Mobile Marine Meteorological Measurement System

An autonomous air-sea interaction measurement system is needed to support data collection for the DoDs naval operations. Timely and accurate characterization of the air-sea interaction is needed to improve DoD operational capabilities. Air-sea interactions are important inputs for weather forecasting, understanding electro-optical propagation, and predicting the operation of ballistic weapons such as the EM railgun over water targets. Current air-sea interaction data are sparse since they are typically obtained from sensor packages on passing ships. Further, existing profiling systems are not well suited for autonomous deployment due to size, power, and cost. We propose a marine drone-sonde system that is accurate, compact, covert, easy to deploy, and capable of operating autonomously for months at a time. The marine drone-sonde system comprises a commercially available unmanned surface vessel (USV) and Creares small multi-rotor drone that supports a suite of compact atmospheric sensors. In Phase I, we will demonstrate the feasibility of our proposed approach through design, analysis, and testing of critical system components. In Phase II, we will develop, test, and validate a prototype of the system and demonstrate its performance and value in a field test.