Live demonstration: 3D sonar sensing using low-cost MEMS arrays

In recent years, our research group has developed state of the art 3D sonar sensors [1]-[3] which use a low-cost MEMS microphone array for real-time acoustic imaging in air. Using this sensor, various robotic applications have been developed [2], including obstacle avoidance and corridor following and SLAM [1]. The developed sensor is capable of localizing an arbitrary number of reflectors, and generates 2D (range versus azimuth) or 3D (range versus azimuth and elevation) acoustic images of the environment by emitting a broadband, spatially omnidirectional acoustic emission. This emission is reflected back by the environment to the microphone array. Using array beamforming algorithms an acoustic image of the environment is created, which subsequently can be either visualized or used in various control algorithms. The overview of the developed sensor array can be seen in figure 1.