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Piezo film sensor for footstep detection

will_hs

I’m currently looking into detecting footsteps on a wooden floor using piezoelectric sensors and recording the output as audio.

 

After some research it seemed like a cantilever piezo film sensor might be suitable. I have ordered a few of these (MiniSense 100, LDTM-028K).

I’m wondering if there is a optimal way to mount these sensors to maximise vibrational transfer. At the moment I have soldered the sensor to a small PCB and have the PCB attached to the floor with adhesive tape. I’m amplifying the signal with a jfet preamp. I’m finding that footsteps around 6” from the sensor are barely registering above the noise floor.

 

Any advice on mounting these sensors, or even suggestions for other sensors that might be more suitable, would be much appreciated!

Thanks

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  • Hi Will,

     

    Your project reminds me of an Arduino tutorial that uses a piezo disk to detect knocks. You can probably tune it to listen to whatever sound the footsteps on the floor might make.

    Are you just listening for any sound? or do you have to distinguish between dogs and cats and humans?

     

    Here is the tutorial:

    https://www.arduino.cc/en/tutorial/knock

     

    Oops, missed your first bit about the noise threshold - I would try mounting the piezo detector directly onto the floor itself, connecting the detection bit onto the floor itself. It seems you've already done that though... Are people stepping that softly, or is there that much of a noise level in the floor in general?

    And yes otherwise you might need something like a detection mat.

     

    Cheers,

    -Nico

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  • Hi Will,

     

    Your project reminds me of an Arduino tutorial that uses a piezo disk to detect knocks. You can probably tune it to listen to whatever sound the footsteps on the floor might make.

    Are you just listening for any sound? or do you have to distinguish between dogs and cats and humans?

     

    Here is the tutorial:

    https://www.arduino.cc/en/tutorial/knock

     

    Oops, missed your first bit about the noise threshold - I would try mounting the piezo detector directly onto the floor itself, connecting the detection bit onto the floor itself. It seems you've already done that though... Are people stepping that softly, or is there that much of a noise level in the floor in general?

    And yes otherwise you might need something like a detection mat.

     

    Cheers,

    -Nico

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