Feedback Control of Flight Speed to Reduce Unmanned Aerial System Noise

The aim of this initial study was to incorporate an acoustic metric into the flight control system of an unmanned aerial vehicle. This could be used to mitigate the noise impact of unmanned aerial systems operating near residential communities. To incorporate an acoustic metric into a flight control system, two things were required: a source noise model, and an acoustic controller. An acoustic model was developed based on Gutin’s work to estimate propeller noise. The flight control system was augmented with a controller to reduce propeller noise using feedback control of the commanded flight speed until an acoustic target was met. This control approach focused on modifying flight speed only, with no perturbation to the trajectory. Multiple flight simulations were performed and the results show that integrating an acoustic metric into the flight control system of an unmanned aerial system is possible.