Researchers Develop Ultrasound Navigation For Tiny Drones

A research team develops an ultrasound-based perception system inspired by bat echolocation to help small aerial robots navigate in low-visibility environments. The approach pairs a bat-inspired physical acoustic shield with a neural network called Saranga to recover weak echoes and estimate 3D obstacle locations despite propeller noise. The team reports milliwatt-level sensing and claims up to 1,000× power, 10× weight, and 100× cost reductions, enabling search-and-rescue applications.