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2 layers50 × 50 mmNoisemeter, the printed circuit board in 3D

Design files and source code for the tRacket noise sensor

Size
50 × 50 mm
Copper layers
2
Thickness
1.6 mm
Parts
32
Nets
42
Pads
138
Tracks, vias
109, 50
Pours
5
Routed
Yes
KiCad
KiCad 7 (file 20221018)
Created
31 Dec 2023
Updated
19 Jul 2026

Overview

Noisemeter is an open-source printed circuit board by CivicTechTO, from the CivicTechTO/tRacket-sensor repository on GitHub. It is a 2-layer board of 50 × 50 mm with 32 parts on 42 nets, routed with 109 tracks and 50 vias.

It is built around the ESP32-C3-MINI-1-N4, AP2112K-3.3 and SPH0645LM4H-B. Its parts include 10 resistors, 7 capacitors, 2 ICs, 2 diodes and 2 connectors. It belongs with the audio and music and sensors and measurement boards and the ESP32 and RISC-V boards of this library.

Main components

3

README

README.md

tRacket: Community-Driven Urban Noise Monitoring

This repository contains all source code and hardware design files for the tRacket noise sensor.

Overview

Environmental noise, especially in urban settings, is a known public health concern:

The growing body of evidence indicates that exposure to excessive environmental noise does not only impact quality of life and cause hearing loss but also has other health impacts, such as cardiovascular effects, cognitive impacts, sleep disturbance and mental health effects.

The tRacket noise sensor continuous monitors ambient sound levels (in decibels, dBA) and sends these measurements to an online dashboard (also on GitHub). Our goal is to help local communities better understand the sound levels and extreme noise events that they experience day to day.

The project has been started and is maintained by volunteers from the CivicTech Toronto community.

Privacy

We followed Privacy by Design principles in setting up the data collection.

  1. The sound meter devices are deployed on private properties in residential areas at different locations in the city. We are not publishing exact device locations.
  2. The devices do not record sound only sound levels in A-weighted decibel levels (dBA)(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decibel).
  3. We calculate minimum and maximum sound levels at 5 minute intervals on the device and only broadcast these aggregate values (along wiht the device ID) to a database.

Source Code

The noisemeter-device folder contains the device's source code, which is written in C++ and can be built using PlatformIO. Build instructions are available in the online documentation.

The source code is released under the GNU GPL v3 license.

Hardware Files

The hardware folder contains design files and documentation for each iteration of the sensor hardware. The PCBs are designed using KiCAD.

The hardware design files are released under an open hardware license.

For Developers

  • Check out the Issues page to see current bugs and feature requests. Any contributions are welcome!
  • Online documentation of the firmware is available here.

Parts

32
QtyValueFootprintReferences
4MountingHole_PadMountingHole:MountingHole_2.5mmH1, H2, H3, H4
310KResistor_SMD:R_0603_1608MetricR4, R5, R6
31UCapacitor_SMD:C_0603_1608MetricC1, C2, C3
351Resistor_SMD:R_0603_1608MetricR2, R3, R10
3TestPointTestPoint:TestPoint_Pad_D1.5mmTP1, TP2, TP3
20Resistor_SMD:R_0603_1608MetricR1, R7
20.1UCapacitor_SMD:C_0603_1608MetricC5, C6
2150Resistor_SMD:R_0603_1608MetricR8, R9
2LEDLED_SMD:LED_0603_1608MetricD1, D2
110UCapacitor_SMD:C_0805_2012MetricC4
1200PCapacitor_SMD:C_0603_1608MetricC7
1AP2112K-3.3Package_TO_SOT_SMD:SOT-23-5U1
1Conn_01x04_PinConnector_PinHeader_2.54mm:PinHeader_1x05_P2.54mm_VerticalJ2
1ESP32-C3-MINI-1-N4noisemeter:XCVR_ESP32-C3-MINI-1-N4U2
1SPH0645LM4H-Bnoisemeter:MIC_SPH0645LM4H-BMK1
1SW_PushButton_Switch_SMD:SW_SPST_TL3305ASW1
1USB_B_MicroConnector_USB:USB_Micro-B_Molex_47346-0001J1

Questions

How big is the Noisemeter PCB?

It measures 50 × 50 mm and has 2 copper layers, 1.6 mm thick.

What parts does the Noisemeter use?

32 parts, built around the ESP32-C3-MINI-1-N4, AP2112K-3.3 and SPH0645LM4H-B. The full list of its parts is on this page, with links to each part's symbol and footprint where PCBKit's library has them.

Where can I download the Noisemeter KiCad files?

From the CivicTechTO/tRacket-sensor repository on GitHub, at the commit this page was made from: the board is hardware/pcb-rev1/noisemeter.kicad_pcb and its schematic hardware/pcb-rev1/noisemeter.kicad_sch. PCBKit opens the board in the browser, with nothing to install.

Can I use the Noisemeter design in my own project?

Its repository states no licence, so its author keeps all rights: ask CivicTechTO before reusing the design.

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