Objective data collection and analysis for the waveform and sonic boom perception and response program

Abstract

The Waveform and Sonic boom Perception and Response (WSPR) program experiment was conducted in November 2011. Low-amplitude sonic booms were created by planned NASA F-18 supersonic flights executing a unique dive maneuver. The WSPR program was designed to simultaneously collect objective sonic boom acoustic data and subjective response data from residents in the Edwards Air Force Base residential community. Sonic Boom field kits were developed for the WSPR program consisting of a digital data acquisition system with networked nodes, deployable for extended periods of time. The Sonic Boom Unattended Data Acquisition System (SBUDAS) purposely developed for sonic boom community noise testing was deployed and details of the measurement system and all aspects of the objective data collection process are described. Data analysis during testing provided vital information to the flight planners for experimental execution. This paper also explains the post-experimental analysis of the objective data achieved by creation of a measurement data archive, predictions of sonic boom exposure at subject household locations, an automated algorithm to locate sonic booms within the recorded data and computation of a variety of indoor and outdoor metrics.