Optimized biomimetic hair sensor arrays for sensing oscillating air flows

Abstract

Artificial hair sensor arrays are bio-inspired from flow-sensitive filiform hairs of the crickets, one of nature’s best in sensing small air flows. The presented hair sensor arrays aim to realize higher sensitivities compared to our previous sensor arrays by means of model-based design optimizations and fabricated with advanced MEMS technologies. The artificial hair-sensor arrays display a clear figure-of-eight response and show remarkable sensitivities to oscillating air flows down to 0.85 mm/s surpassing noise levels even at 1 kHz operational bandwidths