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AtmosphericPhysics

2016AnnualReportNSFEPSCoRRIITrackIIFECAwardNumber:1539070

CLOUD-MAP: Collaboration Leading Operational UASDevelopment for Meteorology and Atmospheric Physics

Jamey Jacob, PI - Oklahoma State UniversityPhil Chilson, Co-PI - University of Oklahoma

Adam Houston, Co-PI - University of NebraskaSuzanne Weaver Smith, Co-PI - University of Kentucky

Compiled May 22, 2016. v. 1.01.

This work is supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 1539070, Collaboration Leading OperationalUAS Development for Meteorology and Atmospheric Physics (CLOUD-MAP ), to Oklahoma State University in partnershipwith the Universities of Oklahoma, Nebraska-Lincoln and Kentucky. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommen-dations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National ScienceFoundation. Questions or concerns regarding content should be directed to the CLOUD-MAPPI, Prof. Jamey Jacob [email protected].

This document was prepared in LATEXpdfeTeX, Version 3.141592-1.30.4-2.2.

CLOUD-MAP:Collaboration Leading Operational UAS

Development for Meteorology andAtmospheric Physics

Annual ReportNSF EPSCoR RII Track II FEC

Award Number: 1539070Project Duration: 8/1/2015 – 7/30/2019Reporting Period: 8/1/2015 – 3/15/2016

May 1, 2016

Executive Summary

The period of this report covers from August 1, 2015 to March 15, 2016. In the 712

monthperformance period, the team accomplished many of its initial objectives first year, includingorganization of the research and workforce development efforts, development of governanceguidelines, meeting with and generating input from the community of stakeholders, andplanning for the first flight campaign, in addition to many individual technical and outreachrelated tasks, which are detailed in the report.

The overarching goal of the project is to develop integrated small unmanned aircraftsystems (SUAS) capabilities for enhanced atmospheric physics measurements. This teamincludes atmospheric scientists, meteorologists, engineers, computer scientists, geographers,and chemists necessary to evaluate the needs and develop the advanced sensing and imag-ing, robust autonomous navigation, enhanced data communication, and data managementcapabilities required to use SUAS in atmospheric physics. Annual integrated evaluation ofthe systems in coordinated field tests also requires advancing public policy related to adop-tion of SUAS technology and integration of unmanned aircraft into the airspace. CLOUD-MAP builds on the team members and combined partners’ existing expertise and capabilitiesin atmospheric and meteorological observations, SUAS development, and STEM outreachand education. A primary long-term primary impact expected from CLOUD-MAP will bethe indelible multidisciplinary scientific and educational collaboration of the early-careerfaculty who are involved. In the short duration of the project to date, new collaborationshave already developed among team members leading to increased collaborative proposaldevelopment.

Contents

Contents iii

List of Tables v

List of Figures vi

1 Project Overview 11.1 Significance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11.2 Intellectual Merit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

1.2.1 Proposal Statement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21.2.2 Progress Towards Goals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

1.3 Broader Impacts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31.3.1 Proposal Statement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31.3.2 Progress Towards Goals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

1.4 Project Plan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51.4.1 Scientific and Technical Goals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51.4.2 Leveraged Activities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

1.5 Collaborative Efforts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

2 Scientific and Technical Objectives 112.1 Objective 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132.2 Objective 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

2.2.1 Task 2-1: Convection Initiation Investigation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152.2.2 Task 2-2: Storm-Scale Microphysics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162.2.3 Task 2-3: Airborne Soil Hydrology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182.2.4 Task 2-4: Local-Scale Temporal and Spatial Climate Variation Mea-

surements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202.2.5 Task 2-5: Airborne Sampling Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202.2.6 Task 2-6: Atmospheric Infrasonic Sensing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212.2.7 Task 2-7: GIS Multi-scale Correlation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

2.3 Objective 3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 242.3.1 Task 3-1: Cooperative Control of SUAS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 242.3.2 Task 3-2: Integration of Spatially Distributed Data from Moving Sen-

sor Platforms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 262.3.3 Task 3-3: Heterogeneous Behavioral Control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 292.3.4 Task 3-4: Multi-Agent Manned-Unmanned HITL Simulator . . . . . 292.3.5 Task 3-5: Robust Conformal Antennas for UAS Communication . . . 30

2.4 Objective 4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 322.4.1 Task 4-1: Public Perception and Public Policy . . . . . . . . . . . . . 352.4.2 Task 4-2: UAS Workshops . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 372.4.3 Task 4-3: Rapid Dissemination of Risk Information . . . . . . . . . . 39

2.5 Flight Campaign . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

iii

3 Public Outreach 423.1 Invited Seminars and Public Forums . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 423.2 General Science Publications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 423.3 Social Media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 423.4 Popular Press . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43

4 CLOUD-MAPGovernance 444.1 Governance Philosophy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 444.2 Organizational Structure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 444.3 Team Expectations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 444.4 Team Members . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

4.4.1 ManagementTeam (Institutional PIs) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 454.4.2 Research Project Leaders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 464.4.3 Postdoctoral Researchers / Graduate Students / Undergraduate Stu-

dents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 474.4.4 Project Staff . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47

4.5 External Advisory Board . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 484.6 Communication . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48

4.6.1 Internal Communications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 484.6.2 Websites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 484.6.3 Media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 494.6.4 Outreach Events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 494.6.5 Workshops/Conferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49

4.7 Logos . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 494.8 Data Sharing Policy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 494.9 Conflict Resolution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 504.10 Authorship Guidelines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50

