Abstract
Spinsonde is a chute-free vertical retardation technique specifically developed for fixed-wing unmanned aircraft to acquire accurate measurement of vertical wind speed profile for meteorological applications. Key advantages of spinsonde over the expendable chute-operated dropsondes are the ability to acquire multi-cycle measurement, efficient use of payload capacity and cost-effectiveness. This work proposes the concept of “rotosonde”, which is the spinsonde equivalent for unmanned helicopters. Computer simulations are carried out to evaluate the performance of the rotosonde and results indicate that the measured speed generally correlates with the wind speed to within ±3 km·h﹣1 even for intensities in excess of 180 km·h﹣1. The profound implication of this work is that unmanned helicopters can now be considered for important field of studies such as cyclogenesis given their reliability to operate in gusty wind conditions in remote oceans, particularly during docking and launching from carriers.
Highlights
Winds and clouds are part of the glory of the troposphere that mother Earth has endowed upon us
The profound implication of this work is that unmanned helicopters can be considered for important field of studies such as cyclogenesis given their reliability to operate in gusty wind conditions in remote oceans, during docking and launching from carriers
This section investigates the effectiveness of rotosonde technique in measuring the vertical wind speed profile
Summary
Winds and clouds are part of the glory of the troposphere that mother Earth has endowed upon us. Spinsonde technique based on the stall-spin maneuver of fixed-wing aerobatic aircraft has recently been proposed and demonstrated to have the ability to measure vertical wind speed profile similar to a dropsonde [6] [7] [8]. Small unmanned helicopters (main rotor spans: 550 to 800 mm) are highly agile and have a reasonably good tolerance to gusty winds during flight and while docking on mobile carriers. They can be considered for autonomous missions that require high reliability and low maintenance such as weather reconnaissance in remote regions of the oceans. A single-rotor model helicopter has attained a world speed record of 311 km·h−1 [9] which, in our opinion, is adequate for typhoon missions
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