Catalyzing collaboration for multi-disciplinary UAS development with a flight campaign focused on meteorology and atmospheric physics

CLOUD-MAP is a 4-year, multi-university collaboration to develop integrated small unmanned aircraft systems (SUAS) capabilities for enhanced meteorology and atmospheric physics measurements. The team includes atmospheric scientists, meteorologists, engineers, computer scientists, geographers, and chemists necessary to develop and evaluate advanced sensing and imaging, robust autonomous navigation, enhanced data communication, and data management capabilities required to use SUAS for atmospheric science. Eventual widespread use also require advancing public policy related to adoption of SUAS technology and integration of unmanned aircraft into the airspace. Annual testing and evaluation of the systems as part of a coordinated field campaign is an essential aspect of the collaborative development program. The first of four annual flight campaigns was held on June 27 – July 1, 2016, with nearly 75 researchers and students conducting flights over three days at different sites. CLOUD-MAP builds on the team members’ and combined partners’ existing expertise and capabilities to envision and develop new integrated knowledge and technologies. A long-term primary impact expected from CLOUD-MAP will be the multidisciplinary scientific and educational collaboration of the faculty who are involved. This paper describes and summarizes the results of the first annual flight campaign, along with its impact on the large research team’s emerging collaborations.