Titans of Industry

Presenter: Lynn Fenstermaker, PhD

DRI UAV EXPERTISE AND RELATED INTERESTS

Representing 30+ Faculty with UAV or Sensor Expertise and Interests

Who are we? Global Research Institutionwithin NV System of Higher Education

~559 employees with ~155 research faculty

Non-tenure / soft-money structure: Faculty generate their own salaries

Faculty bring ~$40M into Nevada’s economy

Largest sources of funding: 19% DOE, 18% DoD, 16% Dept of Commerce

Industry partners: AG Energy, NV Energy, Ecology and Environment, FullCon Solutions

LLC, Geochimica, H-Power, IBM, MAGEE Scientific, Pacific Renewable Fuels, Sierra Geothermal Power Corporation, SpecTIR, Universal Combustion Technologies, Battelle Memorial Institute (PNNL), REII (renewable energy), University of California (LBNL)

On any given day DRI conducts ~ 300 research projects Research on every continent and all southwestern US military base Over 60 specialized labs & research facilities

DRI invests ~ $1.6M annually in non-state dollars for support of UNR and UNLV graduate students

Research Structure

Research Divisions:

Atmospheric Sciences

Earth and Ecosystem Sciences

Hydrologic Sciences

Integrated Science Centers:

Center for Advanced Visualization, Computation, and Modeling (CAVCaM)

Rogers Center for EnvironmentalRemediation and Monitoring (CERM)

Watersheds and Environmental Sustainability (CWES)

Clean Technologies and Renewable Energy Center (CTREC)

DRI Aerial Platform Experience

Manned aircraft:

Cloud seeding

Air quality monitoring and profiling with LiDAR

Hyperspectral imaging for ecosystem monitoring

Balloons:

Air quality, chemistry and water content monitoring and profiling

Class I UAV (fixed wing and helicopter):

Ecosystem monitoring

Aerosol and cloud physics

Radiative flux measurement above and below clouds

Pollution monitoring

DRI Sensor DevelopmentW. Patrick Arnott and team:

4 patents and commercialized 3 versions of photoacoustic instrument working with Droplet Measurement Technology

Photoacoustic Measurements of Aerosol Light Absorption and Scattering from a Twin Otter Platform

Students working with the Dual Wavelength PhotoacousticInstrument at the Fire Science Lab and UNR instrument class

Significant layers of light absorbing aerosol near 650 mband 550 mb, with a clean layer in between at 600 mb.

PHOTOACOUSTIC LIGHT ABS.

Vertical Profile: Pancaked Layers of Russian Forest Fire Smoke Measured Over Oklahoma

Sensor Package DevelopmentJohn Watson and Judy Chow:

On-board pollution emission measurement system Sample Conditioning Module (#1) Real-time Gas Module (#2)

Real-time PM Module (#4)Integrated

Sample Module (#3) Battery (#5)

Subset of DRI UAV Projects

Collaborative DRI project for NSF: Eric Wilcox - DRI Lead

DRI project for DOE: Lynn Fenstermaker - DRI Lead

DRI project for USDA ARS: Ken McGwire - DRI Lead

Moisture dynamics in the cloudy and polluted tropical atmosphere: The Cloud Aerosol Radiative Forcing Dynamics Experiment (CARDEX)

Eric Wilcox, DRI, eric.wilcox@dri.edu, 775-673-7686

Rick Thomas, P. S. Praveen, Kristina Pistone, V. Ramanathan, Lynne Russell, Scripps/UCSD

Frida Bender, Örjan Gustaffson , Stockholm University

Yan Feng, Argonne National Laboratory

Nic Beres, Hans Moosmüller, Rajan Chackrabarty, DRI

Julia Remmers, Steffen Doener, Max Planck Institute, Mainz

The Cloud Aerosol Radiative Forcing Dynamics Experiment (CARDEX)

Feb.-Mar. 2012 Hanimaadhoo Island, Republic of Maldives, North Indian Ocean

Goal: document detailed impact of continental-scale plume of sooty pollution from South Asia on trade cumulus clouds

Aircraft: Three Manta UAV

Ground measurements: aerosol, radiation, lidar aerosol profiles, microwave radiometer

Modeling: WRF-Chem simulations of aerosol transport and boundary layer clouds.

Cloud physics aircraft measures cloud drop sizes and concentration.

Flux aircraft measures high-frequency variations of vertical velocity, temperature, and humidity.

Aerosol/radiation aircraft measures aerosol particle concentration, black carbon concentration and up/down solar fluxes.

