{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,9]],"date-time":"2026-06-09T22:10:20Z","timestamp":1781043020151,"version":"3.54.1"},"reference-count":42,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"15","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2022,7,24]],"date-time":"2022-07-24T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1658620800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"National Natural Science Foundation of China","award":["50976024"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["50976024"]}]},{"name":"National Natural Science Foundation of China","award":["50906013"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["50906013"]}]},{"name":"National Natural Science Foundation of China","award":["2017YFB0603204"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["2017YFB0603204"]}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100012166","name":"National Key Research and Development Program of China","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["50976024"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["50976024"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100012166","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100012166","name":"National Key Research and Development Program of China","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["50906013"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["50906013"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100012166","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100012166","name":"National Key Research and Development Program of China","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["2017YFB0603204"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["2017YFB0603204"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100012166","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Sensors"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Accurate ranging and real-time temperature monitoring are essential for metrology and safety in electrical conduit applications. This paper proposes an acoustic time-of-flight (TOF) estimation method based on the digital lock-in filtering (DLF) technique for conduit ranging and thermometry. The method establishes the relationship between the frequency and the time domain by applying a linear frequency modulated Chirp signal as the sound source and using the DLF technique to extract the first harmonic of the characteristic frequencies of the transmitted and received signals. Acoustic TOF estimation in the conduit is then achieved by calculating the mathematical expectation of the time difference between each characteristic frequency in the time-frequency relationship of the two signals. The experimental results with enhanced noise interference on different conduit lengths and various temperature conditions, proved that the proposed DLF method can establish a robust linear time-frequency relationship according to the characteristics of the Chirp signal, and the measurement accuracy of TOF has also been confirmed. Compared to the conventional method, the DLF method provides the lowest absolute error and standard deviation for both distance and temperature measurements with an enhanced robustness.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/s22155519","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2022,7,25]],"date-time":"2022-07-25T04:52:47Z","timestamp":1658724767000},"page":"5519","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":10,"title":["A Time-of-Flight Estimation Method for Acoustic Ranging and Thermometry Based on Digital Lock-In Filtering"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"22","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-5516-8543","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Qi","family":"Liu","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Energy and Environment, Southeast University, Nanjing 210096, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Bin","family":"Zhou","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Energy and Environment, Southeast University, Nanjing 210096, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-9538-9332","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Jianyong","family":"Zhang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Computing, Engineering and Digital Technologies, Teesside University, Middlesbrough TS1 3BX, UK"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-0342-295X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Ruixue","family":"Cheng","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Computing, Engineering and Digital Technologies, Teesside University, Middlesbrough TS1 3BX, UK"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Xuhao","family":"Zhao","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Energy and Environment, Southeast University, Nanjing 210096, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-0592-2437","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Rong","family":"Zhao","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Energy and Environment, Southeast University, Nanjing 210096, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Minglu","family":"Dai","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Energy and Environment, Southeast University, Nanjing 210096, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-4034-7135","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Bubin","family":"Wang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Energy and Environment, Southeast University, Nanjing 210096, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-8407-061X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Yihong","family":"Wang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Energy and Environment, Southeast University, Nanjing 210096, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2022,7,24]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"15981","DOI":"10.1364\/OE.18.015981","article-title":"Spectrally Resolved Laser Ranging with Frequency Combs","volume":"18","author":"Godbout","year":"2010","journal-title":"Opt. 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