Transcript Presentation
Approved For Public Release; Distribution Unlimited
UAS Data Collection for High-resolution MET Modeling Ingest
Mr. Terry Jameson Battlefield Environment Division Army Research Laboratory, WSMR
COMM 575-678-3924 [email protected]
1
Approved For Public Release; Distribution Unlimited
Approved For Public Release; Distribution Unlimited
Weather Prediction Models
2 Numerical Weather Prediction (NWP) Models • • • • • Predictions of basic Met parameters (winds, temperature, pressure, humidity) Predictions of derived parameters (turbulence, visibility, cloud layers, etc.) Predictions at 3-D grid points ( ~ 30 mi. down to ~ 8 mi. horizontal spacing) Predictions out several hours - up to many days Research-grade models (one-hour predictions – 0.6 mi. grid spacing) Models require Met data observations input for initialization • • • • • Surface weather stations (manned and automated) – little help for upper atmosphere Doppler weather radar (intensity and motion within storms) – good info but only when storms are present Satellite observations of winds and temps (very coarse vertical resolution) Vertically-pointing wind profiling radars – few locations even in U.S.
Weather balloons (winds, pressure, temperature, humidity) ~ 70 stations in Lower 48, ~700 world-wide Twice-daily balloon launches Mainstay of NWP model input since its inception in late ‘50s-early 60’s
Approved For Public Release; Distribution Unlimited
Approved For Public Release; Distribution Unlimited
But there’s a Problem
In the U.S. all of the above are available, but…..
• Problem is: All of the above leave many gaps (time/space), especially for high-resolution models • Problem is: In/near the battlefield, only a very few weather balloon and surface observation stations exist • Problem is: Those few stations can be sporadic in their observations 3 Bottom line: WE NEED MORE INPUT MET DATA!
Approved For Public Release; Distribution Unlimited
Approved For Public Release; Distribution Unlimited
In-situ Obs from UAVs Data collected from UAVs - What are we up against?
4 • Certainly many UAVs have a temperature sensor/readout, plus GPS winds BUT… • Are the data just displayed to the operator? – can’t use in modeling • Are the data recorded at the ground station? – probably not • Are the data recorded on-board somehow? – probably not • Are those data date/time/location-stamped?
• What about pressure and humidity? – need those parameters as well • How to QC the data? – bad data or wrong time/place = poor performance.
• How to format the data? – models are very picky!
Approved For Public Release; Distribution Unlimited
5
Approved For Public Release; Distribution Unlimited
TAMDAR-What is it?
TAMDAR: (Tropospheric Airborne Met DAta Reporting) • • • • Small meteorological (Met) data sensing/transmitting instrument AirDat, LLC Installed on ~150 regional commuter airliners Collects Met data for ingest into Numerical Weather Prediction (NWP) Models TAMDAR-U (TAMDAR-UAV) • • TAMDAR downsized for installation on UAVs Stringent restrictions on Size, Weight, and Power (SWaP) requirements
Approved For Public Release; Distribution Unlimited
Approved For Public Release; Distribution Unlimited AirDat’s Commercial TAMDAR ® System GLOBAL SATELLITE NETWORK TAMDAR DATA AIRBORNE SENSORS TAMDAR DATA TRANSPORT AIRCRAFT SATELLITE GROUND STATION UAV / UAS HIGH-RES FORECAST DISPERSION MODEL NOWCAST FORECAST / ANALYSIS USERS SECURE DATA CENTER MET REPORT FIRING SOLUTION FORECAST MODELING QA & FORMATTING TAMDAR SYSTEM ARCHITECTURE MET DATA USERS LATENCY < 30SEC GLOBALLY FROM TIME OF OBSERVATION Approved For Public Release; Distribution Unlimited
Know the Weather
Approved For Public Release; Distribution Unlimited
The Team
NMSU PSL/Technical Analysis & Applications Center (TAAC) • • • The Aerostar-B UAV Established COA in southern NM Substantial experience in conducting instrumentation flight tests AirDat, LLC • • • • • The TAMDAR Instrumentation facilities (Lakewood, CO) Data ground station and NWP modeling facilities (Florida) Substantial experience in instrumenting commercial airline fleets Substantial experience in ingesting TAMDAR data into models 7 ARL • • • Long-term history of DOD weather research and support High-resolution, battlefield-scale NWP model development Substantial experience in assessing model performance
