Development of a Long-Range and Light-Weight Autonomous Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (AUAV) and Instrument Platform for the Global Albedo Project

Ramanathan和Kosmatka，UCSDATM 0320802该主要研究仪器（MRI）开发补助金将支持长期负担得起的设计，制造和现场测试（$50，000- $75，000）长续航时间的自主无人机（AUAV）（大于1天）和远程（从南加州到夏威夷的飞行需要约5000公里），具有轻的仪器有效载荷（小于5公斤）。这类无人驾驶飞行器目前尚不具备，将飞行的仪器包括凝结粒子计数器、光学粒子计数器、云滴探测器、总日射强度计、多通道机载辐射计、云凝结核计数器、数字摄像机、数据采集系统和气溶胶入口。AUAV和这套仪器收集的数据将是第一个长期的在一个气候重要区域（太平洋）的多云天空的云，气溶胶和云微物理学的原位数据。更广泛的影响：AUAV将对加州大学圣地亚哥分校校园的工程师和大气科学家的教育和培训产生重大影响，特别是因为实验的多学科方面。根据该奖项开发的AUAV还将通过提供与天气和气候研究问题相关的新的重要观测能力而使整个大气科学界受益。

Ramanathan and Kosmatka, UCSDATM 0320802This Major Research Instrumentation (MRI) development grant will support the design, fabrication and field testing of long duration affordable ($50,000 - $75,000) Autonomous Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (AUAV) that have long duration (greater than 1 day) and long range (about five thousand kilometers required for flights from Southern California to Hawaii) with light instrument payloads (less than 5kg). Such AUAVs are not currently available.The instruments to be flown include a condensation particle counter, optical particle counter, cloud droplet probe, pyranometer, mult-channel airborne radiometer, cloud condensational nucleus counter, digital video camera, data acquisition system and aerosol inlet. The data gathered by the AUAV and this suite of instruments will be the first long-term in-situ data on cloudy sky albedo, aerosols and cloud microphysics in a climatologically important region (the Pacific Ocean).Broader Impacts: The AUAV will have a major impact on the education and training of engineers and atmospheric scientists in the UCSD campus, in particular because of the multi-disciplinary aspects of the experiment. The AUAV developed under this award will also benefit the entire atmospheric sciences community by the provision of a new and important observing capability relevant to research issues in weather and climate.