This paper presents the results of the design and field deployment of multiple autonomous fixed‐wing unmanned aircraft into supercell thunderstorms. As part of a field campaign in Spring 2019, up to three fixed‐wing unmanned aircraft were deployed simultaneously into different regions of supercell thunderstorms, To learn more about the atmospheric conditions that lead to the formation of tornadoes. Successful field deployment is attributed to (a) a nomadic concept of operations that allows the unmanned aircraft system team and science team to work seamlessly together while satisfying all aviation regulations and (b) the ruggedized RAAVEN unmanned aircraft system with modular features that favor rapid, ease‐of‐use over the brute strength of previous designs. The concept of operations and the unmanned aircraft system are described along with results from a 4 day window where four storms were sampled: two of these storms were tornadic (formed tornadoes before, during, or after being sampled) and two were not. These results validate the feasibility of nomadic operation of multiple unmanned aircraft simultaneously in severe weather conditions. Further, the successful field deployments demonstrate the importance of the modular unmanned aircraft design.
This paper presents the results of a 3-week-long field deployment of an autonomous uncrewed aircraft system for targeted observation of early-convective storm systems in the U.S. Great Plains with application to cloud seeding operations. Due to reduced operational costs and requirements, autonomous small uncrewed aircraft systems present an appealing alternative to traditional crewed aircraft. The objective of the system is to gather and ultimately act upon in situ atmospheric data that are inaccessible via remote sensing techniques. Utilizing a combination of remote and in situ weather data, a dispersed autonomous decision-making system works integrally with a human operator to investigate early-convective storms for subregions which have favorable conditions for cloud seeding. The autonomy framework enables one operator to interface with multiple aircraft, which is demonstrated by performing complex sensing and seeding maneuvers with a team of two aircraft. Results from nine flights totaling over 8 hours of flight time are presented and discussed. Although the release of actual cloud seeding material was not performed during the campaign, this study demonstrates the utility and feasibility of small uncrewed aircraft systems for use in airborne cloud seeding operations.
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