Patent ID: 7379828

Claim:
An apparatus for measuring a parameter of a fluid passing through a pipe, the apparatus comprising: a spatial array of at least two sensors disposed at different axial locations along the pipe, each of the sensors providing a signal indicative of unsteady pressure within the pipe at a corresponding axial location of the pipe; and a signal processor configured to: construct from the signals at least a portion of a k-ω plot, where the k-ω plot is indicative of a dispersion relation for the unsteady pressure within the pipe, detect at least one ridge in the k-ω plot, a slope of the at least one ridge being indicative of the parameter of the fluid, and compare an accumulated energy for k-ω pairs along the at least one ridge with an accumulated energy for k-ω pairs along at least one ray extending in the k-ω plot to determine a quality metric indicative of a quality of the at least one ridge.