My project is on Resonant Ultrasound Spectroscopy (RUS), this is a physics procedure used to determine the material properties of solid objects. The formulas and equations used in RUS were originally written in the form of computer algorithms by Jerome H.L. Le Rousseau. His code was originally written in C programming language but was later translated into Python by Paul Freeman for ease of use, but this hindered the performance. I was tasked to improve the performance of the Python implementation using the tool Cython.

Resonant Ultrasound Spectroscopy (RUS) consists of two algorithms; these are the forward and inverse algorithms. The forward algorithm is a technique that measures the elastic properties of solid objects to estimate the corresponding resonant modes. With the use of these resonant modes, it is possible to determine the material properties of solid objects. The inverse algorithm is the reverse of the forward algorithm, it takes the resonant modes from the solid objects and finds the corresponding elastic properties. My main focus was on the forward code as the inverse code calls the forward code multiple times to perform its calculations. Small increases in the performance of the forward code would result in significant performance increases in the inverse.

Cython is the chosen tool for this project because it allows for the interchangeability of both C and Python code within one file. This provides more flexibility in terms of writing the most efficient code. It also generates an executable, which can be very useful when portability is desired.