Microphone Specifications

Microphones measure broadband sound pressure levels from a variety of sources.

When the microphone signal is post processed, the frequencies can be correlated with
the sound source, and if necessary, related back to the wavelength of the sound.
Acoustical measurement of this sound, through the use of high-precision condenser
microphones, provides a better understanding of the nature of the sound. There are a
number of microphones that will work and measure pressure variances. Common
diameters for condenser microphones are .125, 250, 500 and 1.0. The trick is to
determine which microphone will offer the best solution for a required application. When
choosing the optimum microphone, the parameters to look at include the type of
response field, dynamic response, frequency response, polarization type, sensitivity
required, and temperature range. There are also a variety of specialty type microphones
for specific applications. In order to select and specify a microphone, the first criteria
that needs to be looked at is the application and what the sound and environment
represent.

Fig. Free field mic

The free-field microphone is most accurate when measuring sound pressure levels that
radiate from a single direction and source, which is pointed directly (0o incidence angle)
at the microphone diaphragm, and operated in an area that minimizes sound reflections.
A free-field microphone is designed to measure the sound pressure at the diaphragm,
as it would appear if the microphone were not present

Data Acquisition System (DAQ)

Data acquisition (DAQ) is the process of measuring an electrical or physical
phenomenon such as voltage, current, temperature, pressure, or sound with a
computer. A DAQ system consists of sensors, DAQ measurement hardware, and a
computer with programmable software. The components of data acquisition systems
include:

Sensors, to convert physical parameters to electrical signals.

Signal conditioning circuitry, to convert sensor signals into a form that can be
converted to digital values.

Analog-to-digital converters, to convert conditioned sensor signals to digital

values.
Data acquisition applications are usually controlled by software programs
developed using various general purpose programming languages such
as Assembly, BASIC, C, C++,C#, Fortran, Java, LabVIEW, Lisp, Pascal, etc.

Signal Conditioning
Signals from sensors or the outside world can be noisy or too dangerous to measure directly. Signal
conditioning circuitry manipulates a signal into a form that is suitable for input into an ADC. This circuitry
can include amplification, attenuation, filtering, and isolation. Some DAQ devices include built-in signal
conditioning designed for measuring specific types of sensors.

Analog-to-Digital Converter (ADC)

Analog signals from sensors must be converted into digital before they are manipulated by digital
equipment such as a computer. An ADC is a chip that provides a digital representation of an analog signal
at an instant in time. In practice, analog signals continuously vary over time and an ADC takes periodic
samples of the signal at a predefined rate. These samples are transferred to a computer over a
computer bus where the original signal is reconstructed from the samples in software.

Computer Bus
DAQ devices connect to a computer through a slot or port. The computer bus serves as the
communication interface between the DAQ device and computer for passing instructions and measured
data. DAQ devices are offered on the most common computer buses including USB, PCI, PCI Express,
and Ethernet. More recently, DAQ devices have become available for 802.11 Wi-Fi for wireless
communication. There are many types of buses, and each offers different advantages for different types
of applications.