Boom Clap

Using data generated by actual flight tests conducted at NASA Armstrong Flight Research Center and data collected from NASA noise laboratories, app developers should construct a visualization of low boom as it compares to normal sonic boom. Currently noise data is either illustrated with ‘contours’ around airport runways and surrounding areas or presented numerically in decibels. Can an app be developed that allows people to ‘see’ the difference between low boom and normal sonic boom over their geographical area? Such an app would help visual learners to grasp the difference more rapidly than traditional data displays.

SFX: BOOM.

SPEAKER: (HOLDS UP A FINGER, PULLS OUT A PHONE.). HELLO? SORRY, I

CAN'T TALK RIGHT NOW, WE'RE PRESENTING AT SPACE APPS. (PUTS PHONE

AWAY.)

OUR PROJECT IS CALLED BOOM CLAP. WE'RE TRYING TO EDUCATE THE

PUBLIC--

SFX: BOOM.

OH, I JUST GOT A TEXT. GUESS I'D BETTER TURN MY PHONE OFF.

OUR SPACE APPS PROJECT IS CALLED BOOM CLAP. WE'RE TRYING TO

EDUCATE THE PUBLIC ON HOW FAR TECHNOLOGY HAS COME IN THE PAST

THIRTY YEARS, WITH RESPECT TO SUPERSONIC FLIGHT. WE'RE DOING THAT

THROUGH OUR APP WHICH INDICATES WHAT A SONIC BOOM LOOKS LIKE AND

SOUNDS LIKE, AS A SUPERSONIC PLANE FLIES BY.

THE REASON WE WANT TO DO THIS? WE WOULD LIKE TO UPDATE THE

GENERAL PUBLIC ON THE CURRENT STRENGTH OF SONIC BOOMS, IN ORDER

TO PERSUADE THEM THAT THE BENEFITS OF SUPERSONIC FLIGHT OUTWEIGH

THE NOISE DISADVANTAGES, AND TO PREPARE THEM TO WELCOME NASA'S

NEW "QUESST" LOW-NOISE SUPERSONIC AIRCRAFT IN APPROXIMATELY

ANOTHER FOUR YEARS.

THE FIRST SUCCESSFUL SUPERSONIC JET IN THE HISTORY OF FLIGHT, THE

BELL X-1, REACHED A TEST ALTITUDE OF 43,000 FEET IN OCTOBER OF 1947.

(SOURCE: HISTORY.NASA.GOV, "RESEARCH IN SUPERSONIC FLIGHT AND THE

BREAKING OF THE SOUND BARRIER", BY JOHN D. ANDERSON, JR). AND

PROBABLY MADE ONE HECK OF A BOOM!

WHAT IS A SONIC BOOM? A LOUD EXPLOSION CAUSED BY A SHOCK WAVE

FROM AN AIRCRAFT TRAVELING FASTER THAN THE SPEED OF SOUND. AS AN

AIRCRAFT PASSES THROUGH THE AIR IT CREATES A SERIES OF PRESSURE

WAVES, IN FRONT OF IT AND BEHIND IT, VERY SIMILAR TO THE WAKE OF A

BOAT. SINCE THESE WAVES TRAVEL AT THE SPEED OF SOUND, AN OBJECT

TRAVELING FASTER WILL COMPRESS THEM--UNTIL THEY EVENTUALLY MERGE

INTO A SINGLE SHOCK WAVE WHICH TRAVELS AT THE SPEED OF SOUND.

(AND SOUNDS LIKE A THUNDERCLAP!). THE STRONGEST SONIC BOOM EVER

RECORDED WAS 7,000 PA, AND WAS CAUSED BY AN F-4 FLYING JUST ABOVE

THE SPEED OF SOUND AT AN ALTITUDE OF 100 FEET.

VARIABLES THAT DETERMINE A SONIC BOOM INCLUDE:

*AIRCRAFT AND ENGINE CONFIGURATION AND SHAPING

* AIRCRAFT WEIGHT

*TEMPERATURE, WIND, HUMIDITY

*SPEED, ALTITUDE, DIVE ANGLE AND ACCELERATION

*TERRAIN AND TOPOGRAPHY.

*DURING THE 1950S AND INTO THE 1960S, SONIC BOOMS WERE ECHOING

ACROSS THE NATION AS THE AIR FORCE DEPLOYED MORE AND MORE OF THE

MACH-1-BUSTING JETS THAT WERE DESIGNED TO KEEP THE PEACE DURING

THE COLD WAR. BUT THE PUBLIC VOICE PROTESTING THE NOISE WAS JUST

AS FORCEFUL AS THE SONIC BOOMS THEMSELVES.

IN FACT, AS BENSON POINTS OUT IN HIS BOOK "QUIETING THE BOOM",

BETWEEN 1956 AND 1968 THERE WERE 38,831 CLAIMS AGAINST THE AIR

FORCE (14,006 WERE APPROVED) TO COVER LOSSES FROM SONIC BOOMS

THAT RANGED FROM BROKEN GLASS ANS CRACKED PLASTER TO ASSERTIONS

OF PETS DYING AND LIVESTOCK GOING INSANE.

IT WAS WITHIN THIS DIFFICULT ENVIRONMENT THAT NASA AND THE FEDERAL

AVIATION ADMINISTRATION LED A RESEARCH EFFORT IN SUPPORT OF

INDUSTRY DESIGNING AND BUILDING A COMMERCIAL SUPERSONIC

TRANSPORT, WHICH BECAME KNOWN AS THE SST.

