Potential Roles for Unmanned Aircraft Systems in

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Potential Roles for Unmanned Aircraft
Systems in Hurricane
Research and Prediction
62nd Hurricane Conference Charleston March 3,
2008 Alexander E. MacDonald NOAA Earth System
Research Laboratory
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Two Keys to Hurricane Intensity

• Numerical model with resolution high enough to
  resolve the eyewall ( 1 km)
• Ability to continuously, quantitativly monitor
  the storm intensity
• - 1 to 3 hour temporal resolution
• - Continuously for the 3 day period before
  landfall.

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There are a great variety of UAS.
Global Hawk
Altair Predator B
Aerosonde Global
Observer Zephyr
AEM in situ
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NOAA UAS Program Funded!

• Program will apply to all NOAA missions
• This presentation Tropical Storms
• Program Manager Marty Ralph
• Budget 3.3 M in 2008, 6.3 M in 2009

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• Examples of Hurricane Missions for UAS
• Global Hawk to loiter above the hurricane.
• Aerosonde into the hurricane at low levels.
• Zephyr over hurricanes for days at a time.

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• NOAA is working with NASA with the goal of using
  the Global Hawk as a platform for hurricane
  recon.
• Global Hawk could loiter above hurricanes for
  extended periods, and
• Dropsondes
• Radar sampling
• Scatterometry
• Radiometry

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NOAA Demonstration of the Global Hawk
High-Altitude Long-Endurance (HALE) UAS
NASA Global Hawk UAS Dryden Flight Research Ctr.
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Global Hawk UAS
Two Global Hawk UASs have been acquired by NASA
Dryden Flight Research Center, CA, and will be
used, in part, for earth science research and
application studies

• Fully autonomous
• Communication UHF Line of Sight, INMARSAT Beyond
  Line of Sight
• 25600 GTOW, 9100lb Empty Wgt, 14500 Max Fuel
• Wingspan 116 ft
• 210 - 335 KTAS
• 1500 - 2000 lb Payload
• Performance Alt 65,000 ft, Range 11,000 nm,
  Endurance 31 hrs

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• Examples of Hurricane Missions for UAS
• Global Hawk to loiter above the hurricane.
• Aerosonde into the hurricane at low levels.
• Zephyr over hurricanes for days at a time.

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NOAA/NASA Noel Aerosonde UAS mission
Aerosonde was launched from NASAs Wallops Flight
Facility at 1408 EST on Friday November 2,
2007. Mission endurance was 17 hours 27 minutes
and resulted in 7.5 hours of data collection in
the core of the hurricane at altitudes less than
100m.
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Take-off from Wallops Flight Facility (KWAL) 1600
UTC
Nominal altitude for the Aerosonde prior to
entering the storms core circulation was
between 300-600m. Near the center, UAS altitude
was 150m.
Aerosonde
P-3 (3500 m)
Eye loitering with vertical soundings (90-1500
m)
KMCF
Rendezvous with P-3 at storm center 0525 UTC
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• Examples of Hurricane Missions for UAS
• Global Hawk to loiter above the hurricane.
• Aerosonde into the hurricane at low levels.
• Zephyr over hurricanes for days at a time.

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ZEPHYR - Long Duration (Many days) UAS

• Built by QinetiQ Corporation (UK)
• Problem Payload only 4 kg !!!!!!!

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Zephyr HALE UAS

• Long endurance from solar-electric power
• Weeks/months flight endurance
• Operating altitude 50,000 - 65,000ft
• No environmental impact
• Drop micro-sondes into hurricanes or monitor
  oceanic weather events for long periods
• Satcom capable commercial Iridium
• Low cost platform for payloads, plus
• No regular maintenance
• No operating base needed
• Launch and recover from ships deck
• Fewer personnel required
• No fuel distribution network needed
• Zephyr flies for longer for less money
• 1m production platform cost

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Ultra-light Dropsonde

• ESRL/GSD issued RFP for dropsonde in 2006
• Spec Closest to 20 gram sonde wins
• Winner Applied Research Associates

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Dropsonde Mechanical Design

• Foam housing
• 3.5 inch diameter
• 2.3 grams
• Air pathways for sensors

• Populated housing with attached streamer
• 38.3 grams

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Dropsonde Electronics

• Packaging Open cell foam w/ streamer
• Microprocessor NXP LPC2138
• Transmitter TI CC1100, 300MHz 1GHz
• Pressure Intersema MS5534B
• Humidity Sensiron SHT75
• Temperature Platinum RTD
• GPS Ublox LEA-5S
• Power ER14250, Li 1/2AA 3.6VDC

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Dropsonde Electronics Specs
Component Mass (g) Voltage (V) Current (mA)
Packaging housing streamer 6.7 -- --
Circuit board, microprocessor, transmitter 12.2 3.0 - 3.6 0.015 28.9
Pressure Sensor 0.1 3 6 0.1 1.0
Humidity Sensor 0.1 2.4 5.5 0.0 0.5
Temperature Sensor 0.1 3.3 lt1.0
GPS 2.1 2.7 3.3 39
Antennas 7 -- --
Battery 10 3.6 1200 mAh
Total 38.3g 17 27 hrs
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Production System Concepts

• Streamer-based dropsonde dispenser

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Zephyr in-situ measurement using drop-sondes
Lightweight drop-sondes dispensed into developing
weather event or storm at intervals to measure
PTU and wind speed
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Alexander.E.MacDonald_at_noaa.gov
sandymacd_at_comcast.net