4.10.1 General Principles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 504.10.2 Authorship Guidelines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 514.10.3 Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52

4.11 Acknowledgement of NSF Support and Disclaimer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 524.11.1 NSF Credit: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 524.11.2 Journal Publications: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 524.11.3 Disclaimer: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 524.11.4 Interviews: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52

4.12 External evaluation and assessment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52

References 54

iv

List of Tables

1 CLOUD-MAP partners. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92 Participant task matrix. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133 Various paradigms for how larger teams work together to develop the integra-

tive capacity this model examines the development of trust among the newteam members. [4] UK participants engaged in CLOUD-MAP virtual kick-offmeeting. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

4 Research faculty. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 575 Graduate trainees. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 586 Undergraduate trainees. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59

v

List of Figures

1 Earth’s boundary layer. [NOAA] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 TRL progression. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 Virtual or 4D Mesonet concept will allow extended regular ABL measurements. 64 CLOUD-MAP investigators. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85 CLOUD-MAP team member and partner map. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106 Atmospheric boundary layer - focus of study. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117 CLOUD-MAP objectives. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128 Soil moisture reflectance data. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199 Portable visible and NIR spectrometer for laboratory and field use. . . . . . 1910 Wind screen configuration testing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2211 Pulsed propane torch acoustic signal generator. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2212 Twenty UAS flock simulation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2613 Three rotorcraft in a flock. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2714 Conformal antenna performance investigation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3115 Depiction of a crossed dipole embedded. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3216 Depiction of impact of embedding a crossed dipole antenna. . . . . . . . . . 3317 Depiction of a bent crossed dipole. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3418 Antenna miniaturization techniques. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3419 4H workshop. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3820 Flight profiling systems for evaluation in June 2016 campaign. . . . . . . . . 4021 June 2016 proposed flight campaign areas. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4122 PBS NewsHour. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4323 The Oklahoman news article. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4324 CLOUD-MAP logo options. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49

vi

1 PROJECT OVERVIEW 1

1 Project Overview

1.1 Significance

The availability of high-quality atmospheric measurements over extended spatial and tem-poral domains provides unquestionable value to meteorological studies. In recent reportsfrom the National Research Council and instrumentation workshops it was stated that ob-serving systems capable of providing detailed profiles of temperature, moisture, and windswithin the atmospheric boundary layer (ABL) are needed to monitor the lower atmosphereand help determine the potential for severe weather development. [2] Despite the need forsuch data, these measurements are not necessarily easy to acquire, especially in the ABL.Remote sensing instruments or in-situ probes carried by balloons or manned aircraft aretypically relied upon to meet this need. An alternative to these approaches is the acquisitionof atmospheric data through the use of highly capable unmanned aircraft systems (UAS),but these methods need to be evaluated. The National Research Council report, ObservingWeather and Climate from the Ground Up: A Nationwide Network of Networks, providesthe following statement that serves as the overarching goal of this study:

The vertical component of U.S. mesoscale observations is inadequate. Assets re-quired to profile the lower troposphere above the near-surface layer (first 10m)are too limited in what they measure, too sparsely or unevenly distributed, some-times too coarse in vertical resolution, sometimes limited to regional areal cov-erage, and clearly do not qualify as a mesoscale network of national dimensions.Likewise, vertical profiles below the Earths surface are inadequately measured inboth space and time. The solutions to these particular deficiencies require lead-ership and infrastructure investments from each of the pivotal federal agencies.[1]

We plan to investigate the impact of measurements from small UAS (SUAS) on im-proving forecasts of deep convection. In this study we will focus on: 1) development ofcomplete UAS system packages capable of acquiring needed dynamic and thermodynamicprofiles and transects of the ABL; 2) adapting and testing miniaturized, high-precision, andfast-response atmospheric sensors for wind and thermodynamic measurements along withmeasurements of air chemistry, e.g., ozone and carbon dioxide; 3) gaining additional expe-rience in deploying the platforms, collecting atmospheric measurements, and coordinatingoperations among different UAS teams; and 4) conducting a targeted one-week field cam-paigns involving UAS operations at at selected sites, including Mesonet locations and theDepartment of Energy (DOE) Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Southern GreatPlains (SGP) site in northern OK. The ARM SGP site was selected for the experiment be-cause of the rich suite of atmospheric measurements useful for comparison with the SUASmeasurements. Although not explicitly listed above, another project goal is to provide stu-dents with opportunities to develop skills in the use of UAS for atmospheric studies. Tothat end, graduate and undergraduate students will play a central role in all aspects of theproject.

This includes the Vaisala RS-92 radiosondes normally launched four times daily; theAtmospheric Emitted Radiance Interferometer (AERI) and Raman lidar, used to derive


Figure 1: Earth’s boundary layer. [NOAA]

profiles of temperature and humidity in the lowest few kilometers under cloudless conditions;and wind profile measurements by 915 MHz radar wind profilers and Doppler wind lidar.

1.2 Intellectual Merit

1.2.1 Proposal Statement

Scientists and engineers at the four partner universities have independently developed re-search expertise in areas crucial to the successful development and implementation of SUAStechnology for atmospheric physics. Objectives include integration and evaluation of SUASfor atmospheric sensing and meteorological applications that include autonomous controlsystems, GIS data collection and management systems, and cooperate control. Methodsinclude extensive systems engineering, hardware-in-the-loop testing and validation, and fieldtesting with our collaboration partners, who will also be some of the end- users of the tech-nology. Questions that drive the research focus include: How can local data acquired bySUAS be used to better understand larger weather phenomena? Can SUAS be used tomeasure large-scale patterns and trends found in the atmosphere? What advancements inoperational requirements are necessary to provide routine capabilities and confidence to useSUAS as a meteorological diagnostic tool?

