BVLOS UAS Operations in Highly-Turbulent Volcanic Plumes.

Kieran Wood,Gaetano Giudice,Emma J Liu,Kila Mulina,Tom Richardson,Marcello Bitetto,Alessandro Aiuppa,Ima Itikarai,Robert Clarke,Jim Freer

doi:10.3389/frobt.2020.549716

Abstract

Long-range, high-altitude Unoccupied Aerial System (UAS) operations now enable in-situ measurements of volcanic gas chemistry at globally-significant active volcanoes. However, the extreme environments encountered within volcanic plumes present significant challenges for both air frame development and in-flight control. As part of a multi-disciplinary field deployment in May 2019, we flew fixed wing UAS Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) over Manam volcano, Papua New Guinea, to measure real-time gas concentrations within the volcanic plume. By integrating aerial gas measurements with ground- and satellite-based sensors, our aim was to collect data that would constrain the emission rate of environmentally-important volcanic gases, such as carbon dioxide, whilst providing critical insight into the state of the subsurface volcanic system. Here, we present a detailed analysis of three BVLOS flights into the plume of Manam volcano and discuss the challenges involved in operating in highly turbulent volcanic plumes. Specifically, we report a detailed description of the system, including ground and air components, and flight plans. We present logged flight data for two successful flights to evaluate the aircraft performance under the atmospheric conditions experienced during plume traverses. Further, by reconstructing the sequence of events that led to the failure of the third flight, we identify a number of lessons learned and propose appropriate recommendations to reduce risk in future flight operations.

Highlights

The application of instrumented small UAS (Unoccupied Aerial Systems), or alternatively “drones,” has had a transformational influence on volcanological research over the past decade, in recent years where the miniaturization of scientific instrumentation has begun to approach the rapid progression of UAS technology (Jordan, 2019; James et al, 2020)
Despite these obstacles, instrumented UAS are stimulating transformative advances in volcanological research, motivating further engineering development to respond to these challenges
We describe a series of fixed-wing flights Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) over the summit of Manam volcano, Papua New Guinea, to measure real-time gas concentrations within the volcanic plume

Summary

Introduction

The application of instrumented small UAS (Unoccupied Aerial Systems), or alternatively “drones,” has had a transformational influence on volcanological research over the past decade, in recent years where the miniaturization of scientific instrumentation has begun to approach the rapid progression of UAS technology (Jordan, 2019; James et al, 2020). Atmospheric sampling has been performed either by multi-rotor UAS at lower altitudes in the 500–1,000 m range (Cassano, 2013; Peng et al, 2015) or by fixed wing platforms capable of long-range flight but that require considerable resources to deploy (Ramana et al, 2007; Corrigan et al, 2008; de Boer et al, 2016). The use of fixed wing UAS can increase the flight time for a given payload and Maximum Take-Off Weight (MTOW), but with additional challenges in terms of launch and recovery, in remote locations and vegetated/mountainous terrain typical of volcanic environments

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