TITLE:
Journey to the Typhoon
AUTHORS:
Chung-Kiak Poh, Chung-How Poh
KEYWORDS:
Tropical Cyclone, Unmanned Aerial Vehicle, Spinsonde, Vertical Wind Profile, Vertical Landing, High-Alpha Maneuvers
JOURNAL NAME:
Advances in Aerospace Science and Technology,
Vol.1 No.1,
June
27,
2016
ABSTRACT: Application of UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles) for tropical cyclone missions is an emerging area
of research and recent advances include the concept of spinsonde for multi-cycle measurement of
vertical wind profile within the storm. This work proposes the design of a typhoon UAV as part of a
cost-effective approach for acquiring atmospheric data to improve prediction and refine models.
Land- and carrier-based flight schemes are proposed in this study and computer simulations are
carried out to investigate the flight performance. Results suggest that the UAV achieves a maximum
cruising speed in excess of 350 km·h-1 with excellent spinsonde performance. Furthermore,
the UAV is capable of performing high-alpha maneuvers as well as vertical landing, thus rendering
it suitable for space-efficient operation whether on land or aircraft carrier.