Can a drone determine the shape of a room using microphones alone? That’s what Purdue University researchers set out to discover in a study that will be published next week in the SIAM Journal on Applied Algebra and Geometry. In it, they propose a drone-mounted microphone array that measures sound emitted by a loudspeaker to inform a digital reconstruction of the physical surroundings.

The Trask Innovation Fund has awarded a total of nearly $81,000 to two Purdue University researchers to help them commercialize their innovations. The fund, established in 1974, helps support technology and innovations that are being commercialized through the Purdue Research Foundation.