NASA SBIR 2010 Solicitation

SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip, Phone)
WEVOICE, Inc.
1065 Route 22 West, Suite 2E
Bridgewater, NJ 08807 - 2949
(908) 393-6101

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR/PROJECT MANAGER (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/Zip, Phone)
Yiteng Huang
ardenhuang@gmail.com
1065 Route 22 West, Suite 2E
Bridgewater, NJ 08807 - 2949
(908) 575-8955

Estimated Technology Readiness Level (TRL) at beginning and end of contract:
Begin: 4
End: 6

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (Limit 2000 characters, approximately 200 words)
The International Space Station (ISS) needs to keep quiet to
maintain a healthy and habitable environment in which crewmembers
can perform long-term and uninterrupted scientific research
under microgravity conditions. Acoustic survey is now performed
once every two months using hand-held devices at 60 locations
on the ISS. It takes a significant amount of precious crew time
and the sporadic monitoring program is not adequate. NASA has
defined a need for an automated, continuous acoustic monitoring
system that is efficient in power consumption (long battery life),
accurate, highly integrated, wireless connected, scalable,
small and lightweight. WeVoice Inc.\ proposed to develop a
ZigBee-based wireless sensor network for acoustic monitoring
to meet the challenges. During Phase I of this projects, three
essential capabilities were developed, tested, and validated:
* The design of a data collection subsystem that integrates
measurement microphones and the feasibility of using the
state-of-the-art MEMS microphones.
* The development of accurate and computationally efficient
signal processing algorithms for acoustic frequency
(octave, 1/3-octave, and narrowband) analysis and sound
level measurement.
* The construction of a ZigBee network for data communication.

In addition, the WeVoice SBIR research team has started working
on flight-like devices. Clear directions for improvement were
established for the Phase II efforts that may follow. The Phase II
program focuses on system integration and optimization,
software implementation, and graphical user interface development.
An in-situ calibration plan will be suggested and a demonstrable
system will be delivered to NASA for testing in a ground facility
at the completion of the Phase II contract. So the expected TRL
then is expected to reach 6.

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS (Limit 1500 characters, approximately 150 words)
1) Acoustic monitoring on the ISS,
2) Noise survey on future NASA manned or unmanned spacecraft

POTENTIAL NON-NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS (Limit 1500 characters, approximately 150 words)
1) Environmental noise monitoring for communities and airports,
2) Occupational noise survey,
3) Noise monitoring and control in the healthcare industry,
4) Acoustic monitoring in defense,
5) Acoustic surveillance for security purposes, and
6) Noise monitoring for wildlife refuges

TECHNOLOGY TAXONOMY MAPPING (NASA's technology taxonomy has been developed by the SBIR-STTR program to disseminate awareness of proposed and awarded R/R&D in the agency. It is a listing of over 100 technologies, sorted into broad categories, of interest to NASA.)

Acoustic/Vibration Analytical Instruments (Solid, Liquid, Gas, Plasma, Energy; see also Sensors) Analytical Methods Circuits (including ICs; for specific applications, see e.g., Communications, Networking & Signal Transport; Control & Monitoring, Sensors) Data Acquisition (see also Sensors) Health Monitoring & Sensing (see also Sensors) Network Integration