ADAPTIVE ECHO CANCELLATION

Adaptive echo cancelling is a signal processing technique that is highly effective in

suppressing additive interference or noise corrupting a received target signal at the
main or primary sensor in certain common situations where the interference is known
and is accessible but unavoidable and where the target signal and the interference are
unrelated (i.e., uncorrelated).

Examples

 a microphone attempting to receive speech near machinery or other noise

sources in the environment, such as an aircraft cockpit[1]

 a naval ship towing a sonar array where the ship's own noise masks a much weaker
detected target signal
 obtaining a fetal electrocardiogram (ECG) where the presence of the mother's
stronger ECG represents an unavoidable interference.[2]
Conventional signal processing techniques pass the received signal, consisting of the
target signal and the corrupting interference, through a filter that is designed to minimise
the effect of the interference. The objective of optimal filtering is to maximise the signal-
to-noise ratio[4] at the receiver output or to produce the optimal estimate of the target
signal in the presence of interference (Wiener filter).

In contrast, adaptive echo cancelling relies on a second sensor, usually located near the
source of the known interference, to obtain a relatively pure version of the interference,
free from the target signal and other interference. This second version of the
interference and the sensor receiving it are called the reference.

The adaptive echo canceller consists of a self-adjusting adaptive filter which

automatically transforms the reference signal into an optimal estimate of the
interference corrupting the target signal before subtracting it from the received signal
thereby cancelling (or minimising) the effect of the interference at the noise canceller
output. The adaptive filter adjusts itself continuously and automatically to minimise the
residual interference affecting the target signal at its output. The power of the adaptive
noise cancelling concept is that it requires no detailed a priori knowledge of the target
signal or the interference. The adaptive algorithm that optimises the filter relies only on
ongoing sampling of the reference input and the noise canceller output

Adaptive echo cancelling can be effective even when the target signal and the
interference are similar in nature and the interference is considerably stronger than the
target signal. The key requirement is that the target signal and the interference are
unrelated, that is uncorrelated. Meeting this requirement is normally not an issue in
situations where adaptive noise cancelling is used.
Adaptive echo cancelling configuration and
concept

Ad
aptive filter in echo cancelling configuration
The adaptive echo canceller configuration diagram above shows the target signal
s(t) present at the primary sensor and the interference or noise source n(t) and its
manifestations np(t) and nr(t) at the primary and reference sensors respectively.

As np(t) and nr(t) are the manifestations of the same interference source in different
locations, these will usually differ significantly in an unpredictable fashion due to
different transmission paths through the environment to the two sensors. So the
reference nr(t) cannot be used directly to cancel or reduce the interference corrupting
the target signal np(t). It must first be appropriately processed before it can be used to
minimise, by subtraction, the overall effect of the interference at the noise canceller
output.

An adaptive echo canceller is based on a self-optimising adaptive filter that has a

variable transform function shaped by adjustable parameters called weights.

Using an iterative adaptive algorithm, the adaptive filter transforms the reference n r(t)
into an optimal estimate ñp(t) of the interference np(t) corrupting the target signal
and cancelling the latter by subtraction, whilst leaving the target signal unchanged. So
the output of the adaptive noise canceller shown above is:

z(t) = s(t)+np(t)-ñp(t).

The power of the adaptive echo cancelling approach stems from the fact that the
algorithm driving the iterative adjustment of weights in an adaptive filter is a simple, fully
automatic iterative process that relies only on an ongoing sequence of sampling
measurements of the noise canceller output and the reference r(t) = nr(t). For example,
the LMS (Least Means Square) algorithm in the context of the usual tapped-delay-line
digital adaptive filter (see below) leads to:
Wk+1 = Wk - μzkRk = Wk - μzkNr,k

where the vector Wk represents the set of filter weights at the kth iteration and the vector
Rk represents the last set of samples of the reference which are the weight inputs. The
adaptation constant μ determines the rate of adaptation and the stability of the optimal
configuration.

Adaptive echo cancelling does not require detailed a priori knowledge of the
interference or the target signal. However, the physical characteristics of the adaptive
filter must be generally suitable for producing an adjustable frequency response or
transfer function that will transform the reference signal nr(t) into a close estimate of the
corrupting interference, ñp(t), through the iterative adjustment of the filter weights.

Adaptive filters were originally conceived to produce the optimal filters prescribed by
optimal filter theory during a training phase by adjusting the filter weights according to
an iterative adaptive algorithm such as the Least-Means-Square (LMS) algorithm.
During the training phase, the filter is presented with a known input and a training signal
called a desired response.

Adaptive filter in training mode

The filter weights are adjusted by the adaptive algorithm, which is designed to minimise
the mean-squared-error ξ, the difference between the adaptive filter output and the
desired response:
where W represents the set of weights in vector notation and X(t) the set of weight
inputs so y(t) = X(t)TW.

The above expression shows ξ to be a quadratic function of the weight vector W, a

multi-dimensional paraboloid with a single minimum that can be reached from any point
by descending along the gradient. Gradient descent algorithms, such as the
original Least Means Squared algorithm, iteratively adjust the filter weights in small
steps opposite the gradient. In the case of the usual digital tapped delay line filter, the
vector Xk is simply the last set of samples of the filter input x(t) and the LMS algorithm
results in:

Wk+1 = Wk - μekXk

where k represents the kth step in the iteration process, μ is the adaptation constant that
controls the rate and stability of the adaptation process and ek and Xk are samples of the
error and the input vector respectively

Adaptive echo cancelling is an innovation that represents a fundamentally different

configuration and application of adaptive filtering in those common situations where a
reference signal is available by:

1. using the training mode of the filter as the operational mode thus continually
adjusting the filter during normal operation
2. using the reference as the adaptive filter input
3. using the primary input, the noise canceller input, containing the target signal and
interference, as the desired response for the adaptation process
4. using the noise canceller output, that is, the difference between the primary input
and the output of the adaptive filter, as the error for adaptation.
In the adaptive echo cancelling situation the received signal does not pass through the
adaptive filter but instead becomes the 'desired response' for adaptation purposes.
Since the adaptation process will aim to minimise the error, it follows that, in the noise
canceller configuration, the adaptation process in effect aims to minimise the overall
signal power at the noise canceller output - the error. So the adaptive filtering of
the reference actually strives to suppress the overall signal power at the noise canceller
output.

This counterintuitive concept can be understood by keeping in mind that the target
signal s(t) and the interference n(t) are uncorrelated. So, in aiming to minimise the error,
using a reference as input, which is related only to the interference, the best the
adaptive filter can do, in generating an optimal estimate of the primary input, the desired
response, is to generate the optimal estimate of the interference at the primary sensor
ñp(t). This will result in minimising the overall effect of the interference at the noise
canceller output whilst leaving the target signal s(t) unchanged.

The iterative adaptive algorithms used in adaptive filtering require only an ongoing
sequence of sampling measurements at the weight inputs and the error. As digital
adaptive filters are in effect tapped-delay-line filters, the operation of an adaptive noise
 canceller requires only on an ongoing sequence of sampling measurements of the
reference and the noise canceller output.

Common Adaptive Algorithms:

 LMS (Least Mean Square) Algorithm: A simple and widely used algorithm for
updating filter coefficients.
 NLMS (Normalized LMS) Algorithm: A variation of the LMS algorithm that can
improve convergence speed.
 RCE (Recursive Least Squares) Algorithm: Another algorithm for adapting filter
coefficients, known for its faster convergence.

Applications:
 Telephony: Eliminating echoes in telephone calls.
 Multimedia conferencing: Improving audio quality in online meetings.
 Wireless communication: Reducing echoes in wireless communication systems.