A New Self-Calibrated Procedure for Impact Detection and Location on Flat Surfaces

Many analyses of acoustic signals processing have been proposed for different applications over the last few years. When considering a bar-based structure, if the material through which the sound waves propagate is considered to be acoustically homogeneous and the sound speed is well known, then it is possible to determine the position and time of impact by a simple observation of the arrival times of the signals of all the transducers that are strategically disposed on the structure. This paper presents a generalized method for impact detection and location on a flat plate, together with a calibration procedure with which to obtain the sound speed from only one set of measurements. This propagation speed is not well known as a result of either imprecise material properties or the overlapping of longitudinal and transversal waves with different propagation velocities. The use of only three piezoelectric sensors allows the position and time of impact on the flat plate to be obtained when the sound speed is well known, while the use of additional sensors permits a larger detection area to be covered, helps to estimate the sound speed and/or avoids the wrong timing of difference measurements. Experimental results are presented using a robot with a specially designed knocking tool that produces impacts on a metallic flat plate.