MEMS acoustic array embedded in an FPGA based data acquisition and signal processing system

Acoustic arrays are currently utilized in many different applications, ranging from consumer electronics to military systems. Active research on sensors, hardware, algorithms, and system integration specific to acoustic arrays are ongoing on a wide range of engineering fields. Applications such as sound source separation, sound navigation, sound imaging, and speech recognition are few of the many possible applications that benefit acoustic sensor array. Using multiple sensors in arrays has many advantages; however it is also more challenging. As the number of signals increases, the complexity of the electronics to acquire and process the data will grow as well. Such challenge can be quite formidable depending on the number of sensors, processing speed, and complexity of the target application. This paper describes the design and implementation of a 52 microphone MEMS array, embedded in an FPGA platform with real-time processing capabilities. The paper also provides the first results on the use of acoustic array as a source separation system utilizing Independent Component Analysis (ICA) technique.