1.2.2 Progress Towards Goals

Primary objectives for the early phases of the project are to develop success criteria andteaming arrangements to ensure that the technical accomplishments are achieved. Early


successes included successful joint flight operations between team members, hardware andsoftware development in the areas of sensors and flight management, and acquisition of COAsfor UAS operations. The objectives are structured in such a way that early foundationalelements will allow later successes in more complex integrated systems and operations, culmi-nating in successful, robust, repeatable and verifiable use of SUAS for regular meteorologicaland atmospheric science missions. This concept is shown in Fig. 2. Planning for the firstcampaign in June 2016 began at the kickoff meeting in December 2015. Campaign detailsand specific progress towards are outlined in more detail in §2.

Figure 2: Progression of increasingly complex tasks over the 4 year project period is designedto develop the technology and expertise necessary for successful implementations of theresearch goals.

1.3 Broader Impacts

1.3.1 Proposal Statement

New curricular content at the participating universities will help prepare the next genera-tion of researchers to work in observational meteorology and atmospheric physics with SUAS.The project integrates 1) UAS autonomous control systems, advanced atmospheric sensorsand robust data management systems to allow innovative, expanding SUAS for atmosphericscience and meteorology; 2) graduates with value-added experience to fill technology-basedneeds; and 3) enhance the public perception and adoption of SUAS technology throughworkshops and outreach events. We will leverage existing successful programs in the threejurisdictions aimed at Native Americans, African-Americans and females to engage underrep-resented minorities in STEM careers. The project also helps satisfy a congressional mandateto integrate aircraft into the national airspace in an effort to regain world leadership in this


important technological arena. A symposium on UAS in Atmospheric Physics will be heldannually and open to the scientific community.

1.3.2 Progress Towards Goals

Technical advancements accomplished throughout the CLOUD-MAPfirst year will culminatewith the annual flight test campaign the week of 27 Jun 1 July at multiple sites withproximity to Stillwater, OK. These are detailed in the Intellectual Merits sections of thisannual report.

Broader impacts of the Track II effort also occurred throughout the first year ofCLOUD-MAPacross a number of dimensions from professional development for faculty andstudents, multidisciplinary technical training, pipeline underrepresented minority studentengagement at statewide team aircraft design/flight competitions, invited presentations atrelated conferences, among others.

The project includes twelve technical project teams, along with three additionalprojects related to perception and dissemination. Each are led by one CLOUD-MAP facultyresearcher and involve collaborators from multiple institutions. Project leaders coordinateefforts from a small subteam of three to nine CLOUD-MAP researchers including organiza-tion, direction, communication, and reporting. Each of the 13 early-career faculty memberson the CLOUD-MAP team are responsible for at least one of the tasks, contributing to theirprofessional development through leading a scientific task in which multidisciplinary collab-oration is necessary. Their efforts are mentored through interaction with senior faculty attheir institution, as well as through peer interaction among the four universities. The virtualkick-off on 4 Dec 2015 was one opportunity for mentored professional development, alongwith preparation for the NSF Kickoff on 8 Oct 2015 and this annual report.

External training is another form of professional development. Four University ofKentucky CLOUD-MAP faculty are participants in the NSF Supercommunicator Workshopin Lexington April 19-20 to help hone our messages for impacting public policy and publicperception of UAS technologies. They will disseminate their experience and gained knowl-edge to the entire team. CLOUD-MAP faculty and graduate students also participated inthe National Weather Service (NWS) Norman Online Advanced Storm Spotter Training on4 April 2016 in preparation for the annual flight test campaign in Oklahoma in June 2016.

Graduate and undergraduate student training to produce experienced graduates isanother primary CLOUD-MAPobjective. In the first year, 45 graduate and undergradu-ate trainees participated in the full range of CLOUD-MAPactivities including system de-velopment and testing, as well as conference and journal paper preparation. A particu-larly impactful experience will be participation in the annual flight campaign with traineesand researchers from the other institutions. Tutorial presentations are envisioned as cross-disciplinary introductions for new trainees and a few were developed and piloted in thefirst year. Other available weather training, such as the National Weather Service (NWS)Advanced Storm Spotter Training, was also utilized.

CLOUD-MAP faculty and students help organize and manage annual remote-controldesign/build/fly competitions in Oklahoma and Kentucky for high school and tech centerteams. Hosted in partnership with Spirit Aerosystems, NASA and Boeing, the 2016 Ok-lahoma State University Speedfest VI (April 22-24, 2016) in Stillwater Ok has 16 teams


competing from high schools and community technology centers with underrepresented mi-nority populations. The 2016 6th Wing-Design Competition (May 14, 2016), one of threecompetitions held at the Aerospace Competition Day in Somerset KY, will include about 25high school teams from the 50 school districts offering the NASEI (National Aviation andSpace Education Institute, Louisville KY) Air+Space Academy curriculum, many of whichare in rural communities where weather and agriculture play important roles. CLOUD-MAP faculty and students from the University of Kentucky, along with Lockheed-Martin.Kentucky Commission on Aviation and other organizations, contribute to managing thecompetition. These activities contribute to trainee development, but also impact publicperception of SUAS technologies.

Public perception was also impacted in the first year through PI invited presentationsat various workshops and conferences. PR announcements of the CLOUD-MAP projectintroduced the public to our objectives, which received significant press. These are outlinedin §3.

