Skyfall: Signal Fusion from a Smartphone Falling from the Stratosphere

Milton A. Garcés; Daniel Bowman; Cleat Zeiler; Anthony Christe; Tyler Yoshiyama; Brian Williams; Meritxell Colet; Samuel Takazawa; Sarah Popenhagen

doi:10.3390/signals3020014

Signals (Apr 2022)

Skyfall: Signal Fusion from a Smartphone Falling from the Stratosphere

Milton A. Garcés,
Daniel Bowman,
Cleat Zeiler,
Anthony Christe,
Tyler Yoshiyama,
Brian Williams,
Meritxell Colet,
Samuel Takazawa,
Sarah Popenhagen

Affiliations

Milton A. Garcés: Infrasound Laboratory, Hawaii Institute of Geophysics and Planetology, School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology, University of Hawaii, Manoa, Kailua-Kona, HI 96740, USA
Daniel Bowman: Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, NM 87123, USA
Cleat Zeiler: Nevada National Security Site, Las Vegas, NV 89030, USA
Anthony Christe: RedVox, Inc., Kailua-Kona, HI 96740, USA
Tyler Yoshiyama: Infrasound Laboratory, Hawaii Institute of Geophysics and Planetology, School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology, University of Hawaii, Manoa, Kailua-Kona, HI 96740, USA
Brian Williams: Infrasound Laboratory, Hawaii Institute of Geophysics and Planetology, School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology, University of Hawaii, Manoa, Kailua-Kona, HI 96740, USA
Meritxell Colet: Infrasound Laboratory, Hawaii Institute of Geophysics and Planetology, School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology, University of Hawaii, Manoa, Kailua-Kona, HI 96740, USA
Samuel Takazawa: Infrasound Laboratory, Hawaii Institute of Geophysics and Planetology, School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology, University of Hawaii, Manoa, Kailua-Kona, HI 96740, USA
Sarah Popenhagen: Infrasound Laboratory, Hawaii Institute of Geophysics and Planetology, School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology, University of Hawaii, Manoa, Kailua-Kona, HI 96740, USA

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/signals3020014
Journal volume & issue: Vol. 3, no. 2
pp. 209 – 234

Abstract

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A smartphone plummeted from a stratospheric height of 36 km, providing a near-real-time record of its rapid descent and ground impact. An app recorded and streamed useful internal multi-sensor data at high sample rates. Signal fusion with external and internal sensor systems permitted a more detailed reconstruction of the Skyfall chronology, including its descent speed, rotation rate, and impact deceleration. Our results reinforce the potential of smartphones as an agile and versatile geophysical data collection system for environmental and disaster monitoring IoT applications. We discuss mobile environmental sensing capabilities and present a flexible data model to record and stream signals of interest. The Skyfall case study can be used as a guide to smartphone signal processing methods that are transportable to other hardware platforms and operating systems.

Published in Signals

ISSN: 2624-6120 (Online)
Publisher: MDPI AG
Country of publisher: Switzerland
LCC subjects: Technology: Technology (General): Industrial engineering. Management engineering: Applied mathematics. Quantitative methods
Website: https://www.mdpi.com/journal/signals

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