Development of an unmanned aerial vehicle for the measurement of turbulence in the atmospheric boundary layer

Brandon M. Witte, Robert F. Singler, Sean C.C. Bailey

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

63 Scopus citations

Abstract

This paper describes the components and usage of an unmanned aerial vehicle developed for measuring turbulence in the atmospheric boundary layer. A method of computing the time-dependent wind speed from a moving velocity sensor data is provided. The physical system built to implement this method using a five-hole probe velocity sensor is described along with the approach used to combine data from the different on-board sensors to allow for extraction of the wind speed as a function of time and position. The approach is demonstrated using data from three flights of two unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) measuring the lower atmospheric boundary layer during transition from a stable to convective state. Several quantities are presented and show the potential for extracting a range of atmospheric boundary layer statistics.

Original languageEnglish
Article number195
JournalAtmosphere
Volume8
Issue number10
DOIs
StatePublished - Oct 4 2017

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2017 by the authors.

Funding

Acknowledgments: This work was supported by the National Science Foundation through grant #CBET-1351411 and by the National Science Foundation Award No.1539070, Collaboration Leading Operational UAS Development for Meteorology and Atmospheric Physics (CLOUDMAP). The authors would like to thank Ryan Nolin, Caleb Canter, Jonathan Hamilton, Elizabeth Pillar-Little, and William Sanders who worked tirelessly to build, maintain, and fly the unmanned vehicles used in this study, as well as Cornelia Schlagenhauf and Lorli Smith, who developed, calibrated and manufactured the probes that were used.

FundersFunder number
Collaboration Leading Operational UAS Development for Meteorology and Atmospheric Physics
National Science Foundation (NSF)1539070, #CBET-1351411, 1351411

    Keywords

    • Atmospheric boundary layer
    • Turbulence
    • Unmanned aerial systems
    • Unmanned aerial vehicles

    ASJC Scopus subject areas

    • Environmental Science (miscellaneous)

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