1.4 Project Plan

1.4.1 Scientific and Technical Goals

The primary technical goal is to develop highly reliable and robust platforms that can rou-tinely perform regular atmospheric measurements in a variety of weather conditions, includ-ing day or night operation and during hazardous weather. The team was assembled based onthe requirement to accomplish this challenging goal. The team members have considerableexperience with designing, building, and flight-testing such UAS platforms, as well as devel-opment of sensors, algorithms, and communication systems. We will conduct research anddevelopment on multiple platform types (custom built and commercial off the shelf, includ-ing both rotary wing aircraft and fixed-wing platforms) and sensor suites. These systemswill be equipped with high-precision and fast-response atmospheric sensors, as discussed indetail below. We will focus on boundary layer conditions and development and how to bestutilize data determine atmospheric stability indices and the likelihood for development ofsevere weather. We will adapt miniaturized high-precision and fast-response atmosphericsensors to the profiling UAS platforms. Additionally, we will compare fixed-wing and rotarywing aircraft vehicles as to their suitability for carrying a variety of sensors for the study ofABL properties. Because various properties of the atmosphere are being sensed, the UASaircraft, its movements, outgassing, thermal profile, downwash, wake, and other propertieshave the potential to affect sensor data. This study will allow us to determine the properaircraft, sensor position, and sensor suite to use in further research with the eventual goal ofbeing able to use a heterogeneous system of autonomous vehicles to map critical features ofthe ABL through both space and time, allowing for a better understanding of this criticalset of related atmospheric phenomena. A final potential outcome of the effort is shown inFig. 3, where an autonomous system is coupled with an existing weather tower to provideextended profiling capabilities that increase the range of the ABL regularly probed. Thespecific objectives to achieve these goals are outlined in detail in §2.


Figure 3: Virtual or 4D Mesonet concept will allow extended regular ABL measurements.

1.4.2 Leveraged Activities

The University of Nebraska leads the UAS and Severe Storms Research Group (USSRG),which is a consortium of public and private sector collaborators led by the University ofNebraskaLincoln and the University of Colorado Boulder. USSRG aims to bring togethercollaborators from universities, federal laboratories, the private sector, and others who sharea vision of bringing UAS to bear on the study of severe storms. USSRG currently includes 22partners led by the University of Colorado Boulder (UCB, Dr. Brian Argrow) and the Uni-versity of NebraskaLincoln (UNL, Dr. Adam Houston). For nearly a decade, the UCBUNLteam has been developing solutions to the scientific and technological challenges involved inusing UAS to study severe storms.

Motivated in part by the grant, OU has created the Center for Autonomous Sensingand Sampling (CASS) and named the OU PI for CLOUD-MAP as the Director. CASSsmission is to explore, advance, and develop complete adaptive and autonomous sensing andsampling systems for use in the atmosphere, on the ground, and in the water, and to helpfacilitate the integration of this technology across various disciplines and institutions. To doso, CASS will leverage the States and Universitys strengths in aviation, atmospheric science,robotics, and remote sensing development to create innovative solutions to pressing societalneeds and collaborate with industry to develop and transfer technology for commercial ap-plications. The goal of CASS is to establish itself as a recognized global leader in research,education, and development involving autonomous sensing and sampling solutions to ad-dress science and technology driven needs, fostering an environment for trans-disciplinaryapplications of this technology, and helping to promote the effective transfer of knowledgeand technology to academia, government, and industry.

Using the CLOUD-MAPgrant and other activities as its foundation, OSU has devel-


oped the Unmanned Systems Research Institute (USRI) and named the CLOUD-MAPPIas the Director. The USRI will bring together multidisciplinary talent from across OSUscampuses to collaborate internally and externally on the design, testing, evaluation and ap-plication of unmanned technologies. Building on its recognized expertise in developing avariety of applications for unmanned aerial vehicles, the USRI will apply this proficiencyto design unmanned land-based vehicles and watercraft, including submersibles. The OSUResearch Foundation has established an unmanned systems development center (USDC)as part of the institute, which will be devoted to commercializing technologies developedthrough the institute. The USRI will be initially housed at OSUs Richmond Hills ResearchComplex on the north side of Stillwater but plans for a dedicated new facility are underway.

1.5 Collaborative Efforts

CLOUD-MAPconsists of a multidisciplinary team of proven senior science and engineer-ing faculty and researchers as well as highly qualified young faculty from Oklahoma StateUniversity, the University of Oklahoma, the University of Nebraska, and the University ofKentucky. This team includes engineers, computer scientists, atmospheric scientists, andeducators. It is important to note that each primary objective has several scientists and/orengineers who are considered national leaders within their profession. Each team at partner-ing institutions will be led by a senior PI to mentor participating junior faculty Participatingfaculty from the participating institutions include the following researchers across variousdepartments including Aerospace Engineering (AE), Biosystems and Agricultural Engineer-ing (BAE), Chemistry, Computer Science (CS), Earth and Atmospheric Sciences (EAS),Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE), Geography, Mechanical Engineering (ME) andMeteorology. The team is shown in Fig. 4 and team members are listed in §4.4.1.

The primary impact expected from CLOUD-MAPwill be the long-term multidis-ciplinary scientific and educational collaboration of the 13 early-career faculty who areinvolved. As one measure of the development of these collaborations, all 17 CLOUD-MAP faculty indicated their collaborations with the other CLOUD-MAP faculty for research,journal publications, conference papers and proposals, both prior to CLOUD-MAPand atthis point prior to the first flight campaign. A high-level indication of developing relation-ships via CLOUD-MAP is available from the total numbers of collaborations in each, withthe overall total. For research, the number of collaborations increased from 37 to 73; forjournal publications from 4 to 14; for conference presentations from 9 to 17; and proposalsheld steady at 40. Overall, the number of collaborations increased by 60% from 90 to 144.We will continue to examine this measure throughout the project and expect a significantjump after the first flight campaign this year. Social network analysis via graph theory andother other tools will be applied in Year 2 and beyond.

