Scaled Doppler Infrasound Sensor

Department of Electrical Engineering

Project Abstract

The subject of the project was infrasound, which is sound below 20Hz. The wave lengths are constructed in numerous ways, however, to human ears it is very difficult to hear. These sounds can be found in nature. An example of infrasound found in nature would be a thunderstorm or a waterfall. They are also produced and sensed by elephants. In this senior design project, the idea for infrasound will be explored for various reasons such as finding lost people in areas where satellite signals cannot reach, navigation in GPS denied environments, and even in missile detection.

Our design for a sensor revolves around using the doppler effect of a spinning sensor to capture a waveform and use the location of minimum and maximum peaks to detect a direction in which sound is coming from. Due to technological, logistical, and budgetary constraints, we decided to scale our design to audible sound range. Using audible sound for the prototype would allow us to build and test accurately and effectively within our means. After the core operating concepts are established, it could be scaled back down to infrasound range with better equipment, such as a better sensor, low frequency microphone, and higher quality hardware materials.