The feasibility of unmanned aerial vehicle-based acoustic atmospheric tomography

Abstract

A technique for remotely monitoring the near-surface air temperature and wind fields up to altitudes of 1 km is presented and examined. The technique proposes the measurement of sound spectra emitted by the engine of a small unmanned aerial vehicle using sensors located on the aircraft and the ground. By relating projected and observed Doppler shifts in frequency and converting them into effective sound speed values, two- and three-dimensional spatially varying atmospheric temperature and wind velocity fields may be reconstructed using tomography. The feasibility and usefulness of the technique relative to existing unmanned aerial vehicle-based meteorological techniques using simulation and trials is examined.