Wave field synthesis with synchronous distributed signal processing

Abstract

Wave field synthesis (WFS) aims at recreating virtual sound sources in a predefined enclosure using loudspeaker arrays. The technology was first developed at TU Delft. The wave-fronts of many virtual sources are created according to the Huygens principle. The applications of WFS require a large scalability in signal processing. Absolute synchronicity among all processing elements is a mandatory requirement for WFS. Further, in many applications, a controlled synchronicity to other modalities, such as vision, is desired. A complete signal processing framework including a synchronous network is introduced. The system includes a low-latency network to create a distributed database. The applicability of standard network protocols are illustrated and required accuracy and achievable performance are discussed.