A Tube-Deployed Expendable UAV for AtmosphericSensing

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT: NOAA is pursuing sustained, in-situ sensing technology to support improved atmospheric modeling of the upper ocean boundary environment, including the air-sea interface, during turbulent storms. Improved atmospheric modeling in this critical region will lead to better forecasting and support NOAA's mandate to protect property and save lives. Small, unmanned aircraft, equipped with atmospheric sensors, can utilize powered, guided flight to perform sustained atmospheric sampling at consistent altitudes in the critical storm region. The goal of this effort is to meld a dropsonde's sensing and expendable deployment attributes with a UAV's guided flight capability. Barron Associates is proposing to develop an atmosphericsensor UAV that, like a dropsonde, can be tube-deployed from NOAA aircraft into remote regions.SUMMARY OF ANTICIPATED RESULTS: Barron Associates’ proposed UAV provides the ability to gather atmospheric data across a wide geographic range, and over an extended period of time, while still retaining the dropsondes' ability to be deployed to remote locations. As a powered flight vehicle, it greatly extends a dropsonde's atmospheric mapping capabilities providing increased spatial coverage