On the Hilbert-Huang transform data processing system development

One of the main heritage tools used in scientific and engineering data spectrum analysis is the Fourier Integral Transform and its high performance digital equivalent - the fast Fourier transform (FFT). The Fourier view of nonlinear mechanics that had existed for a long time, and the associated FFT (fairly recent development), carry strong a-priori assumptions about the source data, such as linearity and of being stationary. Natural phenomena measurements are essentially nonlinear and nonstationary. A development at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC), known as the Hilbert-Huang transform (HHT) proposes an approach to the solution for the nonlinear class of spectrum analysis problems. Using the empirical mode decomposition (EMD) followed by the Hilbert transform of the empirical decomposition data (HT) as stated in N.E. Huang et al. (1998), N. E. Huang (1999), and N. E. Huang (2001), the HHT allows spectrum analysis of nonlinear and nonstationary data by using an engineering a-posteriori data processing, based on the EMD algorithm. This results in a non-constrained decomposition of a source real value data vector into a finite set of intrinsic mode functions (IMF) that can be further analyzed for spectrum interpretation by the classical Hilbert transform. This paper describes phase one of the development of a new engineering tool, the HHT data processing system (HHTDPS). The HHTDPS allows applying the HHT to a data vector in a fashion similar to the heritage FFT. It is a generic, low cost, high performance personal computer (PC) based system that implements the HHT computational algorithms in a user friendly, file driven environment. This paper also presents a quantitative analysis for a composite waveform data sample, a summary of technology commercialization efforts and the lessons learned from this new technology development.