The non-contact measurement of engine speed can be realized by analyzing engine vibration frequency. However, the vibration signal is distorted by harmonics and noise in the measurement. This paper presents a novel method for the measurement of engine rotation speed by using the cross-correlation of vibration and acoustic signals. This method can enhance the same frequency components in engine vibration and acoustic signal. After cross-correlation processing, the energy centrobaric correction method is applied to estimate the accurate frequency of the engine's vibration. This method can be implemented with a low-cost embedded system estimating the cross-correlation. Test results showed that this method outperformed the traditional vibration-based measurement method.
Keywords: Fourier transform; acoustic; cross-correlation; engine rotation speed; noncontact measurement; vibration.