Intelligent Wind Estimation Paper to be Presented at the 2023 Vertical Flight Society Conference

Barron Associates will present a summary of research conducted under a Phase I STTR topic entitled, Intelligent Wind Estimation for CBRN Agent Tracking and Localization. The primary goal of the project is to provide accurate wind estimates in urban and complex environments that can be used by CBRN source localization algorithms. Accurate wind estimates, along with other atmospheric measurements, increase the accuracy and efficiency of the source localization approaches. The work focused on wind estimation for small UAS multi-rotor vehicles and estimates three-dimensional winds based on the response of the vehicle to control and exogenous, e.g., wind, inputs. Wind estimation is performed with a Bayesian approach, utilizing a vehicle dynamic model that enables accurate estimation at large advance ratios and naturally incorporates uncertainty in the dynamic model and sensor measurements. The work presents an advance from current approaches to wind estimation that assume the vehicle operates at a hover or low-speed, steady flight.