Overview of the NOAA Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) Program
Robbie Hood, Director
NOAA Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) Program
25 September 2012
NOAA and NASA Manned and Unmanned Flight Capabilities
Fuel consumption (gph) for nominal mission
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
Altit
ude
(kft
)
Duration (hrs)
LASE
LALE
IKHANA
APQ-16
ResolutionPuma AEmd4-1000
MALE
MannedAircraft
UAS
ER-2
WB-57
GulfstreamDC-8
WP-3D
Turbo Commander
King Air
Twin Otter
Gray Eagle
Global Hawk
HALE
Shadow 200
Manta Viking 400
Arcturus T-20
ScanEagle Aerosonde
70
181750
740
0.2
444
75
0.3
0 (battery)
NOAA UAS Strategic Vision and Goals
• Vision– UAS will revolutionize NOAA observing strategies by
2015 comparable to the introduction of satellite and radar assets decades earlier
• Goals– Goal 1: Increase UAS observing capacity
– Goal 2: Develop high science-return UAS missions
• High impact weather monitoring, • Polar monitoring • Marine monitoring
– Goal 3: Transition cost-effective, operationally feasible UAS solutions into routine operations
Polar Monitoring - Greenland Glacier and Ice Seal
Testbed Co-leads: Dr. Elizabeth Weatherhead (University of Colorado) Dr. Robyn Angliss (NOAA/ National Marine Mammal Laboratory Partners: Greenland Glacier Study / University of Colorado and BAE Systems -Advanced Ceramics Research
Bering Sea Ice Seal Study / University of Alaska- Fairbanks and Boeing - Insitu
Images courtesy of James Maslanik, University of Colorado Images courtesy of Greg Walker, University of Alaska - Fairbanks
Greenland Glacier Study - 2008 Bering Sea Ice Seal Study - 2009
NMFS uses two types of aircraft survey protocols for marine
mammals
1. Broad, large scale line transect surveys for density/abundance/distribution• Four species of Arctic ice seals • Whales• Beyond line-of-sight flights will be critical to mission success
2. Collecting data on wildlife at known locations• Steller sea lions • Northern fur seals• Do testing within line of sight; Beyond line-of-sight flights will be
necessary long-term for collection of some data
Evaluated ScanEagle in 2009
Evaluated hexacopter in Antarctica in 2011.Evaluated Puma and quadcopter in 2012.
Planning to evaluate in 2014
Soot Transport, Absorption, and Deposition Study (STADS)
NOAA component of the Coordinated Investigation of Climate-Cryosphere Interactions (CICCI) collaboration with Norwegian and Russian scientists
STADS Mission Scientists: Tim Bates and Patricia Quinn (NOAA/ESRL)
Completed Science Campaigns
• Global Hawk Pacific (March-April 2010)• 11 instruments• 4 science missions, 76 hours • First Global Hawk Science Mission• Flights spanned 12 to 85 deg N Latitudes
• Genesis and Rapid Intensification Processes (August-September 2010)
• 4 Instruments• 5 science missions, 114 hours total• First Global Hawk severe storm over flight
• Winter Storm Pacific and Atmospheric Rivers (February-March 2011)
• 2 Instruments• 3 science missions, 70 hours total• First operational dropsonde deployment,
177sondes total
7
•Mission Scientists: Paul Newman (NASA/GSFC) and David Fahey (NOAA/ESRL)•First Global Hawk flight north of 70º N.•First Global Hawk mission to have pole to pole
command and control, and payload communications links.
Global Hawk Pacific (GloPac) Experiment
A partnership between NASA , NOAA, and Northrop Grumman
NCAR/NOAA GH Dropsonde System
Dropsonde System Launch Tube
Dropsonde Launch Assembly
Dropsonde System Electronics
NOAA Benefit From
NASA Hurricane Severe Storm Sentinel (HS3) Experiment
Environment Observations• Profiles of temperature, humidity,
wind, and pressure (AVAPS)• Cloud top height (CPL)• Cloud top temperature and profiles of
temperature and humidity (S-HIS)
Over-storm Observations• Doppler velocity, horizontal winds, and
ocean surface winds (HIWRAP)• Profiles of temperature and humidity
and total precipitable water (HAMSR)• Ocean surface winds and rain
(HIRAD)
NASA HS3 Mission Over Tropical Storm Nadine (11 – 12 Sept 2012)
3 NOAA Pilots Participated in
25-Hour Mission
First Real-time Global Hawk Dropsonde Into NOAA Gateway
HS3 Preliminary Results
• 5 science flights to date
• 4 into various stages of Nadine
• 268 sondes deployed
• Next flight scheduled for Wednesday
• NOAA-led real-time data processing
• Data transmitted through GTS
• Data incorporated in NHC discussions
• Parallel model runs with assimilation planned
BASED ON THE IMPROVED SATELLITE APPEARANCE AND TROPICAL CLASSIFICATIONS OF 2.5 AND 3.0 FROM SAB AND TAFB... NADINE IS CLASSIFIED AS A TROPICAL STORM ONCE AGAIN. DROPSONDE DATA FROM AN ONGOING NASA GLOBAL HAWK MISSION SUGGESTS THAT THE MAXIMUM WINDS ARE NEAR 50 KT. A DROPWINDSONDE NEAR THE CENTER AROUND 1030 UTC MEASURED A PRESSURE OF 989.9 MB WITH STRONG WINDS...SO THE ESTIMATED MINIMUM CENTRAL PRESSURE IS 986 MB.
TROPICAL STORM NADINE DISCUSSION NUMBER 44
NWS NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER
1100 AM AST SUN SEP 23 2012
Five HS3 Flights
Contact Information
UAS Web Site: http://uas.noaa.gov/
Questions should be directed to: [email protected]
Phil Kenul - NOAA UAS Program Senior Technical Advisor ([email protected]) Robbie Hood - NOAA UAS Program Director ([email protected])