ACCORDING TO THE NASA ARMSTRONG FACT SHEET ON SONIC BOOMS,

(FEBRUARY 8, 2014), INCREASING ALTITUDE IS PRESENTLY THE MOST

EFFECTIVE MEANS OF REDUCING SONIC BOOM INTENSITY. HOWEVER,

NASA'S CURRENT QUIET SUPERSONIC TECHNOLOGY PROJECT, OR "QUESST",

AIMS TO CREATE "A PILOTED TEST AIRCRAFT THAT FLIES

AT SUPERSONIC SPEEDS BUT CREATES A SOFT 'THUMP' RATHER THAN A

LOUD BOOM. (SOURCE: NASA.GOV, RELEASE 16-022, FEBRUARY 29, 2016.)

NASA'S GOAL IS A SUPERSONIC LOW-NOISE FLIGHT CAMPAIGN BY 2020,

DEPENDING ON FUNDING.

CURRENTLY, A SUBSONIC FLIGHT FLIES AT 600 MILES PER HOUR.

SUPERSONIC JETS, THOUGH, TRAVEL TWICE AS FAST. CONSEQUENTLY, A

SUPERSONIC JET COULD LITERALLY SAVE LIVES IN AN AIRLIFT OR

EVACUATION SITUATION. WITH 21ST-CENTURY-TECHNOLOGY LOW-BOOM

SUPERSONIC PASSENGER FLIGHTS, TRAVELERS COULD GO FROM COAST TO

COAST IN UNDER THREE HOURS.

*BOOM CLAP, WILL BE A GUI APPLICATION: MOBILE, WEB OR BOTH.

IT HAS THE ICON OF AN AIRPLANE, AND WILL DETECT WHERE YOU ARE

(GEOLOCATION) AND PICK A SPOT TO PUT THE ICON, RANDOMLY, BASED ON

THAT.

BOOM CLAP EDUCATES USERS BY VISUALIZING WHAT A SONIC BOOM LOOKS

LIKE--AND SOUNDS LIKE, DEPENDING ON THE HEARERS' GEOGRAPHIC

LOCATION. OUR APP CAN BE USED FOR STEAM-EDUCATION CLASSES IN

SCHOOLS, DUE TO ITS INTERACTIVITY.

HERE'S THE WAY IT WORKS. WHEN YOU CLICK THE ICON, IT WILL ANIMATE,

ZOOM OVER YOUR LOCATION AND DISPLAY A SONIC BOOM FRONTIER ON THE

MAP THAT EXPANDS AND FADES OUT, AS IT DOES--LIKE THE WAKE OF A BOAT.

WHEN THE FRONTIER PASSES OVER YOU, YOUR DEVICE BUZZES FOR A

DURATION RELATIVE TO THE INTENSITY OF THE WAVEFRONT. USING

INTERNET OF THINGS CONNECTIVITY, WE CAN SHOW LED LIGHTS ON

ADDITIONAL DEVICES: HEADPHONES, FOR EXAMPLE, OR A "WIRED"

WEARABLE. AS WE GO ACROSS THE MAP, WE USE LED LIGHTS

TO VISUALIZE WHERE THE SONIC BOOM IS, AND WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE. LED

INTENSITY INDICATES LOUDNESS OF SOUND.

THE INTERFACE CAN ACTIVATE EITHER SINGLE-PLANE OR MULTIPLE-PLANE

MODE, WITH DIFFERENT COLORS OF LED LIGHTS TO INDICATE DIFFERENT

TYPES OF AIRCRAFT.

*IN SINGLE-PLANE MODE, USERS PICK WHETHER THE SOUND WILL BE A LOUD

BOOM OR A LOW BOOM. YOU CAN ALSO PICK THE LOCATION AND DIRECTION,

AND CLICK "START" TO,START THE PLANE.

IN MULTIPLE-PLANE MODE, AIRCRAFT SPAWN RANDOMLY. OTHER ELEMENTS

ARE RANDOM, AS WELL: A RANDOM LOW BOOM OR SONIC BOOM; RANDOM

LOCATION, DIRECTION AND SPEED. THE PLANES WILL ANIMATE EVERY FEW

SECONDS, WITH OTHER AIRCRAFT POSSIBLY INCLUDED.

YOU'LL NOTICE, AS THIS FLIGHT TAKES OFF FROM L-A-X, THIS LED INDICATES

THE INTENSITY OF THE SONIC BOOM IN ITS WAKE. AS IT REACHES CRUISING

ALTITUDE, THE SOUND LESSENS. BY THE TIME IT'S FLOWN OVER DENVER,

HERE IS THE SOUND AND THE AMOUNT OF TIME IT TAKES FOR LOCALS

TO HEAR IT. HERE'S THE SOUND AS IT ARRIVES AT LA GUARDIA.

BY CONTRAST, HERE IS THE SOUND OF THE LOW-BOOM QUESST AIRCRAFT.

AND THAT'S BOOM CLAP, THE VISUAL INDICATION, BOTH OF THE CURRENT

SONIC BOOMS FROM TODAY'S SUPERSONIC AIRCRAFT AND THE PROJECTED

SOUND OF THE QUESST PASSENGER JETS, ABOUT FOUR YEARS FROM NOW.

SFX: BOOM!

EXCUSE ME--I HAVE TO TAKE THIS CALL.