Document Type

Thesis

Date of Award

Fall 1-31-2004

Degree Name

Master of Science in Biomedical Engineering - (M.S.)

Department

Biomedical Engineering

First Advisor

Tara L. Alvarez

Second Advisor

Michael T. Bergen

Third Advisor

Stanley S. Reisman

Fourth Advisor

Richard J. Servatius

Abstract

The primary goal of the thesis was to study the propagation of visible light and auditory sound through a synthetic fog medium compared to an ambient air environment. It is known that the fog substantially decreases the visibility however; this has not been studied quantitatively. Further information regarding other energies such as sound is also needed to understand how the energy reacts in the fog medium. The extent of visual and auditory degradation in humans needs to be investigated. Researchers have studied light transmitted through water, air; however, no one has studied how light or sound is transmitted through a synthetic fog medium. The first aspect of this thesis was to build the appropriate environment for the experiment, which used light sensors to detect the intensity of the light, and a sensitive microphone to detect the frequency of sound in an unknown environment. Lab-VIEW, a graphical programming language, was used to gather data for the sound experiment. Data were then analyzed by graphing the relationship of intensity of sound vs. distance vs. different production level of fog and frequency vs. distance vs. different production level of fog in the varying density of the synthetic fog medium. The data, which were collected from the light meter, in the fog medium, were then compared with the data collected in the room filled with ambient air. Similarly, the sound energy was detected using a microphone, in the synthetic fog medium, which was compared with the sound signal transmitted in an ambient air environment.

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