Aurora’s Aeolian Harp is named for Aeolus, an ancient god of the wind, and Aurora, a goddess of the dawn.
An Aeolian Harp (or wind harp) is a musical instrument that is "played" by the wind. This instrument is an Aeolian Harp that is played by the solar wind.
In the software version, the "strings" of the harp are digitally synthesized using physical modeling techniques, and the "wind" is real-time solar wind data streamed from the NASA ACE satellite.
In the hardware version a microprocessor controls small motors that "tune" individual strings, and an inductance engine excites those strings into constantly shifting drones. The software version is built with Max/MSP and the base version will be available for free download and use. The platform is meant to be extensible and already consists of several iterations which incorporate physical sensor control for performance use, and video matrix manipulation which adds a visual element to the work.
The hardware version is built on the Arduino platform using custom electronics for motor control. Again the work is extensible and already has sensor add-ons for live performance.