Water Vapor Flux MeasurementSystem Hardware

Inertial Navigation

System• C-migits III

• 100Hz Pitch, roll, yaw and

navigational information

• Coupled to GPS

Datalogger• 100Hz logging

• 32 Analog inputs• 4 digital inputs

KH2O Probe• Krypton UV source

• 100Hz Water Vapor absorption(116 & 123nm)

Laser Altimeter

• 100Hz logging• High Accuracy

Li-poly Batteries

• Up to 5 hours of logging time

• 100Hz wind components u,v,w

relative to UAV

Gust Probe

First-ever UAV profiles of turbulent moisture flux in the boundary layer

Determination of how soot-induced warming of the lower troposphere affects transport of moisture from the ocean and through the boundary layer to the clouds

Micro-aethalometer black carbon concentrations and absorption coefficient vertical profiles on Mar. 26, 2012

Assessing Climate Change Treatment Effects with a Radio Control Helicopter Multispectral Platform

Dr. Lynn Fenstermaker, Desert Research Institute ▪ Eric Knight, University of Nevada, Las Vegas

TreatmentI = irr igated, NI = no t irrigated

0 kg ha-1 N itrogen , 10 kg ha-1 N itrogen, 40 kg ha-1 N itrogenD = d isturbed, ND = not d isturbed

I-0-D

I-0-N

D

I-10-D

I-10-N

D

I-40-D

I-40-N

D

NI-0-D

NI-0-N

D

NI-10-D

NI-10-N

D

NI-40-D

NI-40-N

D

% G

reen

Co

ver

0

5

10

15

20

25

UAV Platform: Class I helicopter, 55.7” length

Sensor Package: Tetracam multispectral camera simulating green, red and IR Landsat bands and real time altimeter with engine and battery monitoring Climate Treatment Effects on

Plant Cover

Multispectral CIR photoStandard color digital photo

Feasibility Testing of Helicopter-based Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Technology to Support

Land Management Agency Objectives

Desert Research Institute

Kenneth McGwire

Lynn Fenstermaker

David McGraw

USDA Agricultural Research Service

Mark Weltz

Christo Morris

Julie Finzell

Federal land management agencies like the USFS, BLM and the NRCS rely heavily on field measurements to monitor the health and

productivity of millions of acres.

UAV technology can support more efficient and comprehensive landscape characterization to meet those missions.

18

UAV color infrared imagery to measure leaf area in cattle allotments. Requirement for setting stocking rates to balance the economic needs of producers with ecosystem sustainability.

The very high spatial resolution of UAV imagery helps improve the parameterization of models for soil erosion and ecosystem function.

Results show typical 50 meter transects are too small to provide an unbiased estimate of landscape conditions.

UAV sampling can provide equal statistical confidence with deployment to a smaller number of different locations.

Test Results

DRI UAV Future Directions

Acquire new platforms

Fixed wing and helicopter

Design and develop smaller sensors

T-Probe, chemical ion sensor

Develop new sensor packages

Miniaturized cloud radar, cloud condensation nuclei counters and meteorology

Increase number and type of applications

Cloud seeding, Atmospheric profiling along horizontal gradients, Water and Ecosystem monitoring, Fire and wildlife studies, Post-disaster surveys, Utility line surveys and more

Data analytics and visualization

Student internships and training

Partner with industry to expand UAV capacity within NV and commercialize sensors

1,000 Fires, Northern CA, Summer 2008: Peak Smoke in Reno around local noon, July 10th

20UAV will enable:• Real time situational awareness• Post-burn ecosystem analysis and mapping• Smoke plume and emission studies

Source: NASA California Wild Fires 2008

HOW CAN WE HELP YOU?

Visit us at: www.dri.edu

Kumud Acharya, W. Patrick Arnott, Jay Arnone, Markus Berli, Jim Brock, Mary Cablk, Jenny Chapman, Judy Chow, Cheryl Collins, Dave Decker, Lynn Fenstermaker, Chris Fritsen, Brian Gallaspy, Justin Huntington, Mike Kaplan, Nick Lancaster, Joe Mahsman, Ian McCubbin, David McGraw, Ken McGwire, John Mejia, Jeremy Memmott, Julianne Miller, Tim Minor, Hans Moosmuller, Dave Rhode, Curtis Robbins, Jerome Robles, Chuck Russell, Henry Sun, Jeff Tilley, Xiaoliang Wang, John Watson, Adam Watts, Eric Wilcox…