Approved For Public Release; Distribution Unlimited
Approved For Public Release; Distribution Unlimited TAMDAR-U Sensor (Prototype) Prototype TAMDAR-U Mounted on Modified Aerostar Nose Cone CFD Analysis
Measures and Reports -Ice presence -Median and peak turbulence -Relative Humidity -Indicated and True Airspeed -Static pressure and pressure altitude -Air temperature (Mach corrected) -Winds Aloft (Speed and Dir) -GPS Position and Time -Additional sensing possible (CBRN) -Encryption Possible
Know the Weather
Approved For Public Release; Distribution Unlimited
Approved For Public Release; Distribution Unlimited TAMDAR-U Sensor (Prototype) - SWaP LRU
Probe (External)
Dimensions (Volume) Weight Max Power (Estimated)
2.6”x2.5”x0.7” 3.6” Pitot 2.2 oz (62 g) N/A Data Acquisition, Processing, and Communications (Internal)
TOTALS
40 in 3 40 in 3 Internal (reductions possible) 12.2 oz (346 g) 14.4 oz (408 g) (reductions possible) 8.4W
8.4W
(reductions possible)
Know the Weather
Approved For Public Release; Distribution Unlimited
Approved For Public Release; Distribution Unlimited
The Aerostar UAS
10
Approved For Public Release; Distribution Unlimited
Approved For Public Release; Distribution Unlimited
The Airspace & Model Domain
11
32 o 107 o 46.00’ N 50.00’ W 32 o 106 o 46.00’ N 30.00’ W 31 o 107 o 40.00’ N 50.00’ W Approved For Public Release; Distribution Unlimited 31 o 106 o 40.00’ N 30.00’ W
12
Approved For Public Release; Distribution Unlimited
Experimental Approach
Collect TAMDAR-U data within model domain for three-hour flight Reformat and archive data for later analyses Run model in data-ingest mode for 3-hrs, simulating ingest during flight Continue model run after data ingest cutoff – generate 6 hr forecast Compare output charts with/without TAMDAR-U ingest Compare against any available observations
Approved For Public Release; Distribution Unlimited
Approved For Public Release; Distribution Unlimited
13
Approved For Public Release; Distribution Unlimited
14
32 o 107 o 46.00’ N 50.00’ W Approved For Public Release; Distribution Unlimited
Example “Test Card”
32 o 107 o 40.00’ N 34.00’ W Point B 32 o 106 o 46.00’ N 30.00’ W
After T/O:
125 O / 40 nm 305 O / 40 nm LRU A/P 32 o 17.21’ N 106 o 55.19’ W Point A 31 o 107 o 40.00’ N 50.00’ W 31 o 106 o 40.00’ N 30.00’ W SOUTHERN BORDER ADIZ Approved For Public Release; Distribution Unlimited
Normal climb to 10,000’ MSL Course 305 o True At 10,000 MSL, normal descent to 7,000’ MSL At Point B, standard rate turn to 125 o True Return to Point A (LRU) At 65 kt IAS (approx. 75 kt TAS), the R/T to Pt. B will take approximately 1.15 hr.
Approved For Public Release; Distribution Unlimited
Example Results
15
Approved For Public Release; Distribution Unlimited
Approved For Public Release; Distribution Unlimited
What did we find?
16 TAMDAR sensor could be adequately downsized/configured for UAV ops TAMDAR-U data successfully assimilated, formatted, ingested given erratic flight patterns and altitudes of UAV missions From a qualitative standpoint, wind flow patterns looked more realistic over and near mountain slopes with TAMDAR-U data ingest Few observations within most of the domain for quantitative evaluation Weather balloons launched at LRU airport compared against vertical profiles from the models were inconclusive Very benign weather case-study days were not conducive to finding clear distinctions between models
Approved For Public Release; Distribution Unlimited
Approved For Public Release; Distribution Unlimited
What’s next?
Collect TAMDAR data within a data-rich model domain (commuter fleet) Run model ingesting or withholding data as before Select some “bad weather” case-study days (rainfall, strong winds, etc.) Conduct quantitative statistical analyses, observation points versus forecasts 17
Approved For Public Release; Distribution Unlimited