Development of an Economical 2-DOF Continuous-Scan Acoustic Beamforming Array
Kevin F. Lieb, Sarah M. Kinney, Parthiv N. Shah, Dan Hensley, Laura Schweizer, Darren J. Hartl · 2023
View Video Presentation: https://doi.org/10.2514/6.2023-3815.vid A combined linear and rotary continuous-scan acoustic beamforming array is presented in this work. Conventional beamforming arrays use a set of stationary microphones to localize sources while a scanning array uses moving microphones with stationary microphones for phase referencing. This scanning approach increases the effective number of sensors, providing high resolution and dynamic range while limiting the sensor budget. A scanning phased acoustic array utilizing 62 physical sensors has been designed, fabricated, and experimentally validated at Texas A&M University at a hardware cost under $15,000. Initial results from the scanning array show improved source localization compared to stationary beamforming with the same equipment and promising performance compared to a commercially-available acoustic beamforming array.