Miniaturization technology should be applied to develop a digital device for recording environmental impacts of aircraft flyovers in remote areas which are overflown by aircraft operating in MTRs and in MOAs. Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs) would incorporate a microprocessor into a chip to allow sophisticated software algorithms to continuously monitor and calculate distribution statistics for ambient noise levels; to discriminate aircraft flyovers from naturally occurring sounds; to timestamp and log times of occurrence of flyovers; and to either passively accept human response information or administer a brief questionnaire upon detection of aircraft. The device would be light and small enough to fit into a pocket, be sewn into a hat, or possibly worn as a wrist watch. The low power consumption of ASIC devices permits field operation for extended periods. The device would contain a miniature microphone, an A/D conversion circuit to permit digital representation of the acoustic environment, a microprocessor capable of executing low frequency Fast Fourier Transforms or digital processing in real or near-real time to provide the required signal processing, 512 Kbytes or more of low power memory, RS-232 data communication for the transfer of data for analysis, and a display for interactive communication with the wearer of the device.
