UAV updateResearchers develop silent UAVs
UAVs are used more and more in surveillance and operational roles on the battlefield — and by the police; the larger UAVs are very noisy, announcing their presence and allowing the adversary to hide or escape; Georgia Institute of Technology researchers work on equipping UAVs with a “whisper” mode
We have written about the growing surveillance and operational role UAVs play on — or, rather, above — the modern battle field. Recent examples include Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Lebanon, and Gaza. There is one problem with these machines: They are noisy. Now a Georgia-based researchers have announced plans to eliminate this particular weakness of UAVs. These UAVs are now going to have a whisper mode. “With missions changing, and many vehicles flying at lower altitudes, the acoustic signature of a [killer robot] has become more and more critical,” said senior Georgia Institute of Technology (GIT) aeroacoustics specialist Rick Gaeta.
Some robotic aircraft are already quite quiet — the small battery-powered airplanes, often hand-launched, which are used for infantry reconnaissance and perimeter security are almost totally silent. Electric quadcopters, used by the Liverpool police — and, rumor has it, by the SAS — are also unobtrusive. Larger machines, however, hovering in the skies carrying weapons, are much noisier. The noise of engines and propellers often warns the adversary soldiers beneath, giving them a chance to hide or escape.
Gaeta and his colleagues want to take away that chance. The plan is to equip the roving UAVs with a whisper mode. The aeroacoustics researchers believe the work is going well. “We believe that we have the means to make tactical UAVs much quieter,” says Gaeta.
He and his colleagues believe they will be able to make a flying war robot so quiet that not only will humans be unable to hear it — but its enhanced electronic ears will be more than able to hear them. These new enhancements will be available soon, apparently. “Our next step is to put our findings into a prototype for testing,” says Gaeta.
