Development and Testing of a Rocket-Based Sensor for Atmospheric Sensing Using an Unmanned Aerial System

Measurements of the vertical structure of the lower atmosphere are important to the understanding of air quality. Unmanned Aerial Systems (UASs, drones) can provide low cost, repeatable measurements of the temperature, pressure, and relative humidity. A set of inexpensive sensors controlled with an...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Sensors (Basel, Switzerland) Switzerland), 2024-03, Vol.24 (6), p.1768
Main Author: Thalman, Ryan
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Aerosols
Air pollution
Air quality
Air traffic control
Aircraft
Altitude
atmospheric chemistry
atmospheric measurements
Aviation
drone
Ground stations
Humidity
Integrated software
Measuring instruments
Meteorology
Outdoor air quality
Rockets
rocketsonde
Sensors
sonde measurements
Temperature measurements
UAS
Unmanned aerial vehicles
Weather
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Summary:Measurements of the vertical structure of the lower atmosphere are important to the understanding of air quality. Unmanned Aerial Systems (UASs, drones) can provide low cost, repeatable measurements of the temperature, pressure, and relative humidity. A set of inexpensive sensors controlled with an Arduino microprocessor board were tested on a UAS against a meteorology grade sensor. Two modes of operation for sampling were tested: a forward moving sampler and a vertical ascent sampler. A small particle sensor (Sensiron SPS30) was integrated and was capable of retrieving vertical aerosol distributions during an inversion event. The thermocouple-based temperature probe and the relative humidity measurement on the Bosch BME280 sensor correlated well with the meteorological sensor. The temperature and relative humidity sensors were then deployed on a rocket sounding platform. The rocket sounding system performed well up to a height of 400 m. The inexpensive sensors were found to perform adequately for low-cost development and uses in education and research.
ISSN:1424-8220
1424-8220
DOI:10.3390/s24061768