Unmanned aircraft and tropical storm recon

[NeffsvilleWx]

I found this article hosted by the NWS while doing some research into one of the aircraft my company manufactures. An Aerosonde outfitted with met sensors was flown into a typhoon in 2001.

 

http://ams.confex.com/ams/pdfpapers/52113.pdf

[eurojosh]

Here's another:  

 

http://uas.noaa.gov/projects/demos/aerosonde/Ophelia_final.html

 

I'm sure this will be more common eventually, but for now I imagine the payload is the most severe restriction - and there's nothing like an eyes-on pilot to assess conditions and go for the right spot.

 

I wonder if there wouldn't also be treaty limitations on flying a long range UAV into foreign airspace...

[NeffsvilleWx]

Here's another:  

 

http://uas.noaa.gov/projects/demos/aerosonde/Ophelia_final.html

 

I'm sure this will be more common eventually, but for now I imagine the payload is the most severe restriction - and there's nothing like an eyes-on pilot to assess conditions and go for the right spot.

 

I wonder if there wouldn't also be treaty limitations on flying a long range UAV into foreign airspace...

 

Thanks for the link. Some things I found interesting:

 

- It has a slightly different mission than manned aviation: "We propose to use the unique low-flying capacity of the Aerosonde UAS platform to address this significant observational shortcoming. The Aerosonde is capable of flying at altitudes of 500 feet or less within the high-wind hurricane eyewall environment. This is thousands of feet lower than any manned aircraft is able to operate."

 

- Researchers are very interested in the low-level data collected: "Tropical cyclone boundary layer data obtained by the low flying Aerosonde is truly unique and it is now clear that obtaining this information on a regular basis is of high priority for both research (HIRWAG, recent Las Vegas NOAA UAS Workshop) and NOAA operations (NHC and EMC)."

 

As far as airspace, I wouldn't expect it to be any different than requesting airspace for the existing aircraft, perhaps easier as it flies below commercial airspace. At the altitude they have flown it, airspace is typically uncontrolled, which is where you'd find ultralights and R/C aircraft.

[Ed Lizard]

From the few episodes of TWC's show about the HHs I have watched, they use visual cues on the sea surface to locate the center.

 

I suppose eventually high resolution cameras would allow remote human visual interpretation.

[The Dude]

NASA's been running a program for a few years now flying unmanned drones at a high altitude over tropical cyclones:  http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/hurricanes/missions/hs3/index.html#.UfBG7I3VB8E

[das]

NASA's been running a program for a few years now flying unmanned drones at a high altitude over tropical cyclones:  http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/hurricanes/missions/hs3/index.html#.UfBG7I3VB8E

 

The team has some interesting info up about the new HIWRAP dual-frequency radar developed over in Greenbelt that will be flying on this years' missions:

 

http://www.nasa.gov/content/goddard/new-doppler-radar-hs3-mission/#.UgKP1JLFXxF

[das]

The team has some interesting info up about the new HIWRAP dual-frequency radar developed over in Greenbelt that will be flying on this years' missions:

 

http://www.nasa.gov/content/goddard/new-doppler-radar-hs3-mission/#.UgKP1JLFXxF

 

If anyone is interested in the basic principles of the technology, here's one of the founding research papers from the lead scientist, Dr. Heymsfield:

 

Classification of Tropical Oceanic Precipitation using High Altitude Aircraft Microwave and Electric Field Measurements.pdf

 

For those that like to see the hardware goods, here's a couple of pics from the test fit activities for the sensor suite in the UAV:

 

 

 

And, here's a very high-level diagram of the measurement concepts for the dual-band scanning sensor:

 

 

Basically, the scanning antenna allows the use of two pulse beams at different angles to the ground. The two beams sends out pulses at two different frequencies and the combination means that the sensor is capable of imaging the volume and movement of precipitation particles from the surface to the cloud tops.

[NeffsvilleWx]

Nice pic of the globalhawk

[Jonger]

This could lead to more frequent updates and less risk flying at night and such..

 

Now all we need are some real hurricanes.

[wxmeddler]

Looks like they found some good stuff today..

Tonight’s mission has found that the SAL was moving across the Atlantic in a 2 mile thick layer elevated about 1 mile above the ocean surface.  The layer contained extremely dry air and powerful winds as strong as 45-50 mile per hour, creating an environment hostile to hurricane formation.