The S0 UAS, and Air Deployed Solution for Boundary Layer Observations in Turbulent Environment

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT: Previous efforts have demonstrated that targeted observations of tropical storms by UAS can provide extremely valuable data sets for improving forecasts and models, but are also difficult to obtain. A number of obstacles including regulations and the distance required to intercept evolving storms have limited the number of land based flights. The use of airborne deployed UAS have recently overcome some of those limitations, and have generated targeted data that compares quite well with measurements obtained using proven methods. However, even these UAS are plagued by obstacles including the high cost of the platform, and the relatively limited observation time. As the next step in boundary layer and sea surface observations, Black Swift Technologies proposes the development and flight validation of the S0, a commercial UAS platform designed for air deployment which will build on the successes of the Aerosonde and Coyote platform. The S0 will be designed to gather 3D wind measurements along with PTH measurements, sea surface temperature, and vehicle height from the water at lower altitudes. The key innovation is to reduce the complexity and weight compared with existing platforms, offering an order of magnitude decrease in cost while maintaining endurance without sacrificing performance and measurement quality.SUMMARY OF ANTICIPATED RESULTS: The primary technical objective of the proposed effort is to develop a low-cost, air deployed UAS to sample kinematics and thermodynamics of the lower part of the boundary layer. Specifically, the following goals are proposed: 1) Price near $5000 2) Measure 3D winds and PTH 3) Sea surface characterization using a laser altimeter and thermal IR sensor 4) 2 hours of endurance 5) AVAPS telemetry 6) A simple to use interface to pre-program the aircraft