Washington University in St. Louis

Department of Electrical and Systems Engineering

Chase LaFont - Undergraduate Research Summer/Fall ‘09 

Robotic Microphone Sensing: Optimizing Source Estimation and Algorithms for Adaptive Control

Acoustic Source localization has a wide range of applications such as robotics, navigation, and defense. This particular research project sought to adaptively control a microphone array using a robotic platform so that the estimation for the acoustic source was optimized. This experiment was done in cooperation with the real-time data acquisition and processing team. Using their data acquisition and processing platform, we were able to properly test the adaptive controller and determine performance standards of the robotic microphone array in this research project.

Abstract

The aim of this report is to provide a detailed summary of the research performed over the summer of 2009. The ultimate goal of this research project was to securely mount a microphone array on a robotic platform and establish algorithms for adaptive control over the robotic microphone array to enhance source localization. This research started with observation of system behavior under variation in the input parameters. Due to error the analysis of the system’s response, design parameters such as the distance between microphones and sampling frequency were held constant while the distance between microphone pairs and the array’s location were manipulated based on optimization of the estimated source position. Furthermore, this report fully details the strategies, which were based on simulation and experimental results, used to increase the resolution around an acoustic source and optimize the source estimation position.

This research project was presented as a poster presentation at the WUSTL Undergraduate Research Symposium, Fall 2009 

Website

Contained within this web site is the full body of research and results obtained from the course study. The navigation to the left will guide the reader through the topics of the presented research. Although the topics are meant to be followed in the order they are presented within the menu, the reader is invited to navigate the pages as they see fit to do so. As the research is continued through additional semesters, the information will obviously be updated to reflect new ideas and realizations. We thank you for your interest in this topic and hope you enjoy.