To provide sustainability beyond the project duration, we have partnered with sev-eral institutions, both federal and commercial, as well as partner universities in non-EPSCoRregions. These partnerships will provide opportunities for team members to collaborate onlarger proposal efforts, including both federal and SBIR grants. Partners have been care-fully selected based upon research expertise, willingness to actively collaborate, past historywith team members, and proximity. These include NASA, NCAR, NOAA, which serve asthe primary atmospheric science and sensing partners. They will provide input, technical


Figure 4: CLOUD-MAP investigators.

advice, and serve as end-users of much of the technology and/or data developed during theproject. University partners include the University of Colorado at Boulder and MIT. Theformer was selected since it is the leading institution for the use of SUAS in weather (andis also part of a NSF IUCRC in UAS) while the latter leads the world in the developmentof autonomous systems. These will provide faculty in the EPSCoR states unique partneringopportunities on proposals, increasing their chances of success. Corporate partners includethe Aerospace Corporation, Blackswift, FLIR, and Piasecki aircraft. Each brings uniquecapabilities in sensors, unmanned aircraft, an autopilot development. They will also provideunique opportunities for collaboration on various proposals, including in the case of Black-swift and Piasecki, SBIRs and STTRs. Partners at the time of the proposal submissions arelisted in Table 1 and shown in Fig. 5, but additional team members are being added. OUand UNL have long standing ties with NOAA in the area of UAS atmospheric monitoringand both were already working closely with the National Severe Storms Laboratory (NSSL)and Storm Prediction Center (SPC). Additionally, OU has begun working the Air ResourcesLaboratory.

An advisory board was formed that includes outside input from members of theseorganizations. These organizations will be involved in regular planning meetings as appro-priate and will be integrated as part of the annual symposium and other events, in additionto reviewing the annual report for changes in CLOUD-MAPgoals and objectives. Boardmember requirements are listed in §4.5 under governance.

• Prof. Brian Argrow: Professor, Aerospace Engineering Sciences, University of Colorado

• Dr. Bruce Baker: Director, Atmospheric Turbulence and Diffusion Division, Air Re-sources Laboratory, NOAA


Collaboration Description

A multidisciplinary team of proven senior science and engineering faculty and researchers from Oklahoma State University, the University of Oklahoma, the University of Nebraska, and the University of Kentucky has been assembled along with highly qualified young faculty. This team includes engineers, computer scientists, atmospheric scientists, and educators. It is important to note that each primary objective has several scientists and/or engineers who are considered national leaders within their profession. Each team at partnering institutions will be led by a senior PI to mentor participating junior faculty Participating faculty from the participating institutions include the following researchers across various departments including Aerospace Engineering (AE), Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering (BAE), Chemistry, Computer Science (CS), Earth and Atmospheric Sciences (EAS), Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE), Geography, Mechanical Engineering (ME) and Meteorology.

To provide sustainability beyond the project duration, we have partnered with several institutions, both federal and commercial, as well as partner universities in non-EPSCoR regions. These partnerships will provide opportunities for team members to collaborate on larger proposal efforts, including both federal and SBIR grants. Partners have been carefully selected based upon research expertise, willingness to actively collaborate, past history with team members, and proximity. These include NASA, NCAR, NOAA, which serve as the primary atmospheric science and sensing partners. They will provide input, technical advice, and serve as end-users of much of the technology and/or data developed during the project. University partners include the University of Colorado at Boulder and MIT. The former was selected since it is the leading institution for the use of SUAS in weather (and is also part of a NSF IUCRC in UAS) while the latter leads the world in the development of autonomous systems. These will provide faculty in the EPSCoR states unique partnering opportunities on proposals, increasing their chances of success. Corporate partners include the Aerospace Corporation, Blackswift, FLIR, and Piasecki aircraft. Each brings unique capabilities in sensors, unmanned aircraft, an autopilot development. They will also provide unique opportunities for collaboration on various proposals, including in the case of Blackswift and Piasecki, SBIRs and STTRs. An advisory board will be formed that will include outside input from members of these organizations. These organizations will be involved in regular planning meetings as appropriate and will be integrated as part of the annual symposium and other events.

Institution POC Area of Collaboration

NASA Geoff Bland, Walt Peterson, Qamar Shams Atmospheric Sensing

NCAR Vanda Gribisic Atmospheric Physics

NOAA Steve Koch Atmospheric Physics

UC Boulder Brian Argrow, Eric Frew UAS, Atmospheric Physics

MIT Jon How UAS

Aerospace Corp Zane Vaught Atmospheric Sensing, UAS

Blackswift Jack Elston Atmospheric Physics, UAS

Piasecki Frederick Piasecki UAS

FLIR Sachin Gupta Atmospheric Sensing

Partnering institutions and their corresponding general area of collaboration. Table 1: CLOUD-MAP partners.

• Geoff Bland: Aerospace Flight Systems, NASA/GSFC

• Dr. Erik Rasmussen: Project Vortex Coordinator, National Severe Storms Laboratory

• Steven Piltz: Meteorologist-in-Charge, National Weather Service, Tulsa Weather Fore-cast Office

• Dr. Vanda Grubisic: Director, Earth Observing Laboratory, National Center for At-mospheric Research

The advisory board will provide both pedagogical and pragmatic assessments of the teamstechnical efforts and research and outreach plans.

