The microphone array, created as part of a student project, is a multipurpose solution for capturing spatial sound.
Non-conventional production methods such as industrial 3D printing were used to develop the prototype. To continue developing the project beyond the authors' knowledge, it will be published as open-source.
The project started at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering of CTU as a bachelor thesis of David Vagner, who mainly dealt with the acoustics and hardware of the whole device.
Later, Tomáš Formánek joined the development, who provided the software development and invited Danil Rekhtin from the University of Applied Arts (UMPRUM) to join the project.
This created a unique development group, which 3Dees decided to support at the Designblok 2022 exhibition.
Components
Sphere
The microphone array is composed of 16 digital MEMS microphones arranged in two hemispheres.
The arrangement of the microphone capsules corresponds to a 3rd order ambisonic microphone.
Holder
A multi-function holder with standardized mounts for a microphone stand or 360° camera can be attached to the sphere.
The holder also has controls for offline operation. This enables easy handling in the field.
Control unit
The data collection from the microphone array is handled by a control unit implemented using a Raspberry PI Zero 2 W microcomputer.
The array is connected to the Raspberry PI via a TDM to I2S converter.
The control unit is equipped with software for remote operation.
Development
The goal of the project is to design a working prototype of a spherical microphone array that can be easily produced at home from commonly available components.
The design focuses on user-friendliness, while keeping the device modular and adaptable for different use cases.
In the future, the project will be released as an open source.
Therefore, the design of the microphone is engineered in such a way that it can be easily produced using common types of 3D printing.
Our prototypes are made by 3Dees using HP Multi Jet Fusion (powder printing) technology.
The development is carried out in cooperation with CTU and UMPRUM.
