CONtroL ROOM
Abstract
The project proposes a mechanism to transform the vibrations produced by an atomic power plant close to the installation space into a multichannel audio stream, both audible online and as part of an offline installation site. Vibration sensors attached to turbines, pipes and other vibrating bodies inside the periphery of the power plant send a live audio stream to a server. An online client makes it possible to perform a stereo mix-down of this data for online listening. An offine installation plays this audio stream via a multichannel speaker system.
Objective
The main goal is to project the acoustical topology of the power plant into a control room, not with the aim of scientifc monitoring, but to generate a tactile presence, a surrounding landscape where the vibrations of the equipment in situ are projected and augmented to transform them into an all involving body experience. That what is (by nature and by decision) normally hidden from the public perception is made available to be heard both through the safe intimacy of the laptop headphones as within a space in geographic vicinity of (and thus potentially affected by) the power plant.
Implementation
- An atomic power plant needs to be chosen which is close to the installation space, if possible within a radius of 50 km, so that the effects of an accident would have a direct impact to the people being present at the installation.
- Authorization needs to be granted to attach motion sensors (accelerometers) to vibrating equipment within the confnements of the power plant. The criteria for the placement of the sensors should not be scientifc. It must be guided by the sonic possibilities in terms of the information being of acoustic interest once projected in real-time. This is not a sonorization project: the audio streams are real, not synthesized.
- The sensor information is acquired in the form of a multichannel audio stream by a number of accelerometers (like the ACH-01) connected to an arduino board (or more if sensors are scattered within long distances). This board is itself connected via wi-f to a small computer (Raspberry Pi) whichis constantly streaming the information to a server.
- This installation is totally isolated from its environment, both in terms of power supply (using solar-rechargeable battery-packs) and internet access (using a UMTS modem).
- A web server receives this data and makes it available through an open API.
- A web application (named “control room ...”, were the “...” should be replaced by the name of the power plant), implementing this API allows for near real-time listening (“monitoring”) of the information. Using the web-rtc API (present in most modern browsers) it is possible to make rich audio applications which run natively on the client browsers without the need of any plugins. The user does not need to login or show any credentials. He is presented with a simple interface were she can downmix the audio streams to stereo and listen through her speakers.
- A tangible version of the online control application is implemented at the installation space.
- Four loudspeakers transmit the audio information directly into the room. The mostly very low frequencies which result of encoding vibration data as audio are of extremely rich acoustic nature and in the appropriate listening environment can render a very tactile image of the objects where the data was originated.
- Sub-acoustic vibrations are not well transmitted via normal loudspeakers, which are optimized for frequencies starting at 30 Hz. For this low range of the acoustic spectrum transducers are more appropriate. These are a kind of loudspeakers which can transmit vibrations to another body instead of moving the air directly. The transducers are attached to columns, ceilings, floors, windows, or any other resonant body that might be suitable within the installation space. The space as a hole becomes an augmented mirror of the original.
simulation
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MP3, good quality.
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MP3, medium quality
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