Accoustic Monitoring
Acoustic monitoring has been a largely unexplored area of research. Typical observational research has been concentrated on visual monitoring involving cameras in areas such as face recognition and tracking. The main reason the acoustic monitoring project has become a priority is because MERL (Mitsubishi Electronics Research Laboratories) is interested in a joint effort to develop an entire microphone array system to be used in the DELTA Smart House for acoustic monitoring. This opportunity is the first that involves collaboration with another research lab which makes this project particularly interesting and necessary for the Smart House to expand its network of research.
The motivation behind acoustic monitoring lies in developing reliable way to monitoring the activities and equipment inside the house. With enough microphones, the source and identity of a noise can be determined. This process of noise location and identification can be used to determine a spatially accurate image of a room, even in complete darkness. Imaging a room opens up many security possibilities as the noises of an intruder could be easily tracked and reported to a security company or the police.
Additionally, the acoustic monitoring offers a preventative measure for system failure. Oftentimes, the first characteristic that changes in the event of impending failure is the acoustic pattern of a system. Monitoring the sounds of all the various systems in a house would allow the homeowner to predict system failure and repair the system before anything disastrous occurs. Once completed, the proposed acoustic monitoring system will be fairly modular, which will allow it to be added, removed, or changed in a fairly simple manner. The system can therefore be inserted into the house at almost any point after the completed construction of the house.