Drone Noise Reduction through Audio Waveguiding

Abstract

Drones have become increasingly popular in today's world and extend to a wide variety of applications. However, one key limitation of drones even today is the audio noise emanating from their propellers. This noise is a characteristic of almost all drones available off--the--shelf and limits the capability of drones to record audio during flight. In this paper, we explore how simple techniques can help reduce and/or mitigate the drone propeller noise. Prior works have targeted addressing drone noise using sophisticated propeller designs and digital noise cancellation techniques. We aim at simple yet effective approaches that can be applied to any kind of drone without complex customization. One approach we broadly investigate in this paper is how to sound--proof the drone so as to absorb, cancel and/or redirect the audio noise away from the location of the microphone associated with the drone.