consideration in the estimation process computationally. A significant hindrance to the assessment of the estimation process appears when the autocorrelation function is unknown. This study describes an application of the conditional averaging of the positively correlated data with the Gaussian distribution for the assessment of the correlation of an observation series, and the determination of the standard uncertainty of the arithmetic mean. The method presented here can be particularly useful for high values of correlation (when the value of the normalized autocorrelation function is higher than 0.5), and for the number of data higher than 50. In the paper the results of theoretical research are presented, as well as those of the selected experiments of the processing and analysis of physical signals.