On the measurement of turbulence with unmanned aerial vehicles

We address the challenge of taking the novel approach of using highly instrumented and autonomous unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to spatially interrogate the atmospheric boundary layer's turbulent flow structure over a wide range of length scales. This approach will introduce new capabilities not available in contemporary micro-meteorological measurement techniques: the ability to spatially sample the flow field over a wide range of spatial scales; a reduced reliance on assumptions regarding the temporal evolution of the turbulence; the ability to measure in a wide range of boundary conditions and distance from the earth's surface; the ability to gather many boundary layer thicknesses of data during brief periods of statistical quasi-stationarity; and the ability to acquire data where and when it is needed. We describe recent progress made in developing purpose-built airframes, integrating sensors into those airframes, and developing data analysis techniques to isolate the atmospheric turbulence from the measured velocity signal.