SBIR Phase II: Cloud-based Acoustic Simulation Service

这个小企业创新研究（SBIR）第二阶段项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力来自于所提出的技术触及建筑设计的许多方面。该公司基于云的声学模拟服务（CBASS）针对建筑师和声学顾问。美国有超过105，000名建筑师，25，000名建筑专业学生和2，000名声学顾问。声学模拟是一个4.5亿美元的市场。CBASS将用于在建筑物建造之前了解其声学性能，从而减少用于解决声学问题的时间和金钱。CBASS将检查设计中的声学问题，并自动建议解决这些问题的方法，使建筑师能够更加确定他们的设计，并通过最初获得正确的声学效果来节省改造成本。CBASS还将加快和简化建筑师和声学顾问合作的过程，从而降低成本和改善声学效果。该公司将向学生提供低成本订阅，以帮助培训下一代建筑师在设计阶段更早地考虑声学。声学模拟的使用增加将为每个人带来更好的发声空间：更有利于学习的教室，更有利于康复的医院，更愉快的剧院和更安静的家庭。这个小型企业创新研究（SBIR）第二阶段项目旨在开发使用云计算的新方法来了解和改善建筑物的声学。可靠地模拟声波的行为是一个困难的问题。研究人员最近开发了一种称为自适应矩形分解（ARD）的算法，可以准确地建模声学。为了使其能够处理复杂的真实数据，该公司开发了在云中同时在多台计算机上运行ARD的算法。在这个项目中，该公司将开发新的算法，使用声学建模和机器学习来自动检查是否符合标准声学准则，识别声学问题，并对可能改善其声学效果的设计提出更改和改进建议。在云中运行ARD时，各个计算机必须不断向彼此发送数据，从而减慢了整体模拟速度。该公司将开发更好的方法来管理这种数据交换，从而实现更快、更可靠的声学模拟。为了让建筑师和声学顾问团队在一个项目上进行合作，该公司还将开发允许多人同时访问和审查相同项目数据和分析的方法。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project results from the proposed technology touching many aspects of architectural design. The company's cloud-based acoustic simulation service (CBASS) is aimed at architects and acoustical consultants. There are over 105,000 architects, 25,000 architecture students, and 2,000 acoustical consultants in the US. Acoustic simulation is a $450 million market. CBASS will be used to understand a building's acoustics before it is built, reducing the time and money spent on fixing acoustic issues. CBASS will check for acoustic issues in a design and automatically suggest ways of fixing them, allowing architects to be more certain of their designs, and saving on remodeling costs by getting the acoustics right initially. CBASS will also speed up and simplify the process by which architects and acoustical consultants collaborate, leading to reduced costs and better acoustics. The company will offer low-cost subscriptions to students, to help train the next generation of architects to think about acoustics earlier in the design phase. Increased use of acoustic simulation will lead to better sounding spaces for everyone: classrooms that are more conducive to learning, hospitals that more conducive to healing, more enjoyable theaters, and quieter homes.This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project aims to develop new ways of using cloud computing to understand and improve the acoustics of buildings. Reliably modeling the behavior of sound waves is a hard problem. Researchers have recently developed an algorithm called Adaptive Rectangular Decomposition (ARD), which can accurately model acoustics. To make it work on complex, real-world data, the company has developed algorithms for running ARD on multiple computers at the same time, in the cloud. In this project the company will develop new algorithms that use acoustic modeling and machine learning to automatically check for compliance with standard acoustic guidelines, identify acoustic issues, and suggest changes and improvements to a design that are likely to improve its acoustics. When running ARD in the cloud, individual computers must keep sending data to each other, slowing down the overall simulation. The company will develop improved ways of managing this data exchange, allowing much faster and more reliable acoustic simulation. To let teams of architects and acoustical consultants collaborate on a project, the company will also develop ways of allowing the same project data and analyses to be accessed and reviewed by multiple people at the same time.