rmstein@ieee.org
Date: Mon, 17 Jun 2019 16:43:01 -0700
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/in-the-wiggle-of-an-ear-a-surprising-insight-into-bat-sonar/
"...the two researchers developed an artificial horseshoe bat ear out of silicon, with devices called 'fast actuators' that move different parts of the ear in the same way bats do. These movements also added Doppler shifts to incoming sounds."
Bats apply Doppler shift detection from echolocation stimulus to locate meals, navigate, and dodge flying or static obstacles.
The research suggests that delivery drones might someday be equipped with
artificial bat ears to assist drone navigation of the sky. The sky is
"complicated and unpredictable": trees, telephone poles, aircraft, birds,
bugs -- all kinds of obstacles that can interfere with drone delivery.
Delivery zones with buried power lines, and sparse foliage or tree cover might only require GPS navigation to complete their route. But a heavy population center or a suburban landscape with telephone poles, or tree-lined streets might require echolocation and GPS to reach their destination.
Correlating GPS and echolocation signals to reach fixed coordinates presents a complicated, challenging problem.
Cruise missiles (CMs) can achieve payload delivery using nap-of-the-earth navigation and RADAR, though CMs are unlikely concerned with telephone poles, foliage, road signs, bill boards, etc.
Risk: Ultrasonic sensor overload, sensor image correlation failure.