How and why does ImAFUSA research the impact of drone sound?

Part 1: Soundwalks. 

Picture 1: During drone flight - Soundwalks in Athens

It is expected that over the coming years, Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS), or ‘drones’, will revolutionise urban and rural living in a variety of ways, from postal and medical deliveries to novel transport solutions. One of the key environmental impacts will be of the noise on our sound environments. Whilst standard methods exist for measuring noise levels, this does not consider the context of the UAS sounds within the wider sound environment, or broader emotional reactions based on this. A drone flying over serene countryside, for instance, could elicit very different reactions to a UAS delivery vehicle landing in the middle of a busy urban setting. The ‘soundscape approach’ aims to take into account the broad range of human reactions to sound environments, assessing emotional responses in a number of dimensions.  

To this end, over recent months the University of Salford and partners have run a series of on-site listening experiments, known as ‘soundwalks’, in a variety of locations from green space in Salford, Manchester (UK), to an urban park in Egaleo, Athens (Greece), and a remote clifftop on the Isles of Scilly (UK). By carefully-planned UAS flights, we selectively added a variety of drone noise events associated with different operations to these existing soundscapes, quizzing participants on their perceptions of the soundscape using a series of word pairs, including ‘Pleasant – Unpleasant’, ‘Chaotic – Calm’, ‘Eventful – Uneventful’, and others. Using this data, we can assess the impact of different types of drone operations on the holistic perception of different background sound environments, and this can help to inform future flightpath optimisation and regulation of UAS operations. 

Part 2: AAM Taxonomy. 

Picture 2: AAM platforms over Urban sky. By DALL·E.

Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) platforms have the potential to benefit from a wide range of applications, leading to their prompt incorporation into closer to community skies. However, what types of Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) are permitted to operate near our backyard? Do all the UAS produce the same sound? and why does UAS sound so annoying even when it is not perceived to be very loud? To address those questions researchers, airspace regulators, and manufacturers have begun with the analysis of UAS acoustics; consequently, databases have been generated from noise measurement campaigns. This ongoing work at University of Salford contributes to this effort by proposing a taxonomy of AAM based on key aspects of noise impact and annoyance. This taxonomy aims to facilitate the harmonized dissemination of data, enabling among others, easier identification of sound differences and similarities between platforms, guiding noise modelling of platforms, and the establishment of UAS categories for noise mapping models. 

Author: Carlos A Ramos Romero

C.A.RamosRomero AT salford DOT ac DOT UK

Editor: Kyriaki Daskaloudi

kyriaki AT futureneeds DOT eu