Development of a micro air vehicle for meteorological soundings

Abstract

To have accurate forecasting models for weather systems, data must be collected on the thermodynamic structure of the Atmospheric Boundary Layer (ABL). Currently this information is gathered using weather balloons, but they are easily influenced by wind and rise through the ABL quickly, providing low vertical resolution. Additionally, the sensors on board a weather balloon are only reusable if they happen to be recovered wherever they land. Other meteorological data collection methods such as aircraft, radar, and mesonet towers are also insufficient due to being fixed in place or requiring extensive preparation time to deploy. Thus, there is a critical need to develop a low cost, easy to manufacture, gliding radiosonde which can take high resolution vertical samples and return to a ground station for reuse. This system has 2 major advantages: it allows for more data to be collected on atmospheric conditions leading to better forecasting, and it cuts down on cost over time due to its reusable nature.