QinetiQ provides real-world application knowledge and testing expertise to support commercialisation
Metasonixx is a UK-based company, formed in 2019 as a spin-out company from Bristol and Sussex universities. They offer sound and noise management via acoustic metamaterial products - Sonoblind®, Sonoblind Air®, Sonoflow®.
QinetiQ and Metasonixx are collaborating to demonstrate how Sonoblind-air panels can replace the grille in front of a vehicle’s engine to provide simultaneous cooling and noise reduction.
- Real-World Testing
- Market Exploration
- Deployed materials
- Acoustic
The test design and manufacture phase was undertaken in an agile manner by both Metasonixx and QinetiQ in the space of a few weeks, illustrating the rapid application of novel technologies to a real-world challenge, in a representative environment.
The experiments were run at the QinetiQ Metamaterials Hub in Farnborough, where Metasonixx and QinetiQ jointly tested different panels, of varying airflow.
Further maturation and exploitation of the technology in both civil and military applications is being pursued collaboratively.
Impact
Sound and noise management is a vital aspect of design, particularly where people are exposed to inconvenient or even potentially damaging levels of acoustic emissions. Metasonixx’s revolutionary and prize-winning [1] technology blocks noise whilst enabling the free flow air and light through the barrier. Work with QinetiQ helped the company to explore a real-world application, generating data that enabled a comparison with the current state-of-the-art solutions in the marketplace.
[1] Metasonixx: Acoustic Metamaterials
Applications
Metasonixx’s technology is ideal for use in an office environment, enabling ventilation and illumination whilst blocking background noise, with other markets such as vehicle design being explored as per the example given above.