Integration through the various disciplines will occur through regular meetings andintegrated cross-disciplinary research seminars. The research results will be disseminatedin an annual symposium, UAS in Atmospheric Science, held at one of the team membercampuses annually. Student teams will work both directly with faculty researchers andindustry team members.

We will utilize multiple mechanisms for involvement of students in the project, includ-ing traditional graduate student research assistants, the Louis Stokes Alliance for MinorityParticipation (LSAMP), and multi-disciplinary senior design (capstone) courses between de-partments. The first such set of UAS based multi-disciplinary projects was developed in2014 with the use of GPS denied navigation and sense and avoid as the multi-disciplinarydesign topics between the departments. While most senior design students will work on theproject for only a year, graduate students, LSAMP student teams will work on the projectover the duration of the program and will be mentored by both the faculty advisors andgraduate students. Both undergraduate and graduate students will have the opportunity towork at the company partners as interns. The student teams will meet weekly with advisorsand monthly with the entire project team, includes company representatives.


Figure 5: CLOUD-MAPTeam member and partner map. Each partner brings a unique setof talents to the team, with very little overlap or gaps. This makes the affiliation betweenthe various partners synergistic.

2 SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL OBJECTIVES 11

2 Scientific and Technical Objectives

The project will develop and test systems for remote sensing of Earths atmosphere. Inparticular, systems will focus on the lower boundary layer (Fig. 6). This region is beyondthe height where data is obtained by surface observing stations, but below that sensed bymost airborne weather systems, including balloons, aircraft and satellites. The importanceof accurate data in this region is well understood[3]: this region is a major factor in thedevelopment of many meteorological phenomena, not the least of which include severe storms.The project will leverage key expertise across the institutions, including unmanned aircraftsystems, atmospheric measurement, robotics and autonomous control, and weather analysisand modeling. Each of these areas is critical for the research to be successful. Basic questionsthat we wish to help provide answers to include the following: How can local data acquiredby SUAS be used to better understand larger weather phenomena? Can SUAS be used tomeasure large-scale patterns and trends found in the atmosphere? What advancements inoperational requirements are necessary to provide routine capabilities and confidence to useSUAS as a meteorological diagnostic tool?

Figure 6: Atmospheric boundary layer - focus of study.

The specific objectives of this proposal are aimed at answering these basic questionsand the corresponding proposed collaborative research tasks are outlined below. The 4objectives are in areas of program governance, atmospheric measurement and sensing, un-manned systems development and operations, and public policy. These objectives have beendeveloped in such a manner to flow from one to another as shown in Fig. 7. Early facultydevelopment will be used to drive the science goals and associated engineering requirements.Except where noted, each task will have a lead researcher responsible for successfully im-plementing and organizing the proposed research and the executive committee consisting ofthe lead PIs from each institution will facilitate collaborations in and between institutional


researchers when appropriate.Tasks were broken down among task leaders and team members. This is show in

Table 2.

Figure 7: CLOUD-MAPobjectives.

2 SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL OBJECTIVES 13CLOUDMAPTASKLIST

Participants:Member,X;Lead,✔

Objective

Task

Lead

ShortTitle

BaileyvandenBroeke

Chilson

Chowdhary

Crick

Detweiler

Elbing

Frazier

Guzman

HoaggHouston

Jacob

Martin

PytlikZillig

Ruyle

Sama

Smith

Count

1 1-1 LeadPIs-CHJS ProgramMgmt ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ 42 2-1 Houston ConvectionInitiation X X X ✔ X 52-2 VanDenBroeke StormMicrophysics X ✔ X X X 52-3 Sama AirborneHydrology X X X ✔ 42-4 Martin ClimateVariation X X X ✔ X X 62-5 Guzman AirborneSamplng X X X X X X ✔ X X 92-6 Elbing Infrasonics X X ✔ X X 52-7 Frazier GISCorrelation X ✔ X X 4

3 3-1 Hoagg CooperativeControl X X X X ✔ X 63-2 Bailey DistributedData ✔ X X X X X X X X 93-3 Crick BehavioralControl X ✔ X X 43-4 Chowdhary Multi-AgentSims ✔ X X 33-5 Ruyle ConformalAntennas X X ✔ 3

4 4-1 Detweiler PublicPerception ✔ X X X X ✔ 64-2 Jacob UASWorkshops X ✔ X X X 54-3 Frazier RiskDissemination X ✔ X X 4

6 3 5 6 5 4 5 6 5 4 5 8 4 3 4 4 5 Count

Table 2: Participant task matrix.

2.1 Objective 1

Develop a strong mentoring program and intellectual center of gravity in thearea of UAS in Weather and develop joint efforts for future funding and the de-velopment of a national center in use of UAS in Atmospheric Science, ultimatelyresulting in a NSF ERC proposal.

This objective will be administered by the executive committee consisting of the PIsfrom each of the institutions. Workforce development impacts students and programs at allpartner universities with a focus on measurable and transferable improvements. UniversityPrograms include research experience on complex systems to retain students and improveintuitive engineering skills. Student-industry internships will be emphasized as well. Cross-pollination between researchers, industry and end users will foster new ideas and innovations.

For this multi-jurisdiction NSF Track-II opportunity, we propose to scale up early-career research infrastructure investment strategies proven successful by the team membersby implementing mentoring of early-career faculty while developing multi-disciplinary col-laborative research on a challenging complex focus research problem. Minimal investmentsin individual faculty and the opportunity for collaborative teaming among the member insti-tutions and partners are critical in establishing foundations for successful follow-on fundingwithin and outside EPSCoR. By providing a framework of coordinated collaborative re-search tasks, pointed collaborative partnerships, and annual workshops and conferences, wewill enable the faculty to be successful in advancing the science and their careers.

