Estimate sound speed for UAV acoustic atmospheric tomography

What is it about?

This paper describes how sound speed is estimated between a fixed wing Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) and ground microphones. In this case, we use the natural sound emitted by the petrol engine rather than by using a synthetic signal. The emitted sound is recorded at the UAV and at a ground microphone. The sound speed is estimated by comparing these 2 measurements. The paper also describes how the sound speed measurements are used for estimating atmospheric temperature and wind patterns from the sound speed measurements and presents results from field trials.

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Why is it important?

The aim is to measure continuous 3-dimensional temperature and wind patterns in the atmosphere at a low level of granularity. There is currently no other way of doing this. All other techniques estimate temperature or wind velocty at one or more discrete points. Potential applications are numerous, as all of humanity lives in the Atomospheric Boundary Layer, but some applications are surveying wind farm sites, wind patterns near airports, polution studies, impacts on flying, gliding or sailing, and atmospheric research. We currently have a research contract with the Australian Wine Growers Association. The purpose is to get a greater understanding of the conditions that cause frost or overheat in vineyards and the effectiveness of mitigation actions.

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