Unmanned aerial vehicle (uav) for collecting audio data

Abstract

An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) includes an audio source collecting microphone detecting a target audio signal, background noise-producing components producing background noise different from the target audio signal, background microphones collecting the background noise, and noise emitters each configured to reduce the background noise by emitting an audio signal having a reverse phase of the collected background noise collected by the corresponding background microphone. The background microphones further collect reduced background noise. The UAV further includes a processor receiving signals which comprise the target audio signal and the reduced background noise, and generating a processed signal based on the collected reduced background noise to reduce interference by the background noise to the target audio signal.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) with audio filtering components, comprising:
 an audio source collecting microphone configured to detect a target audio signal;   a plurality of background noise-producing components configured to produce background noise that is different from the target audio signal;   a plurality of background microphones configured to collect the background noise from the background noise-producing components;   a plurality of noise emitters each configured to reduce the background noise by emitting an audio signal having a reverse phase of the collected background noise collected by the corresponding background microphone, wherein the plurality of background microphones are further configured to collect reduced background noise which is reduced by the noise emitters; and   a processor configured to:
 receive signals which comprise the target audio signal collected by the audio source collecting microphone and the reduced background noise collected by the background microphones; and 
 generate a processed signal based on the collected reduced background noise to reduce interference by the background noise to the target audio signal collected by the audio source collecting microphone. 
   
     
     
         2 . The UAV of  claim 1 , wherein the processor is further configured to receive a signal indicative of the background noise collected by one of the plurality of background microphones, and generate the audio signal to be emitted by one of the plurality of noise emitters corresponding to the one of the plurality of background microphones. 
     
     
         3 . The UAV of  claim 2 , wherein the audio signal emitted by each noise emitter has an approximately same amplitude as the background noise collected by the corresponding background microphone. 
     
     
         4 . The UAV of  claim 1 , wherein the target audio signal is generated from a source external to the UAV. 
     
     
         5 . The UAV of  claim 1 , wherein a distance between each background microphone and the corresponding background noise-producing component is less than a distance between the audio source collecting microphone and the corresponding background noise-producing component. 
     
     
         6 . The UAV of  claim 5 , wherein a distance between each noise emitter and the corresponding background noise-producing component is less than the distance between the corresponding background microphone and the corresponding background noise-producing component. 
     
     
         7 . The UAV of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 a plurality of propulsion units each including a rotor,   wherein the plurality of background noise-producing components include the plurality of propulsion units.   
     
     
         8 . The UAV of  claim 7 , wherein each of the plurality of background microphones is positioned beneath the rotor of one of the propulsion units. 
     
     
         9 . The UAV of  claim 1 , wherein the plurality of background noise-producing components include at least one of a camera carried by the UAV or a carrier configured to support the camera and permit variation in orientation of the camera relative to the UAV. 
     
     
         10 . The UAV of  claim 1 , wherein the processed signal is generated using a Multi-Channel Recursive Least Square (RLS) adaptive filter to reduce the effects of the background noise. 
     
     
         11 . A method of collecting audio data using an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), comprising:
 detecting a target audio signal using an audio source collecting microphone;   collecting background noise using a plurality of background microphones on the UAV from a plurality of background noise-producing components, the background noise being different from the target audio signal;   emitting an audio signal to actively reduce the background noise using a plurality of noise emitters on the UAV, the audio signal emitted by each noise emitter having a reverse phase of the background noise collected by a corresponding one of the plurality of background microphones that corresponds to one of the plurality of background noise-producing components;   collecting reduced background noise using the plurality of background microphones on the UAV, wherein the reduced background noise is reduced by the noise emitters;   receiving, by a processor, signals which comprise the target audio signal collected by the audio source collecting microphone and the reduced background noise collected by the background microphones; and   generating, by the processor, a processed signal based on the collected reduced background to reduce interference by the background noise to the target audio signal collected by the audio source.   
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 11 , further comprising:
 receiving, by the processor, a signal indicative of the background noise collected by one of the plurality of the background microphones; and   generating, by the processor, the audio signal to be emitted by one of the plurality of noise emitters corresponding to the one of the plurality of background microphones.   
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 12 , wherein the audio signal emitted by each noise emitter has an approximately same amplitude as the background noise collected by the corresponding background microphone. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein the target audio signal is generated from a source external to the UAV. 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein a distance between each background microphone and the corresponding background noise-producing component is less than a distance between the audio source collecting microphone and the corresponding background noise-producing component. 
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 15 , wherein a distance between each noise emitter and the corresponding background noise-producing component is less than the distance between the corresponding background microphone and the corresponding background noise-producing component. 
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein the plurality of background noise-producing components include a plurality of propulsion units of the UAV, each of the propulsion units including a rotor. 
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 17 , wherein each of the plurality of background microphones is positioned beneath the rotor of one of the propulsion units. 
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein the plurality of background noise-producing components include at least one of a camera carried by the UAV or a carrier configured to support the camera and permit variation in orientation of the camera relative to the UAV. 
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein the processed signal is generated using a Multi-Channel Recursive Least Square (RLS) adaptive filter to reduce the effects of the background noise.