Various paradigms for how larger teams work together to develop the integrativecapacity. The model shown in Fig. 3 examines the development of trust among the newteam members. This was initiated by holding a virtual kick-off meeting including faculty andtrainee participants was in December 2015, which included participation by all stakeholders.Team governance guidelines where then developed to provide “rules of the road” for theproject, as outlined in §4. This was done in preparation in for the June flight campaign, asdiscussed in more detail below.

A mechanism for achieving this objective will be the UAS and Severe Storms Research


Table 3: Various paradigms for how larger teams work together to develop the integrativecapacity this model examines the development of trust among the new team members. [4]UK participants engaged in CLOUD-MAPvirtual kick-off meeting.

Group (USSRG), which is a consortium of public and private sector collaborators led by theUniversity of NebraskaLincoln and the University of Colorado Boulder. USSRG aims tobring together collaborators from universities, federal laboratories, the private sector, andothers who share a vision of bringing UAS to bear on the study of severe storms. Annualjoint field experiments will be conducted among the partners using individual tasks below todrive the test conditions. The results will be presented at the UAS in Atmospheric ScienceSymposium, which will be held at one of the member institutions annually, rotating fromsite to site throughout the four years. All project faculty will participate in the event andit will be open to the science community at-large and will include other activities such asCAREER award workshops with successful faculty.

2.2 Objective 2

Create and demonstrate UAS capabilities needed to support UAS operatingin the extreme conditions typical in atmospheric sensing, including the sens-ing, control, planning, asset management, learning, control and communicationstechnologies. Accordingly, develop test- beds and related analysis tools for better un-derstanding of the atmosphere using small UAS and perform experiments to inform UAScapabilities and acquire data for atmospheric physics and improved weather forecasts andmodeling.

There is a persistent and pressing need to collect better observations of the ABL.Having a better understanding of the kinematic and thermodynamic structure of the ABL,especially at small mesoscale time and space scales, impacts many areas of meteorology, suchas improvements to: numerical weather prediction modeling through better ABL parameter-ization; our ability to forecast the development and evolution of severe storms, assessments ofair quality in and around urban areas; the quality of information provided to the wind energysector; and so forth. It has been clearly stated in such recent reports as those provided bythe National Research Council and instrumentation workshops, that observing systems ca-pable of providing detailed profiles of temperature, moisture, and winds within the ABL areneeded to monitor the lower atmosphere and help determine the potential for severe weather


development. [1, 2] Unfortunately, operationally available observations of ABL variabilityof the scope and across the scales needed by the meteorological community are currentlynot available. The over arching goal of this objective is on the development, evaluation andapplication of complete UAS system packages capable of acquiring needed meteorologicaland atmospheric data miniaturized, high-precision, and fast-response atmospheric sensorsfor wind and thermodynamic measurements along with measurements of air chemistry soilmoisture, etc. relevant to climate science as a whole.

2.2.1 Task 2-1: Convection Initiation Investigation

Research Accomplishments The goals of this task are 1) advance understanding of themesoscale processes responsible for deep convection initiation (CI) and define the observableenvironmental conditions that regulate these processes, 2) develop and test a system forcoordinating multiple-UAS for a future CI-focused field campaign, and 3) establish guidancefor the system capabilities and deployment strategies required to maximize the impact ofUAS on numerical weather prediction model skill. The research promises to advance the stateof knowledge, integrate multi-disciplinary research conducted by atmospheric scientists andengineers, and transition research to operations and thereby directly benefiting agencies suchas the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

The following accomplishments can be attributed to the support provided throughthis this award: Dissemination of ongoing research on CI has been facilitated. Researchundertaken by PI Houston through support by NSF award AGS-0757189 has revealed apreviously undocumented sensitivity of CI to the vertical shear. The current award hasaccelerated the completion of this research and supported the dissemination of these results.[5, 6]

New research examining the possible impact of UAS on numerical weather predictionsof CI. Preliminary work towards this objective has been initiated. The observing systemsimulation experiments that will serve as the primary means of conducting this researchwill be executed using the Advanced Research Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF-ARW) model. PI Houston recently attended the week-long WRF tutorial administered atthe National Center for Atmospheric Research. PI Houston is also pursuing supplementalexternal support through the NOAA Oceanic and Atmospheric Research (OAR) VORTEX-SE call for proposals. This supplemental funding would enable exploration of the impact ofUAS on the formation and strength of supercell thunderstorms. [5, 6, 7]

New CI research on the role of vertical shear for supporting CI has begun. Buildingon the work noted above and prior work of PI Houstons research group,[5, 6, 7, 8] we haveinitiated an empirical examination of the role of vertical shear on CI. An undergraduatestudent (Brandon Centero) in the OU School of Meteorology is contributing to this research.

Support of ongoing examination of mesoscale airmasses with high e (MAHTEs).MAHTEs are airmasses formed through synoptic processes (e.g., large-scale advection) ormesoscale processes (e.g., thunderstorm outflow) and constitute the cool/denser side of anairmass boundary but are characterized by mesoscale regions, typically near the boundary,for which the equivalent potential temperature and convective available potential energy(CAPE) are higher than the air mass on the warm side of the boundary. By virtue of theirenhanced CAPE in proximity to airmass boundaries, MAHTEs are locations favorable for


CI. Moreover, their spatial scale often falls below the resolution of the meteorological observ-ing network. This research aims to explore the mechanisms of MAHTE formation throughobservational and modeling-based analysis. The research was initiated as part of the Pro-gram for Research on Elevated Convection producing Intense Precipitation (PRECIP, NSFaward AGS-1542760) but will be completed by UNL MS student Wolfgang Hanft in Y2 ofthe current award.

