Week 0
Final Project Exploration
Acoustic Surf Display
Overview
For my final project, I plan to make a tabletop device that displays daily wave data for nearby surf spots. I often check the Magic Seaweed app on my phone for this, but I thought it would be neat to have a physical display of the surf. Recently I stumbled upon acoustic levitation, and thought using it for this physical display would be a great excuse to explore the concept. Acoustic levitation uses focused and/or phased arrays of ultrasonic transducers to levitate small particles. The phenomenon works by reflecting or opposing sound waves to create standing waves with nodes where particles can be trapped. Based on the prior work below, it seems feasible to levitate a 4x4 matrix of 16 small foam particles and have control over the height of each levitating particle individually. With Magic Seaweed's API, I can capture data on swells for several surf spots (height of waves, their period, speed of wind, and it's direction).
Prior Work
https://www.instructables.com/SonicSurface-Phased-array-for-Levitation-Mid-air-T/