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Phased Array Microphone (2023)

benwang.dev

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Re: Phased Array Microphone (2023)

#31

Post by __MatrixMan__ »

proee wrote: post #6

What is the most practical application for this technology? Could you use it to pinpoint sounds coming from a car like a squeak?

I wish could rent one to figure out which device in my office has a squealing capacitor. I can hear it well enough to be driven crazy by it, but not well enough to find it. I start disconnecting things to narrow it down but then convince myself that it's my ears ringing.

I'm unsure if I'll age out of this problem, or if worse hearing will just recreate it at different thresholds.

Re: Phased Array Microphone (2023)

#32

Post by etrautmann »

brunosan wrote: post #5

Armchair comment. I would LOVE to be a grad student again and try to pair it with ultrasound speaker arrays, for medical applications. Essentially a super HIFU (High-Intensity Focused Ultrasound) with live feedback. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Focused_ultrasound

Medical applications would presumably require contact coupling and not through air?

Re: Phased Array Microphone (2023)

#33

Post by cushychicken »

frankus wrote: post #15

"As part of the calibration, the speed of sound is also a parameter which is optimized to obtain the best model of the system, which allows this whole procedure to act as a ridiculously overengineered thermometer." Reminds me of the electronics adage: "all sensors are temperature sensors, some measure other things as well."

> Reminds me of the electronics adage: "all sensors are temperature sensors, some measure other things as well."

I wanna say that’s a Bob Pease quote but I can’t find an attribution to it.

Re: Phased Array Microphone (2023)

#34

Post by elictronic »

crote wrote: post #4

I'm a bit surprised by those long "arm" PCBs. They are already doing calibration to account for some relatively large offsets: why not place each sensor on its own PCB, mount them to some carrier structure, and let calibration deal with the rest?

Pcb manufacturing is cheap. I put 20 parts 1.5 inch by 24 inch into pcbway and ended up with final delivered cost of 240 dollars.

Not having to deal with wiring that many individual boards and all days of headaches tracking down issues is well worth it in my book.

Re: Phased Array Microphone (2023)

#35

Post by user_7832 »

frankus wrote: post #15

"As part of the calibration, the speed of sound is also a parameter which is optimized to obtain the best model of the system, which allows this whole procedure to act as a ridiculously overengineered thermometer." Reminds me of the electronics adage: "all sensors are temperature sensors, some measure other things as well."

Is there one saying “All electronic devices are smoke machines, some can compute too”?

Re: Phased Array Microphone (2023)

#36

Post by abecedarius »

adamcharnock wrote: post #21

I would love to see this come to our various mobile devices in a nicely packaged form. I think part of what is holding back assistants, universal-translators, etc, is poor audio. Both reducing noise and being able to detect direction has a huge potential to help (I want to live-translate a group conversation around a dining table, for example). Firstly it would be great if my phone + headphones could combine the micr…

For the hard of hearing like me the killer application would be live transcription in a noisy setting like a meetup or party, with source separation and grouping of speech from different speakers. Could be life-changing.

(Android's Live Transcribe is very good now but doesn't even try to separate which words are from different speakers.)

Re: Phased Array Microphone (2023)

#37

Post by Bearsilber »

frankus wrote: post #15

"As part of the calibration, the speed of sound is also a parameter which is optimized to obtain the best model of the system, which allows this whole procedure to act as a ridiculously overengineered thermometer." Reminds me of the electronics adage: "all sensors are temperature sensors, some measure other things as well."

I just learned how the Duracell Powercheck© worked, which was done with temperature.

https://youtu.be/zsA3X40nz9w?si=oGg2wdUlLXSDxpsN

Re: Phased Array Microphone (2023)

#38

Post by entropicdrifter »

frankus wrote: post #15

"As part of the calibration, the speed of sound is also a parameter which is optimized to obtain the best model of the system, which allows this whole procedure to act as a ridiculously overengineered thermometer." Reminds me of the electronics adage: "all sensors are temperature sensors, some measure other things as well."

It does act as a thermometer, if and only if the altitude remains constant. The speed of sound fluctuates with both temperature and altitude

Re: Phased Array Microphone (2023)

#39

Post by hinkley »

Boeing ginned up a spherical version of these and used it on 787 prototypes to identify candidates for sound deadening material.

Apparently in loud situations like airplanes, audio illusions can make a sound appear to come from a different spot than it really is. And when you have a weight budget for sound dampening material it matters if you hit the 80/20 sweet spot or not.

Re: Phased Array Microphone (2023)

#40

Post by 01100011 »

brudgers wrote: post #28
brunosan wrote: post #5

Armchair comment. I would LOVE to be a grad student again and try to pair it with ultrasound speaker arrays, for medical applications. Essentially a super HIFU (High-Intensity Focused Ultrasound) with live feedback. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Focused_ultrasound

Then, why not be a grad student again?

Maybe they want to afford dinner?
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