Agile Aerial Sensor System Tailored for In-Situ Cloud Measurements

 Barron Associates was awarded a NASA Phase I SBIR contract to develop a novel atmospheric sensing platform. The sensing apparatus, the WINGSONDE, is a compact, tube-deployed Small Unmanned Aerial System (sUAS) equipped with atmospheric sensors and designed to operate at high altitude for extended operational periods. The WINGSONDE sUAS can be carried and deployed directly into regions of interest for guided remote sensing applications such as cloud characterization, volcanic plume measurements, and polar atmospheric research. The WINGSONDE sUAS can be deployed from either a P-3/P-8 sonotube, a Group II or higher UAS, or from Barron’s custom aerial delivery system. The initial vehicle design and prototype was fabricated in a prior research effort. The current Phase I will be used to mature the vehicle design further and perform flight demonstrations with selected sensor payloads.