Drowning Out the Sound of Drones

Low-flying aircraft could soon fill the skies. Scientists are trying to fight the noise they could bring. View in browser

Image credits: Shutterstock Drowning Out the Sound of Drones Low-flying aircraft could soon fill the skies. Scientists are trying to fight the noise they could bring. Katharine Gammon, Contributor February 14, 2022       (Inside Science) -- In 2018, aerospace engineer Daniel Cuppoletti went to a conference in Los Angeles about the future of metropolitan air transportation. He arrived skeptical about the mere intent of the summit, which was run by ride-hailing company Uber. But by the time he left, Cuppoletti saw the world in a whole new light. "I suddenly thought: there's a vision here, and it's real. It's not replacing commercial aircraft transportation, it's creating an entirely new market for something that we don't have at this moment," he said. That new market was for short flights in piloted air taxis (sometimes known as eVTOLs) and drones to deliver medicines and other supplies. Yes, there would be issues around how urban air space is used, but Cuppoletti also saw a specific problem, one that he was uniquely poised to address as someone who studied aeroacoustics: the noise that these vehicles would make when they flew... Read more Copyright 2022 American Institute of Physics. Inside Science syndicates its articles, columns, blogs and videos to news organizations. To initiate syndication, or request permission to republish our content (on a one-time or continuing basis), please contact Inside Science at insidescience@aip.org. News organizations seeking permission to republish Inside Science content must fully credit Inside Science as the original source of the content, include the author byline, and republish the original, unaltered form (excluding content titles, headlines, or sub-headlines). The reprint format can be seen here. Copyright conditions and usage terms are subject to change at any time without consent or any type of prior notice. To unsubscribe from all future mailings from Inside Science please click here. To manage your email subscriptions please click here.

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