ドローンによる上空の風観測手法の検討

Abstract

This manuscript describes an approach a rotor-based unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) that measures the lower atmospheric wind. The propeller downwash effect on the measurements of wind speed using UAV equipped with anemometer was validated by indoor experiments. To maximize the potential for UAV equipped with anemometer to provide reliable wind observations, it is important to have an understanding the downwash effect quantitatively for the combination of UAV body, wind sensor and sensor layout used. The optimal observation protocols to get the vertical profiles of wind using UAV were found by the comparative observation with Doppler lidar. The vertical profiles of wind observed by UAV which was moving upward or downward vertically at 1 m/s showed a good agreement with lidar measurements same as hovering UAV measurements. The developed method was applied to field observations near a volcano, and characteristic vertical profiles of wind were captured. The feasibility of wind turbulence measurement by UAV equipped with high time resolution anemometer was also investigated using the tower-mounted reference instrument.