VoxNet: an interactive, rapidly-deployable acoustic monitoring platform

Abstract

Distributed acoustic sensing underlies an increasingly important class of sensor network applications, from habitat monitoring and bioacoustic census to security applications and virtual fences. VoxNet is a complete hardware and software platform for distributed acoustic monitoring applications that focuses on three key goals: (1) rapid deployment in realistic environments; (2) a high level programming language that abstracts the user from platform and network details and compiles into a high performance distributed application; and (3) an interactive usage model based on run-time installable programs, with the ability to run the same high level program seamlessly over live or stored data. The VoxNet hardware is self-contained and weather-resistant, and supports a four-channel microphone array with automated time synchronization, localization, and network coordination. Using VoxNet, an investigator can visualize phenomena in real-time, develop and tune online analysis, and record raw data for off-line analysis and archival. This paper describes both the hardware and software elements of the platform, as well as the architecture required to support distributed programs running over a heterogeneous network. We characterize the performance of the platform, using both microbenchmarks that evaluate specific aspects of the platform and a real application running in the field.