application of mems microphone array technology to airframe.pdfVIP

11th AIAA/CEAS Aeroacoustics Conference, Monterey, CA, May 23-25, 2005 AIAA-2005-3004 Application of MEMS Microphone Array Technology to Airframe Noise Measurements * † ‡ William M. Humphreys, Jr. , Qamar A. Shams , Sharon S. Graves , § ¶ § Bradley S. Sealey , Scott M. Bartram , and Toby Comeaux NASA Langley Research Center, Hampton, Virginia, 23681 Current generation microphone directional array instrumentation is capable of extracting accurate noise source location and directivity data on a variety of aircraft components, resulting in significant gains in test productivity. However, with this gain in productivity has come the desire to install larger and more complex arrays in a variety of ground test facilities, creating new challenges for the designers of array systems. To overcome these challenges, a research study was initiated to identify and develop hardware and fabrication technologies which could be used to construct an array system exhibiting acceptable measurement performance but at much lower cost and with much simpler installation requirements. This paper describes an effort to fabricate a 128-sensor array using commercially available Micro-Electro-Mechanical System (MEMS) microphones. The MEMS array was used to