The Aerosonde robotic aircraft: A new paradigm for environmental observations

The Aerosonde is a small robotic aircraft designed for highly flexible and inexpensive operations. Missions are con ducted in a completely robotic mod e, with the aircraft under the command of a ground controller who monitors the mission. Here we provide an update on the Aerosonde development and ope rations and expand on the vision for the future, including instrument: payl oads, observational strategies, and platform capabilities. The aircraft was conceived in 1992 and developed to operational status in 1995-98, after a period of early prototyping. Continuing field operations and development si nce 1998 have led to the Aerosonde Mark 3, with similar to 2000 flight hour s completed. A defined development path through to 2002 will enable the air craft to become increasingly more robust with increased flexibility in the range and type of operations that can be achieved. An Aerosonde global reco nnaissance facility is being developed that consists of launch and recovery sites dispersed around the globe. The use of satellite communications and internet technology enables an operation in which all aircraft around the g lobe are under the command of a single center. During operation, users will receive data at their home institution in near-real time via the virtual f ield environment, allowing the user to update the mission through interacti on with the global command center. Sophisticated applications of the Aeroso nde will be enabled by the development of a variety of interchangeable inst rument payloads and the operation of Smart Aerosonde Clusters that allow a cluster of Aerosondes to interact intelligently in response to the data bei ng collected.