PONE-D-24-29859High-resolution raindrop counting via instantaneous frequency sensing on hydrophobic elastic membranesPLOS ONE

Dear Dr. Paškauskas,

Thank you for submitting your manuscript to PLOS ONE. After careful consideration, we feel that it has merit but does not fully meet PLOS ONE’s publication criteria as it currently stands. Therefore, we invite you to submit a revised version of the manuscript that addresses the points raised during the review process.

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ACADEMIC EDITOR: 

• The manuscript introduces a positive results and novel method for high-resolution raindrop counting using instantaneous frequency sensing on hydrophobic elastic membranes. it can be accepted in PLOS ONE after minor revision.

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We look forward to receiving your revised manuscript.

Kind regards,

Zaky A. Zaky, Lecturer

Academic Editor

PLOS ONE

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Reviewers' comments:

Reviewer's Responses to Questions

Comments to the Author

1. Is the manuscript technically sound, and do the data support the conclusions?

The manuscript must describe a technically sound piece of scientific research with data that supports the conclusions. Experiments must have been conducted rigorously, with appropriate controls, replication, and sample sizes. The conclusions must be drawn appropriately based on the data presented.

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

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2. Has the statistical analysis been performed appropriately and rigorously?

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

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3. Have the authors made all data underlying the findings in their manuscript fully available?

The PLOS Data policy requires authors to make all data underlying the findings described in their manuscript fully available without restriction, with rare exception (please refer to the Data Availability Statement in the manuscript PDF file). The data should be provided as part of the manuscript or its supporting information, or deposited to a public repository. For example, in addition to summary statistics, the data points behind means, medians and variance measures should be available. If there are restrictions on publicly sharing data—e.g. participant privacy or use of data from a third party—those must be specified.

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

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4. Is the manuscript presented in an intelligible fashion and written in standard English?

PLOS ONE does not copyedit accepted manuscripts, so the language in submitted articles must be clear, correct, and unambiguous. Any typographical or grammatical errors should be corrected at revision, so please note any specific errors here.

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

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5. Review Comments to the Author

Please use the space provided to explain your answers to the questions above. You may also include additional comments for the author, including concerns about dual publication, research ethics, or publication ethics. (Please upload your review as an attachment if it exceeds 20,000 characters)

Reviewer #1: Dear Editor

The manuscript "High-resolution raindrop counting via instantaneous frequency sensing on hydrophobic elastic membranes" proposes a novel approach to improve the temporal resolution of raindrop counting, namely doing so by identifying impacts with high frequency transients in membranes made with elastic hydrophobic materials.

In particular, the paper contributes to two distinct aspects of the problem:

1. A handy acoustic model to detect instantaneous high frequency vibrations.

2. A machine learning framework that uses compact, physics-informed convolutional neural networks to improve the quality of detection.

The results are positive and interesting and has the potential to impact this field. The importance of such a project is clearly high, as it can serve as a basis for technological and further scientific discoveries.

One point I think is worth considering, and I believe would be a good idea to elaborate on the text is whether a fundamental understanding of the dynamical response of membranes might help such an effort. In particular when considering the work presented in

C. Steinbock, E. Katzav and A. Boudaoud, The Structure of Fluctuating Thin Sheets Under Random Forcing, Phys. Rev. Res. 4, 033096 (2022).

C. Steinbock and E. Katzav, The Dynamics of Fluctuating Thin Sheets Under Random Forcing, Phys. Rev. E 107, 025002 (2023).

Would such a principled calculation of noise in membranes enable further denoising?

I believe that an analysis of the points in this algorithm where a more fundamental approach could improve the results would greatly improve the interest and applicability of the paper.

I am happy to recommend publication of the paper once the author consider this.

Reviewer #2: The manuscript introduces a novel method for high-resolution raindrop counting using instantaneous frequency sensing on hydrophobic elastic membranes. This approach leverages microphone data processed by a compact machine-learning model to achieve a temporal resolution of 10 milliseconds with 80% accuracy. The proposed system aims to provide an affordable, high-precision rainfall sensor that overcomes the limitations of traditional rain sensing methods, such as the need for extensive power infrastructure and specialized expertise. This is an interesting work. I recommend the manuscript for publication after minor revisions to address the points below:

1. The manuscript is generally well-written, with clear and concise language. However, minor grammatical and typographical errors should be addressed.

