The proposed instrumentation technology has the potential to be transportable across multiple NASA facility classes as well as implemented across government-owned, industry and academic institution test facilities. The target application for entry into NASA ATP is as wind tunnel instrumentation for phased-array beamforming to enable noise source localization. In addition to wind-tunnel testing, the proposed microphone technology is also applicable for dynamic pressure measurements, in-flight acoustic measurements, and static engine testing. The proposed innovation is applicable to NASA LaRCs 14x22 Subsonic Wind Tunnel for advanced phased array measurements of fixed- and rotary-wing civil and military aircraft over a wide range of takeoff, landing, cruise and high angle-of-attack conditions. The Structural Acoustics Branch at LaRC would also benefit from support to the Acoustics Research Laboratorys 20x24x30 anechoic quiet-flow facility and aircraft sidewall noise transmission measurement facility. The measurement capabilities would also help support LaRCs Aeroacoustics Branch by supplying validation of simulation of the Rotorcraft, the Subsonic Fixed Wing, and the Supersonic Projects. Additionally, wind tunnel test facilities at GRC and Ames will benefit from this microphone/array technology (as microphones and/or dynamic pressure sensors arrays).
The proposed instrumentation technology has the potential to be implemented across government-owned, industry and academic institution test facilities. The target market is instrumentation and measurement microphones and arrays for the aerospace industry. The target application is as wind tunnel instrumentation for phased-array beamforming to enable noise source localization. In addition to wind-tunnel testing, the proposed microphone technology is also applicable to the types of technological solutions sought for pressure measurements and focusing acoustic measurements that can be used in a flight-test tunnel environment and ground test instrumentation for static engine testing. The primary characteristic of this market is the need for high performance measurements with relatively low volume requirements. Ultimately, the cost per unit and size constraints of existing technologies limit the array size and density below customer desired levels. IC2 seeks to change that dynamic via microphones with reduced size and complexity, at drastically lower cost (roughly an order of magnitude), enabling vastly larger, affordable arrays of higher density. Furthermore, we achieve those goals while meeting individual microphone performance requirements,leading to potentially game-changing improvements in array performance.
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