MEMS biomimetic acoustic pressure gradient sensitive structure for sound source localization

The parasitoid fly Ormia ochracea shows an astonishing localization ability with its tiny hearing organ. A novel MEMS biomimetic acoustic pressure gradient sensitive structure was designed and fabricated by mimicking the mechanically coupled tympana of the fly. Firstly, the analytic representation formulas of the resultant force and resultant moment of the incoming plane wave acting on the structure were derived. After that, structure modal analysis was performed and the results show that the structure has out-of-phase and in-phase vibration modes, and the corresponding eigenfrequency is decided by the stiffness of vertical torsional beam and horizontal beam respectively. Acoustic-structural coupled analysis was performed and the results show that phase difference and amplitude difference between the responses of the two square diaphragms of the sensitive structure are effectively enlarged through mechanical coupling beam. The phase difference and amplitude difference increase with increasing incident angle and can be used to distinguish the direction of sound arrival. At last, the fabrication process and results of the device is also presented.