Low Cost Large N Acoustic Array

TDA Research Inc. (TDA) proposes to adapt off the shelf hardware and combine it with acoustic analysis techniques to develop an inexpensive, efficient, and scalable large number array of low cost acoustic sensors. Low frequency acoustic sensing detects a wide array of natural and manmade events including weather tracking, avalanche monitoring, explosion analysis, and nuclear test monitoring. By using a large number array, we will be able to gather more data, and improve post processing and noise reduction compared to previous arrays using a small number of expensive acoustic sensors. TDA will take advantage of recently available, low cost, off the shelf differential pressure sensors and controllers to drastically reduce the cost of the sensor array. TDA will deploy these sensors in a non-uniform grid so that we can gather data on wave shape and spatial propagation over a wide range of frequencies (0.1 - 100 Hz) allowing us to monitor a wide array of phenomena.