Ultrasonic wind speed measurements performed in complex flow fields face challenges related to low signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and non-stationary waveform distortion. In this study, we aim to address this issue by proposing a measurement system that employs a polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) piezoelectric film ultrasonic transducer integrated with a microphone (MIC). In addition, a signal processing framework is proposed based on the joint optimization of variational mode decomposition (VMD) and an extended Kalman filter (EKF) and integrating cross-correlation interpolation. By leveraging the low Q-factor and wide bandwidth characteristics of the PVDF, the system achieved omnidirectional transmission and high-fidelity reception within a compact structural design. The experimental results demonstrated that the proposed VMD-reference signal-assisted EKF method enhanced the SNR by approximately 26% and reduced the wind speed measurement error by approximately 35% compared with the conventional EKF. The proposed system exhibited superior robustness and measurement linearity across a wide wind speed range of 0–60 m/s. The proposed scheme significantly enhances the accuracy and environmental adaptability of ultrasonic wind speed measurements and provides an essential theoretical basis and engineering reference for the development of precision instruments in fields such as meteorological monitoring and wind energy assessment.
Niu et al. (Thu,) studied this question.