Acoustic Side-Channel Communications for Aerial Drones with HUM

We present HUM-High-frequency UAV Messaging - an acoustic communication system we design for localized drone-to-drone communications and as a failover in case the primary wireless links fail. We generate Pulse Width Modulated (PWM) signals from drone motors to carry information. We improve communication reliability by mitigating propeller noise interference through modifications to the propeller’s physical design that we borrow from the wing morphology of barn owls. These modifications reduce propeller noise in the designated acoustic spectrum by up to 7 dB. At the receiver, we deploy an ultrasonic microphone shield we especially designed for decoding. HUM’s improved signal-to-noise ratio enables 20x higher data rates compared to existing designs while providing better overall scalability: as an example, HUM can support simultaneous decoding across 16 drones within an 8 m range, as seen in real flight tests. The cost for this performance is minimal: we experimentally demonstrate that HUM bears a marginal impact on flight dynamics and battery life.

[@CTIN--NguyenQuyHaoNhien]

I have never seen such beauty before

[@Jaceace87]

Wow ❤❤❤

[@CTIN--NguyenQuyHaoNhien]

oh my god that is such a genius idea