Deployable Micro Weather Sensor

DoD requires an affordable tactical weather measurement solution capable of delivering surface and near-surface meteorological data, especially wind beyond treetop levels, from any location on earth. This proposal describes a highly portable, extremely rugged approach for real time meteorological measurements that can either be hand-emplaced or air-deployed. Unlike presently fielded AWOS technology that measures the wind speed at the surface, the Deployable Micro-Weather Sensor uses a miniature phased array-based sound distance and ranging (sodar), to make wind measurements above treetop level. The sodar’s remote sensing approach eliminates the surface roughness problem that greatly hampers the wind measurement accuracy of conventional tripod-mounted anemometers such as the TACMET equipment used by DoD today. The design approach is a modular core sensor bus supporting multiple deployment strategies. In addition to the micro-sodar wind sensor, individual pressure, temperature, humidity, soil moisture and solar measurements are provided. There are no moving parts in the design, which is rugged enough to be dropped from the air. Once deployed, the sensor package provides a continuous data stream that is automatically retrieved via low earth orbiting satellite communications. Initial Phase II effort focuses on sensor development and field testing, while the option period involves air-deployment modification and testing.