Low-Cost Sensing Array for Infrasound

Infrasound measurements are used by DTRA and the DoD for nuclear test monitoring, terrorist blast forensics, battle damage assessment, and environmental monitoring. However, these long wavelength physical signals are typically recorded through single-point sensors or sparse low density arrays. As a result, the critical signals of interest are often corrupted or masked by noise or interference that could be filtered away if the measurements were performed by a better spatially distributed array. One solution is to utilize an array of sensors, with the associated benefits to signal-to-noise ratio and interference rejection. Traditionally, infrasound sensors are too expensive to make dense arrays economically feasible. Creare proposes to radically reduce the per-node cost of infrasound sensing through its Infra LC system approach. In Phase I, we developed and fabricated 50 low-cost sensor nodes, assembled the nodes into a demonstration array, and demonstrated the array’s performance in a field test. In Phase II, we will revise the design, fabricate a 500-node array, and demonstrate its performance in the field.