Noise Tolerance Evaluation of Spread Spectrum Sound-based Positioning System for a Quadcopter in a Greenhouse

Abstract Quadcopters can play an important role in precision agriculture; mostly having been researched and commercialized for the open field conditions. While greenhouse applications have been limited by the positioning system. Conventional GPS positioning systems are difficult to use in greenhouses. Spread Spectrum Sound-based Positioning System (SSSPS) on the other hand, has the potential to be used on a quadcopter in a greenhouse. In this research, we evaluated whether acoustic noise from a quadcopter over wide frequency range would interfere with the SSSPS operation. We set a microphone on the quadcopter, and evaluated the SSSPS system for quadcopter noise tolerance with several signals. The results demonstrate the navigation system can tolerate quadcopter noise over distances up to 15 m between the tweeter and the microphone on the quadcopter with the RMSE of 5.9 mm.