Scalable acoustic imaging platform using MEMS array

The detection and analysis of acoustic sources utilizing microphone arrays is a growing field of research. The evolving needs of applications such as noise suppression, voice recognition, sound tracking and acoustic source localization push requirements such as scalability and speed for sophisticated microphone array systems. Microphone arrays are advantageous compared to single microphone usage in that its use the physical spatial information of acoustic wave propagation to provide a more accurate picture of the incoming waves and therefore yield valuable information regard its source. This paper describes a broadband MEMS Array acouStic Imaging system called MASI that includes a highly scalable and network enabled FPGA based signal processing hardware for acquisition, processing and imaging. Design issues such as array sensitivity, accuracy and geometry of the array will be discussed as well as the system real-time capabilities regarding signal processing and data acquisition. Spatial localization and tracking are the main target applications for this system.