ANALYSIS OF AN AIR MOTION SYSTEM ON A LIGHT AIRCRAFT FOR BOUNDARY-LAYER RESEARCH

A system has been developed for use on a light aircraft for the measur ement of the turbulent wind vector components that does not rely on th e use of either an inertial navigation system (INS) or Doppler radar. The system described here uses a five-hole probe to measure the wind v ector relative to the aircraft. A GPS system, a vertical gyroscope for aircraft pitch and roll angles, a gyrocompass system, and a strap-dow n three-axis accelerometer system are used to obtain aircraft motion. Flight tests and results of an intercomparison with the United Kingdom Meteorological Office C-130 are presented. Under conditions of straig ht and level flight, the estimated rms errors are 0.3 m s(-1) for the vertical wind component and 2 m s(-1) for the horizontal components.