Unmanned aerial vehicle/remotely piloted aircraft design selection based on service-stated Meteorological/Oceanographic requirements

Abstract

A decision tool for choosing most efficient unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV's)/remotely piloted aircraft (RPA) for Meteorological/ Oceanographic (METOC) data collection is presented. A Microsoft Access database query (written in Structured Query Language) links RPA flight performance parameters to individualized METOC Elements of Measurement, a subset of a larger Joint Service METOC Requirements database table, presented elsewhere in the thesis in full. Successful aircraft performance parameters include vast controllability/ programmability ranges, flexible (including shipboard) launches and recoveries, atmospheric profiling capabilities, hover ability, long endurance and airframes free of propeller or rotor wash. A sampling of existing (or planned) airborne METOC instrumentation, their ranges and accuracies are included, in database form, for further reference.