Kite or Balloon Based Sensor System for Lower Troposphere Monitoring

Abstract:

Current weather sensing solutions such as balloons and ground stations are not able to continuously gather data in the lower troposphere, as they either quickly pass low altitudes or are limited to the height of a tower. By suspending sensors below a kite or helium balloon, it is possible to provide continuous sensing in a reusable, convenient form. Two solutions are presented herein. The Repositional Aerial Vane Environmental Network (RAVEN), a distributed sensing solution, uses a number of aerodynamically stabilized data acquisition units to concurrently collect data from a number of altitudes equal to the number of data acquisition units utilized. The Sliding Weather Instrument Fixed to Tether (SWIFT), a tether climbing solution, offers a lightweight alternative to RAVEN for smaller systems at the cost of concurrent data collection from multiple sensors. SWIFT may also be used to help actively position RAVEN on the tether. The High Altitude Weather Kite (HAWK) required to field these systems is also discussed. Demonstrations of practicality and capability follow in order to illustrate the use of RAVEN, SWIFT, and HAWK in real world conditions.