Engineering Everyday Ease: From Quiet Nights to Smarter Spaces
Todd Moon, professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, is putting his expertise to work on technologies designed to make everyday life a little easier. From quieter bedrooms to smarter homes, two of his current research projects show how thoughtful engineering can improve comfort, convenience and the way we interact with the world around us.
Silencing Snores for Sweeter Dreams
Snoring is more than an annoyance—it disrupts sleep, strains health, and tests relationships for millions of people. At any given time, up to a quarter of the population snores. Studies estimate about 25% of men and 15% of women are affected, making it a surprisingly common problem. And while snoring has many consequences, its most immediate impact is often felt by those lying awake beside it.
Electrical Engineering Professor Todd Moon and graduate student Nathan Walker work on a microphone array to silence snoring.
A variety of approaches have been proposed to address the snoring problem—from earplugs for the listener to fixtures clamped to the snorer's nose to CPAP machines, to moving to another room. All of these may be uncomfortable or disruptive to some degree.
That reality sparked an idea for Moon. He began wondering: what if there were a way to quiet a partner's snore without the snorer having to do anything at all, without the fixtures or the masks?
Todd Moon sits in a symbolic "cone of silence", mirroring the targeted snore-canceling zone his research creates.
The solution he and his team envisioned is both clever and practical. Using an array of microphones steered to listen at the location of the ear of the affected listener and speakers aimed in the same direction, the system detects snoring sounds and adapts in real time. An adaptive cancellation algorithm processes the noise and adjusts the speakers to produce counteracting sound waves. Instead of simply masking the snore, the setup cancels it out, right at the ear of the affected listener, creating a pocket of quiet where it matters most. Think of it as a modern-day "cone of silence" —not shielding the whole room but carving out a personal zone of peace.
No masks, mouthpieces, or earplugs required—just technology working quietly in the background. What began as a simple idea has grown into a promising innovation with the potential to transform bedrooms everywhere.
"Ideally, it would be available at stores like Walgreens for around $89.99, so every bedroom could have one," said Moon. "We want it to be simple, affordable and something that can truly improve people's sleep without any hassle."
This research is in collaboration with graduate student Nathan Walker, and professors Jake Gunther and Mohammad Shekaramiz. Though still in development with a long way to go, the project highlights how engineering is more than equations and prototypes—it's about solving everyday problems and improving lives. By applying technical expertise to one of the most common nighttime disruptions, Moon and his team are engineering a new approach to make restless nights restful again.
Once the team has completed their portion of development, the focus will shift to refining the product's aesthetics and enhancing its user-friendliness. The goal is to ensure that the take-home version is not only effective but also intuitive, attractive, and easy for anyone to integrate into their daily routine.
Smarter Spaces Start with Smarter Signals
Imagine walking into a room and the lights flick on, the thermostat adjusts, and your security system responds—all without a single motion sensor in sight. That's the future Moon is working toward.
A rendering demonstrates Moon's vision for sensor-free smart homes, where ordinary Wi-Fi signals track movement and automate things such as lighting, heating and security.
Along with graduate student James Hyland, Moon has developed technology that uses ordinary Wi-Fi signals to detect and track movement, eliminating the need for extra devices. Wi-Fi is already in most homes and offices, making the approach widely applicable.
"This capability can be used for home or office automation," said Moon. "Your house can determine your location and respond accordingly—turning on lights or adjusting the heat. Or it can provide security that you just can't dodge. You can't dodge a radio signal."
When a Wi-Fi signal travels from a transmitter to a receiver, it bounces off walls, floors, doors—whatever lies between. When there is a person in the transmission path, it bounces off from them also, making a subtle difference in the signal at the receiver. The receiver is designed to compensate for these changes, so you still can send and receive your bits reliably. Then the receiver basically throws away the information about the changes in the channel.
Previous work in this area has looked at the actual channel signals, but the relationship between the channel response and the location of a target—in this case, a person—is complex. Even moving a door can change everything. The work at Utah State relies on the Doppler effect, the change in frequency due to motion, such as the change in the sound of an ambulance when it drives past with its siren on. Using Doppler changes allows targets to be tracked with remarkable accuracy, and it doesn't suffer from clutter effects like other approaches.
The system requires little hardware and covers more area than conventional security setups. The team recently submitted their findings to the IEEE journal and filed two patents. While smart homes are the obvious application, the technology could revolutionize building automation and next-generation security, reshaping how we interact with everyday spaces.
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Writer: Madeline Buskirk, madeline.buskirk@usu.edu, 435-797-7512
Contact: Todd Moon, todd.moon@usu.edu, 435-797-2970