In working on the digital signal processing, we have a number of interesting challenges. It is not an easy task to correctly interpret a time based signal (the microphone) in terms of both its frequency and amplitude over time, and properly distribute a meaningful signal to an array of vibrating motors so that the wearer can experience something directly related to hearing music. Some of the important questions involved are:
* What range of input signals are we trying to represent? Music? Speech? Ambient sounds?
* What configuration (placement and frequency distribution) of motors is most meaningful, in terms of how the wearer interprets the information?
* What is the most efficient and effective way to analyze the input signal? Is an FFT necessary for our purpose, or would filtering be simpler?
All of the answers are currently under research by the team, through books, the internet, testing, and experiments. The second question on the list is an especially intriguing one, since there is not a great deal of published research and data on how human skin interprets periodic signals - we have to test the motors out on our own skin in a scientific way to figure out how best to drive and arrange them! These challenges are very exciting, as they let us take the theory taught in class, and apply it directly to a real world problem; this makes the work seem that much more meaningful and rewarding, and is an excellent motivation for collaborative work!
-Matt
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