Dr. W. Devereux PalmerProgram Manager, Electronics DivisionARL Army Research Officewilliam.d.palmer44.civ@mail.mil

Army Research in Acoustic Sensing

Encoding for Auditory Representations (EARs) Workshop 22 AUG 2011

Mr. Michael V. ScanlonChief, Acoustic and EM SensingARL Sensors and Electronic Devices Directoratemichael.v.scanlon2.civ@mail.mil

DISTRIBUTION STATEMENT A. Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited.

Army Introduction

• Mr. Michael Scanlon– Chief, Acoustic and EM

Sensing Branch– Sensors and Electron

Devices Directorate– US Army Research

Laboratory

• Dr. Dev Palmer– Program Manager,

Electromagnetics, Microwaves, and Power

– Electronics Division– Engineering Sciences

Directorate– US Army Research Office

• Sensors and Sensor Systems– Detection– Classification– Situational awareness

DISTRIBUTION STATEMENT A. Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited.

• Basic Research– Phenomenology– Minimum energy, high fidelity

components and circuit architectures

– Solving the “cocktail party problem”

ARL Role in Army S&T

Infrastructure/

Environmental

Strategic DefenseMaterielPersonnel Medical

Army Materiel

Command

AMC

ARL provides underpinning Science, Technology, and Analysis to

the Army

ARL provides underpinning Science, Technology, and Analysis to

the Army

Research, Development

and Engineering

Command

RDECOM

G-1MEDCOM

Medical Command U.S. Army Corps

of Engineers

USACE

Strategic Missile

Defense Command

SMDC

Edgewood

Chem-Bio

Center

ECBC

Natick Soldier

Center

NSC

Communications

and Electronics

RDEC

CERDEC

Tank-

Automotive

RDEC

TARDEC

Simulation & Training

Technology Center

STTC

Armament

RDEC

ARDEC

Aviation

and Missile

RDEC

AMRDEC

Army Materiel

Systems

Analysis

Agency

AMSAA

Army

Research

Laboratory

ARL

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Engineering SciencesEngineering SciencesPhysical SciencesPhysical SciencesMathematical & Information

Sciences

Mathematical & Information

Sciences

Deputy Director

for Basic Science

& Director ARO

Dr. David Skatrud

Deputy Director

for Basic Science

& Director ARO

Dr. David Skatrud

Associate Director

for Laboratory Operations

Ms. Teresa Kines

Associate Director

for Laboratory Operations

Ms. Teresa Kines

Associate Director

for Science & Technology

Dr. Cary Chabalowski

Associate Director

for Science & Technology

Dr. Cary Chabalowski

Associate Director

for

Plans & Programs

Dr. Reed Skaggs

Associate Director

for

Plans & Programs

Dr. Reed Skaggs

Survivability/ Lethality

Analysis

Survivability/ Lethality

Analysis

Weapons &

Materials Research

Weapons &

Materials Research

Sensors &

Electron Devices

Sensors &

Electron Devices

Computational & Information

Sciences

Computational & Information

Sciences

Vehicle TechnologyVehicle Technology Human Research &

Engineering

Human Research &

Engineering

Army Research OfficeArmy Research Office

Sergeant Major

Steve Hornbach

Sergeant Major

Steve Hornbach

Director

Mr. John Miller

Director

Mr. John Miller

Military Deputy

COL Bobby Smith

Military Deputy

COL Bobby Smith

US Army Research Laboratory

DISTRIBUTION STATEMENT A. Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited.

EMP Program Vision and Thrusts

Program Vision

Create the ultimate Army radio that will receive and demodulate any

electromagnetic signal from any direction, modulate and transmit any

electromagnetic signal in any direction, reconfigure to implement a variety of radio

and sensor functions, adapt to the ambient environment, and respond to changing

requirements and missions

Program Thrusts

Electromagnetics and Antennas

RF Circuit Integration

Power Efficiency and Control

Photo Courtesy of U.S. Army SPC Chriss McCann DISTRIBUTION STATEMENT A. Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited.

EMP Basic Research Topics in Acoustics

• Investigation into the phenomenology underlying acoustic signals that are sparse in time and frequency

• Minimum energy, high fidelity components and circuit architectures required to transduce, encode, store, and transmit acoustic signals

• Statistical signal processing techniques for automatic separation, localization, and identification of multiple sources from a single stream of acoustical data

• New concepts and circuit architectures for beamforming at acoustic frequencies of interest

• Bio-inspired architectures addressing the above issues

DISTRIBUTION STATEMENT A. Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited.

Biological Acoustic Direction Finding Systems are Remarkable

• The human voice is centered around 1 kHz– Wavelength in air of about one foot

• Distance between human ears is around six inches– About half a wavelength at 1 kHz– Still can resolve source AZ and EL to within a

few degrees

• Equivalent to RF DF in the VHF band with a ~1.5 m aperture

• The parasitic fly Ormia Ochracea can localize the song of the cricket host to within 2º in both azimuth and elevation– The cricket’s song is 4.6 to 5.2 kHz– Ormia’s ears are only 0.5 mm apart

• Precise directional resolution with such a tiny aperture vastly exceeds current state-of-the-art in both acoustics and electromagnetics

www.anytimecostumes.com

Photo courtesy of Ron Miles, SUNY Binghamton

DISTRIBUTION STATEMENT A. Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited.

• Detect, localize & identify transient waveforms created by weapons & explosions

• Develop advanced sensors and signal processing techniques to improve detection & classification

• Investigate acoustic ground impedance & atmospheric effects & characterize impact on waveform structure

• Study wind & flow noise reduction techniques

• Investigate models to simulate waveform propagation to reduce data collection requirements; apply to classifier development

• Develop techniques for tracking helicopters or other aircraft in 3D

• Develop ground-based & elevated sensor platforms (aerostat & UAVs)

• Acoustics provides persistent & enhanced situational awareness

Acoustic and EM Sensing Branch Research Interests

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Acoustic Sensing Research Taxonomy

Wind / FlowNoise

Sound Source

NumericalSimulation

Air & GroundParameters

Support VectorMachine

Markov Switching Vector

Auto-Regression

SparseRepresentation

MeteorologicalCorrection

Mortar, Rocket,Gunfire, IEDLocalization

ClassificationPropagation

Channel

Detection

Direction-of-Arrival

Localization

MicrophoneTechnology

PhysicalModeling

Signal generation

Signal measurement

Research topic

Proposed solution

Application

StructureMonitoring

HelicoptersTracking

Array SignalProcessing

Sensing

DISTRIBUTION STATEMENT A. Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited.