HR: 17:35h
AN: A54A-06    [Abstracts]
TI: Atmospheric Turbulence Measurements With the Automatic Mini UAV 'M²AV Carolo'
AU: * Bange, J
EM: j.bange@tu-bs.de
AF: Institute of Aerospace Systems, Technical University of Braunschweig, Hermann-Blenk-Str. 23, Braunschweig, 38108, Germany
AU: van den Kroonenberg, A C
EM: a.kroonenberg@tu-bs.de
AF: Institute of Aerospace Systems, Technical University of Braunschweig, Hermann-Blenk-Str. 23, Braunschweig, 38108, Germany
AU: Spieß, T
EM: t.spiess@tu-bs.de
AF: Institute of Aerospace Systems, Technical University of Braunschweig, Hermann-Blenk-Str. 23, Braunschweig, 38108, Germany
AU: Buschmann, M
EM: marco.buschmann@mavionics.de
AF: Mavionics GmbH, Hermann-Blenk-Str. 23, Braunschweig, 38108, Germany
AU: Krüger, L
EM: lars.krueger@mavionics.de
AF: Mavionics GmbH, Hermann-Blenk-Str. 23, Braunschweig, 38108, Germany
AU: Heindorf, A
EM: a.heindorf@tu-bs.de
AF: Institute of Aerospace Systems, Technical University of Braunschweig, Hermann-Blenk-Str. 23, Braunschweig, 38108, Germany
AU: Vörsmann, P
EM: p.voersmann@tu-bs.de
AF: Institute of Aerospace Systems, Technical University of Braunschweig, Hermann-Blenk-Str. 23, Braunschweig, 38108, Germany
AB: The limitations of manned airborne meteorological measurements led to the development of an autonomously operating mini aircraft, the Meteorological Mini-UAV (M²AV), at the Institute of Aerospace Systems, Technical University of Braunschweig, Germany. The task was to develop, test and verify a meteorological sensor package as payload for an already available automatic carrier aircraft, the UAV 'Carolo T200', which operates autonomously i.e. without remote control. The M²AV is a self constructed model aircraft with two electrically powered engines and a wingspan of two meters. The maximum take-off weight is 4.5~kg (the M²AV is therefore classified as an model plane which simplifies authority issues), including 1.5~kg of payload. It is hand-launched which makes operation of the aircraft easy. With an endurance of approximately 50 minutes, the range accounts for 60 km at a cruising speed of 20~m/s. The M²AV is capable of performing turbulence measurements (wind vector, temperature and humidity) within the troposphere and offers an economic component during meteorological campaigns. The meteorological sensors are mounted on a noseboom to minimise the aircraft's influence on the measurements and to position the sensors closely to each other. Wind is measured via a small five-hole probe, an inertia measurement unit and GPS. The flight mission (waypoints, altitudes, airspeed) is planned and assigned to the aircraft before the semi- automatic launch. The flight is only controlled by the on-board autopilot system which only communicates with a ground station (laptop PC) for the exchange of measured data and command updates like new waypoints etc. The talk gives details on the technical items, calibration and first missions. Results from first field experiments like the LAUNCH-2005 campaign near Berlin are used for data quality assessment by comparison with simultaneous lidar and sodar measurements. An in situ comparison with the highly accurate helicopter-borne turbulence probe Helipod demonstrates that the wind vector can properly be measured by 20~Hz. Also recently obtained data from flights in katabatic flow over Mallorca island and at Halley station, Antarctica, will be presented.
DE: 0394 Instruments and techniques
DE: 3307 Boundary layer processes
DE: 3322 Land/atmosphere interactions (1218, 1631, 1843)
DE: 3349 Polar meteorology
SC: Atmospheric Sciences [A]
MN: 2007 Joint Assembly