{"id":1473,"date":"2019-12-05T15:59:02","date_gmt":"2019-12-05T15:59:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.dronesvilla.com\/?p=1473"},"modified":"2021-12-10T16:01:15","modified_gmt":"2021-12-10T16:01:15","slug":"are-drones-noisy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dronesvilla.com\/are-drones-noisy\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Are Drones So Noisy?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"\/<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

A study carried out by NASA<\/a> discovered that the buzzing sound that drones are known for is far more annoying to people than the rumble of cars and trucks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And this is a fact that companies with ambitions of drone\ndelivery, like UPS, Amazon, Uber, and Domino\u2019s Pizza, are going to have to take\nnote of.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After all, their delivery schemes are going to reshape the\nsoundscape of cities and suburban areas forever\u2014and that might be for the\nworse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For the study, scientists at NASA played recorded audio\nsamples of a car, a truck, two vans of different sizes, and drones for 38\nwilling subjects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Subjects were not told what the sources of the sounds were.\nThey were then asked to rate the sounds on a scale ranging from \u201cnot at all\nannoying\u201d to \u201cextremely annoying\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The results of the study showed that the sound of \u201croad\nvehicles seem to be systematically judged to be less annoying\u201d than drones.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The drones were recorded at various speeds and different\naltitudes. But the sound at higher altitudes made almost no difference in the\nlevel of annoyance associated with it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You may be wondering about the reason for so much hate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One reason researchers at NASA put forward suggests that\npeople are simply used to the sounds of road vehicles. They also likely use\nthem more to get around so they are more likely to tolerate the noise which\nroad vehicles make.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In other words, we have become numbed to the noise which\nthey make even as the level of noise pollution in cities worsens.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This issue with noise pollution is likely to be a factor\nthat will affect how far reaching drone deliveries will be. Very few people are\ngoing to be comfortable with the idea that their late night drone delivery will\nlikely disturb their neighbors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why Are Drones So\nLoud?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

When we talk of loud, we mean when the drone is beside you.\nBecause if a drone is 250 feet away, you won\u2019t hear anything at all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Long story short, that loud, annoying buzz that drives you crazy when you are beside a drone is caused by the rotors slicing through the air.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On their own, electric motors are very quiet when they work.\nIf you ever activate your drone without the rotors, all you are going to hear\nis a slight whine as the electric motors spin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The role of the propeller is to convert their kinetic energy\nto thrust or lift force strong enough to lift the drone off into the air.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But anybody with a basic understanding of physics and\nmechanics knows that this process of changing or transducing one form of energy\nto another is never perfectly efficient.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some of the kinetic energy is lost in the process to produce\nundesirable things such as heat and noise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So a typical airliner might have rotors that are 80% efficient \u2014 meaning 80% of the kinetic energy gets transformed to the lift force for takeoff.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A multirotor drone might have a propeller efficiency of 60%\nto 70%, meaning that only 60% to 70% of the kinetic energy in the propeller\ngets transformed into lift force. The remaining 30% to 60% is dissipated or\nlost as noise or heat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now you know where the sound you hear comes from. And if you\nhear two propellers that are spinning at about the same rate, and yet one\nsounds louder than the other, you should know that the louder one is the less\nefficient one between the two.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

More Efficient Drones\nMake Less Noise<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

It goes without much saying that if you want a drone that\nmakes less noise, you need a propeller that is more efficient at transducing\nkinetic energy to thrust energy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You want a propeller that allocates less energy to noise\ncreation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The main factors that affect propeller efficiency include\nblade count, diameter, pitch shape, and the operating revolutions-per-minute\n(RPM).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In theory, single blade propellers are the most efficient,\nbut in practice they are hard to implement. That\u2019s why less efficient, 2-blade\npropellers are more easy to find.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Smaller propellers are also less efficient than larger ones\nfor a host of reasons that include compressibility, viscosity, and so on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In your search for an efficient, less noisy drone, these are\nfactors you should bring together in order to make a decision.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Are Silent Propellers\nBetter?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In our quest for drones that are less noisy \u2014 or outright silent, could we be unknowingly shooting ourselves in the leg and clamoring for aerial devices that perform worse than the ones we now have?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In other words, are silent drones more efficient?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The buzzing of propellers might drive you crazy, but are\nsilent propellers necessarily a better option?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are a host of new wave propellers that are being\nrolled out which are touted as low noise propellers. And the only way to answer\ncorrectly would be to consider what the differences and similarities between\nthe original propellers and the new low noise propellers are.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Both sets weigh about the same. But the aerodynamic design\nof the new low noise propellers is different from that of the other.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The low noise propellers are also thinner and about 3mm\nlonger than the original propeller blades.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While all these adjustments make for less noise, they do\ncome with a few downsides.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

First of all, they cause slight vibrations that can be\nnoticed through the camera.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They are also more liable to break since they are much\nthinner. This lightweight nature also means they are less resistant to interference\nfrom outside sources.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Perhaps, you would rather not be bothered by all these. If\nthat is the case, you may want to consider getting a drone that is manufactured\nto be quiet from the onset.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201dSilent\u201d drones exist and are very popular among drone\nenthusiasts. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of the best examples of such silent drones is the Force1 F100<\/a> which many believe to be among the quietest drones in the world. This is a brushless drone with brushless motors<\/a> and independent electronic speed controllers for better performance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is also fairly affordable.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A NASA study discovered that the buzzing sound that drones are known for is far more annoying to people than the rumble of cars and trucks<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1480,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/www.dronesvilla.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/are-drones-noisy.jpg",825,457,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/www.dronesvilla.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/are-drones-noisy-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/www.dronesvilla.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/are-drones-noisy-300x166.jpg",300,166,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/www.dronesvilla.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/are-drones-noisy-768x425.jpg",768,425,true],"large":["https:\/\/www.dronesvilla.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/are-drones-noisy.jpg",825,457,false],"img_rate_products_categories":["https:\/\/www.dronesvilla.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/are-drones-noisy-552x306.jpg",552,306,true],"img_rate_products_slideshow":["https:\/\/www.dronesvilla.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/are-drones-noisy.jpg",825,457,false],"img_rate_products_preview":["https:\/\/www.dronesvilla.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/are-drones-noisy-168x93.jpg",168,93,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/www.dronesvilla.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/are-drones-noisy.jpg",825,457,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/www.dronesvilla.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/are-drones-noisy.jpg",825,457,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"Sam","author_link":"https:\/\/www.dronesvilla.com\/author\/sam\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"A NASA study discovered that the buzzing sound that drones are known for is far more annoying to people than the rumble of cars and trucks","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dronesvilla.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1473"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dronesvilla.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dronesvilla.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dronesvilla.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dronesvilla.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1473"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.dronesvilla.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1473\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3169,"href":"https:\/\/www.dronesvilla.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1473\/revisions\/3169"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dronesvilla.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1480"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dronesvilla.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1473"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dronesvilla.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1473"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dronesvilla.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1473"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}