Onboard Turbulence Recognition System for Improved UAS Operator Situational Awareness

Aircraft routinely encounter turbulence and pilots must respond appropriately to turbulence to maintain safe aircraft operation within the prescribed operating limits, and to effectively accomplish missions. Pilots of manned aircraft can readily assess the severity of turbulence, and naturally maintain a high degree of situational awareness with regard to the turbulence level. Operators of unmanned aircraft cannot rely on the physical sensations that onboard pilots do to assess turbulence levels, and automated systems are needed onboard the aircraft to identify the turbulence level. The information then needs to be conveyed to the operator in a format that can be readily interpreted and used to make appropriate operational decisions to protect the air vehicle and meet mission objectives. The proposed Turbulence Recognition and Decision Support System for UAS is designed to quantify turbulence in two distinct ways: in terms of the level of turbulent energy in the atmosphere, and in terms of its impact on key air vehicle states including attitude, altitude, airspeed, and accelerations. The system relates the estimated quantities directly to operating limits and forecast values from weather products to support decision making by the UAS operator.