Above: RAAVEN uncrewed aerial vehicle over the Atlantic Ocean.
Header Image: Meteorological map showing storms during a deployment.

Drone technology and atmospheric science instruments developed by the University of Colorado Boulder will be available to researchers nationwide through a new grant.

The National Science Foundation has awarded CU Boulder a three-year, $1 million grant to establish a Community Instruments and Facilities program titled Mobile Uncrewed Systems for Atmospheric Science (MUSAS).

“We have a track record for atmospheric research with the equipment we’ve created and the campaigns we’ve partnered in. Whenever atmospheric scientists need to collect data in environments they can’t get other ways, that’s where we come in,” said Brian Argrow, principal investigator for the grant.

Argrow, a professor in the Ann and H.J. Smead Department of Aerospace Engineering Sciences, is a nationally recognized expert in uncrewed aerial systems. He and CU Boulder colleagues have spent decades developing fixed-wing and quad-copter-style drone systems to study weather and other atmospheric conditions.

Their work has spanned the globe, including in extreme conditions like the North Pole and several campaigns in the United States to analyze supercell thunderstorms that spawn tornadoes.

The new grant will provide the larger scientific community access to CU Boulder’s instrumentation and know-how.

“We’re bringing aerospace to the atmospheric sciences community,” Argrow said. “We have the expertise, the drones, the deployment systems, and regulatory approval to fly in the national airspace system.”

Although the program does not officially begin until Nov. 1, Argrow said they have already been contacted by a university with a partnership proposal.

 

Inspecting a RAAVEN drone while on deployment.

“By increasing access to small uncrewed aerial systems, we’ll increase the amount of data available to the broader community to help solve some of the toughest problems in atmospheric science. Our technology can sample the physics and chemistry of the lower atmosphere and offer new perspectives on this environment,” Argrow said.

MUSAS joins a network of NSF-supported initiatives across the country that allow universities to share research equipment and expertise.

Through the program, partners will have access to CU Boulder’s personnel as well as the RAAVEN and Super RAAVEN fixed-wing drones and the CopterSonde 3 quad-copter, along with deployment and tracking vehicles.

Argrow anticipates an array of research to come from the partnerships, including into boundary layer processes, coastal circulations, aerosol processes, turbulence and turbulent fluxes, surface-atmosphere exchange, high-latitude environments, and severe weather.

“Building on the initial investment from the CU Grand Challenge Initiative, we have assembled infrastructure which is unique,” Argrow said. “CU Boulder has extensive experience operating and developing these systems, and this gives us the opportunity to expand our impact.”