1. Upstream Wind Sensing for Small Unmanned Aerial Vehicles
- Author
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Mohamed Abdulghani, Sam Prudden, Matthew Marino, David Tennent, Simon Watkins, and Alex Fisher
- Subjects
020301 aerospace & aeronautics ,Inertial frame of reference ,Turbulence ,02 engineering and technology ,Differential pressure ,01 natural sciences ,010305 fluids & plasmas ,Computer Science::Robotics ,Atmosphere ,0203 mechanical engineering ,Flight dynamics ,Anemometer ,Physics::Space Physics ,0103 physical sciences ,Astrophysics::Solar and Stellar Astrophysics ,Environmental science ,Upstream (networking) ,Physics::Atmospheric and Oceanic Physics ,Marine engineering ,Wind tunnel - Abstract
The potential for measuring wind, both in the atmosphere and in wind tunnels, was investigated using differential pressure probes mounted forward of small fixed wing and rotary unmanned aircraft. Stability augmentation on the fixed wing craft demonstrated improved steadiness when the upstream pitch angles from the turbulent wind were used as a control input in association with a standard inertial unit. Velocity spectra in the atmosphere and those from flights in turbulent wind tunnels were similar to the generally accepted von Karman spectra. The problems and possibilities of using small unmanned aircraft for outdoor measurements are discussed including in swarms which could replace anemometers mounted on masts.
- Published
- 2018
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