Parametric Amplification and Stochastic Resonance in Bio-Inspired Hair Flow Sensors

Inspired by crickets and its perception for flow phenomena, artificial hair flow sensors have been developed successfully in our group. The realization of array structures and improvement of fabrication methodologies have led to better performance, making it possible to detect and measure flow velocities in the range of sub-mm/s. To improve the performance of these artificial hair flow sensors even further, we will make use of non-linear effects. In nature a wide range of such effects exist (filtering, parametric amplification, etc.) and can give a rise in sensitivity, dynamic range and selectivity. Here, we propose to use parametric amplification and stochastic resonance to improve our flow sensor performance