Abstract: An acoustic measurement installation including acoustic measurement instrumentation, in particular an acoustic measurement antenna fitted with at least one microphone; a positioning system for positioning the antenna by ultrasound and including at least one ultrasound emitter mounted on the antenna at a known distance relative to the microphone and an ultrasound receiver base for receiving the signals emitted by each emitter and adapted to determine the position of each emitter; and a control unit for controlling the positioning system for positioning the antenna and the acoustic measurement instrumentation. The control system is adapted during a first stage to cause each emitter to emit in succession in order to determine the position of the antenna, and during a second stage to cause the microphones to perform acquisition in order to implement acoustic measurement using the measurement instrumentation.

Abstract: A method of detecting and locating noise sources each emitting respective signals Sj with j=1 to M, detection being provided by a sound wave or vibration sensors each delivering a respective time-varying electrical signal si with i in the range 1 to N, wherein the method steps include: (a) taking the time-varying electrical signals delivered by the sensors, each signal si(t) delivered by a sensor being the sum of the signals Sj emitted by the noise sources; (b) amplifying and filtering the time-varying electrical signals as taken; (c) digitizing the electrical signals; (d) calculating a functional; and (e) minimizing the functional relative to the vectors nj for j=1 to M so as to determine the directions of vector nj of the noise sources.

Abstract: The invention relates to a self-driving and self-locking hinge strap for mounting between two adjacent elements (A1, A2), the strap being of the type constituted by at least one resilient strip (3) preformed to have a section that is curved and designed to be secured via its two ends to the two elements, and to occupy a folded position and a deployed position. According to the invention, each resilient strip (3) is provided with a layer of viscoelastic material (4) interposed between one of the faces of the resilient strip (3) and a stress plate (5) in such a manner as to provide a hinge that also performs a damping function.

Abstract: Location of a firearm firing projectiles is accomplished by using an acoustic detection antenna that includes at least three microphones spaced apart from one another to detect and record signals and time offsets of the signals which are representative of the muzzle noise of the firearm and/or the soundwave emitted by the mach cone generated by a projectile that has supersonic muzzle velocity, and processing the signals and their time offsets in such a manner as to determine at least the direction in which the firearm is located.

Abstract: A mechanical magnitude sensor integrated on silicon, and a method of manufacture. The sensor comprises a bendably deformable conductive blade (4) whose free end (43) constitutes the first plate of a variable capacitor whose fixed second plate (24) is constituted by a conductive zone formed on the silicon substrate. A JFET type structure is formed in the vicinity of the anchor point (41) of the blade (4) with a gate zone (21) situated beneath the anchor portion (41) and with drain and source zones (22, 23) being provided on either side of the gate zone (21) in order to amplify a signal representative of variations in the position of the flexible blade (4). The sensor may be used as an accelerometer or as a pressure sensor.