What can I do with Ares?
There are currently four modules that are publicly sold. These are:
Modeler
Nonlinear Modeler
Frequency Response
Coordinate Mapper
There are other modules, most notably acoustic impedance measurement modules, that are kept proprietary for SAATI use.
Modeler Module
Modeler Module
This is a linear lumped element modeler that uses equivalent circuit techniques to model acoustical systems. These systems are usually a speaker or microphone application. With a speaker, you usually want to know the SPL that will be radiated from a speaker, or produced in a user’s ear canal. For a microphone, you usually want to predict the effects of various ports, volumes and protective membranes upon the microphone’s response. The linear Modeler allows you to drag and drop various acoustical elements, and then connect them in a “circuit” that matches your design. Electrical and mechanical elements are also supported.
Nonlinear Modeler
The nonlinear modeler predicts the total harmonic distortion (THD) from nonlinear speaker Thiele-Small models, and from nonlinear material behavior. It’s very instructional for understanding the behavior of these two distortion sources and how varying port lengths and volume sizes on this distortion. Like the linear modeler, this also uses lumped parameter analysis techniques, but the model “topology” is fixed. That means you cannot add or remove new elements, but you must match your physical design to one of the two fixed topologies provided. This modeler is not meant to be used for design, but rather to understand the relationship between basic acoustical structures and the distortion mechanisms. The module also has a feature that allows you to process a WAV file through the nonlinear model and perform listening tests on the results.
Frequency Response
The Frequency Response module uses a computer’s sound card to perform transfer function measurements. If the sound card is calibrated, then calibrated SPL and electrical impedance measurements can be taken. A measurement can be performed using a specified output spectrum, or the output can be adjusted so an input matches a desired input level. Several telephony metrics can also be computed, these include RLR, SLR and TCLw. Mathematical operations on the measurements can be performed so, for instance, a speaker’s displacement can be estimated by it’s radiation SPL.
Coordinate Mapper
This is a non-acoustical module that’s used as a simple utility to get data points from a graph. An image of a graph is imported into the module, the user enters three coordinate locations on the graph that are to be used to build a mapping between the display window and the coordinates in the graph, the user selects these three locations with the mouse, and then the mouse can be used to select data points on the graph that are to be recorded. While simple, it is extremely useful when only an image of a speaker or microphone’s response is available, and the data is not. Data can be captured from the image and imported into the modeler so a direction comparison between a measured (or expected) response and the model’s response can be made. Non-graph images can also be imported, such as an image of a phone’s internal structure. By establishing a x and y extent of the picture, specific locations of parts in the phone can be identified.