A Portable Infrasonic Sensor Calibrator Down to at Least 8 HZ

Abstract

An optical fiber infrasound sensor (OFIS) is a long compliant tube wrapped with two optical fibers that integrate pressure variation along the length of the tube at the speed of light via laser interferometry. Here we only present the initial results of research conducted under this contract due to delays in the construction of the Camp Elliott OFIS array. All the field work has been completed, but the remainder of the data analysis will be completed in the next two months and presented in the associated poster. In this paper, we show that M-sequences transmitted via an array of 18-inch subwoofers comprise a portable infrasound sensor calibrator, which also permits in situ evaluation of wind noise reduction filters. For example, a comparison of a 60-m OFIS with a Bruel & Kjaer (B&K) microphone at a signal frequency of 50 Hz for a source ~240 m away shows that the OFIS reduced wind and other types of undesirable noise by 18 dB over the B&K microphone with a standard sponge wind screen. An 8-subwoofer array at a range of ~240 m yields a reliable calibration signal that smoothly decreases in power by a rate of 2.5 dB/Hz with decreasing frequency to 8 Hz, which is fairly remarkable given the 20 Hz rolloff frequency of the amplifier and speakers.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Sep 01, 2008
Accession Number
ADA516202

Entities

People

  • Kris Walker
  • Mark A. Zumberge
  • Matthew A. Dzieciuch
  • Scott Dewolf

Organizations

  • University of California, San Diego

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Energy and Power Technologies
  • Sensors

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Abstracts
  • Air Force Research Laboratories
  • Amplifiers
  • Calibration
  • Contracts
  • Data Analysis
  • Explosions
  • Frequency
  • Ground Based
  • Microphones
  • Monitoring
  • Noise
  • Noise Reduction
  • Nuclear Explosions
  • Optical Fibers
  • Sequences
  • Standards

Readers

  • Acoustics.
  • Battery Technology and Engineering
  • Software Engineering

Technology Areas

  • Directed Energy