2. The introduction section could be slightly condensed to improve readability and focus on the key contributions of the study.

3. Providing supplementary information on the experimental setup, including detailed specifications of the hardware components used, would be beneficial for readers interested in replicating the study.

4. The thickness, modulus, and some viscoelastic properties of the membrane should play an important role in sensing. The authors may try a few other geometries and properties to justify the accuracy and university of their methodology.

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Reviewer #1: No

Reviewer #2: No

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High-resolution raindrop counting via instantaneous frequency sensing on hydrophobic elastic membranes

PONE-D-24-29859R1

Dear Dr. Paškauskas,

We’re pleased to inform you that your manuscript has been judged scientifically suitable for publication and will be formally accepted for publication once it meets all outstanding technical requirements.

Within one week, you’ll receive an e-mail detailing the required amendments. When these have been addressed, you’ll receive a formal acceptance letter and your manuscript will be scheduled for publication.

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If your institution or institutions have a press office, please notify them about your upcoming paper to help maximize its impact. If they’ll be preparing press materials, please inform our press team as soon as possible -- no later than 48 hours after receiving the formal acceptance. Your manuscript will remain under strict press embargo until 2 pm Eastern Time on the date of publication. For more information, please contact onepress@plos.org.

Kind regards,

Zaky A. Zaky, Lecturer

Academic Editor

PLOS ONE

Additional Editor Comments (optional):

Reviewers' comments:

Reviewer's Responses to Questions

Comments to the Author

1. If the authors have adequately addressed your comments raised in a previous round of review and you feel that this manuscript is now acceptable for publication, you may indicate that here to bypass the “Comments to the Author” section, enter your conflict of interest statement in the “Confidential to Editor” section, and submit your "Accept" recommendation.

Reviewer #1: All comments have been addressed

Reviewer #2: All comments have been addressed

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2. Is the manuscript technically sound, and do the data support the conclusions?

The manuscript must describe a technically sound piece of scientific research with data that supports the conclusions. Experiments must have been conducted rigorously, with appropriate controls, replication, and sample sizes. The conclusions must be drawn appropriately based on the data presented.

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

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3. Has the statistical analysis been performed appropriately and rigorously?

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

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4. Have the authors made all data underlying the findings in their manuscript fully available?

The PLOS Data policy requires authors to make all data underlying the findings described in their manuscript fully available without restriction, with rare exception (please refer to the Data Availability Statement in the manuscript PDF file). The data should be provided as part of the manuscript or its supporting information, or deposited to a public repository. For example, in addition to summary statistics, the data points behind means, medians and variance measures should be available. If there are restrictions on publicly sharing data—e.g. participant privacy or use of data from a third party—those must be specified.

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

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5. Is the manuscript presented in an intelligible fashion and written in standard English?

PLOS ONE does not copyedit accepted manuscripts, so the language in submitted articles must be clear, correct, and unambiguous. Any typographical or grammatical errors should be corrected at revision, so please note any specific errors here.

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

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6. Review Comments to the Author

Please use the space provided to explain your answers to the questions above. You may also include additional comments for the author, including concerns about dual publication, research ethics, or publication ethics. (Please upload your review as an attachment if it exceeds 20,000 characters)

Reviewer #1: Dear Editor

The author have addressed all the comments raised by both referees and I theefore recommend accepting it to PLOS ONE.

Reviewer #2: (No Response)

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7. PLOS authors have the option to publish the peer review history of their article (what does this mean?). If published, this will include your full peer review and any attached files.

If you choose “no”, your identity will remain anonymous but your review may still be made public.

Do you want your identity to be public for this peer review? For information about this choice, including consent withdrawal, please see our Privacy Policy.

Reviewer #1: No

Reviewer #2: Yes: Zhaohe Dai

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