Progress toward system development for use in a future CI-focused field campaign isdescribed under Task 3-1: Cooperative Control of SUAS Formations for Distributed Mea-surements.

Workforce Development The award is supporting the training of UNL MS studentWolfgang Hanft whose thesis research will focus on MAHTEs. This award is also supportingthe undergraduate research of Brandon Centero (OU).

2.2.2 Task 2-2: Storm-Scale Microphysics

Research Accomplishments Research task 2-2 focuses on what we can learn aboutstorm-scale microphysics using UAS measurements. In particular, the research undertakenin this task will serve as a baseline study, and will utilize polarimetric radar observations tovalidate the results obtained using UAS measurements. Once the results are validated, it isanticipated that methods developed may be used as an independent information source aboutthe near-storm environment at low levels. The additional scientists currently collaboratingon this research task include Bailey (UK), Chilson (OU), Elbing (OSU), and Houston (UNL).Three technical goals were initially planned under Task 2-2:

(1) Gathering in-situ liquid drop measurements in the rear and forward flank regionsof a sample of classic supercell storms. These regions contain very different drop size dis-tributions (DSDs), and characteristics of the DSDs in these regions are thought to conveycritically important information about storm-scale evolution and near-term future severeweather potential. Being able to collect such observations from a UAS platform could im-prove severe weather predictability and increase scientific understanding of microphysics andobserved polarimetric radar signatures in these regions.

(2) Retrieving representative values of the polarimetric radar variables at low levelsin the severe storm environment. Using liquid water content sensors, UAS may provide arelatively inexpensive way to retrieve values of the radar variables reflectivity factor (ZHH),differential reflectivity (ZDR), and specific differential phase (KDP) from the edges of con-vective clouds. These fields would be especially valuable since they would be at low levels,where radar observations from the national radar network are scarce. Thus, with validation,such measurements may be able to fill in or supplement the standard polarimetric radarfields. These supplemental data could then be assimilated into mesoscale models, improvingnear-term severe storm and precipitation rate predictability. It is anticipated that most ofthe work supported by this grant will focus on validating UAS-obtained estimates of theradar variables.

(3) Retrieving aerosol information from near-storm environments and storm inflowlayers. Many aerosol species serve as cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) or ice nuclei (IN),and the distribution of aerosols in the near-storm environment can thus strongly influence


DSDs in convection. Differing DSDs, in turn, may support a spectrum of possible precipita-tion and severe weather outcomes. Knowing the aerosol distribution in the near-convectiveenvironment may help nowcasters anticipate storm behavior and threats more accuratelythan is currently possible. These data would also be valuable input to mesoscale weathermodels. Work toward the three technical goals has mostly centered on developing appropri-ate background knowledge and determining what sensors may be appropriate to collect theneeded data. Specifically, toward each technical goal listed above:

(1) Sensors have been investigated which collect DSD measurements and are of anappropriate size to be UAV-borne. The ideal instrument for this sort of measurement isthe Parsivel Disdrometer, though it is too large for most UAS applications. An additionalcloud droplet probe manufactured by DMT, Inc., was discovered which is small enough tobe UAV-borne, though its maximum particle size measured is 70 m. This is smaller thanmost drops we will are interested in sampling in the supercell rear and forward flank regions.One major limitation of cloud droplet samplers is that a fairly large amount of air volumemust be sampled in a short time period, and this limits the ability of a drone-mountablesensor to sample sufficiently large droplets. It is still possible that a sufficient sensor willbe introduced during the project, though it is possible that such measurements will not bepossible. Also working toward this research goal, the lead on this task (Van Den Broeke)has been working on polarimetric radar variability of the supercell regions of interest, andis currently revising a paper which describes how radar signatures of the rear and forwardflank regions vary by environment. Such information will be essential to optimize the valueof cloud droplet measurements achieved by UAS in these storm regions.

(2) Retrieving values of the polarimetric radar variables from convection can be doneusing liquid water content (LWC) sensors, which are sufficiently small to be UAV-borne.Most LWC sensors work by determining how much current is required to keep a wire or coilat the same temperature. A number of possible commercially-available LWC sensors havebeen identified which are feasible for drone platforms. In addition, another scientist in theStorm Microphysics working group, Phil Chilson (OU), is working with colleagues at OUto develop hotwire sensors which could obtain similar measurements. Derived radar fieldswill be compared with polarimetric radar measurements; given the maximum flight altitudeof many possible UAV platforms, we anticipate needing to collect data within 61.5 km ofthe nearest polarimetric radar. A map of these optimal data collection regions has beenproduced. Knowledge of the polarimetric radar signatures in convection and how they varyacross environments is also being developed by the task lead (Van Den Broeke) utilizing asample of cases from across the United States.

(3) Retrieving aerosol concentrations from convective environments can also be ac-complished by modifying commercially-available particle counters. One particular instru-ment has been identified as the most likely to be UAV-borne after modification. This workis supplemented by recent work published by the task lead (Van Den Broeke) showing radarsignature variability in a low-aerosol environment.

Further meaningful work toward developing our methods of data collection will requiredetailed discussion with other scientists on the NSF grant who work on other tasks, who willbe able to provide more technical input about possible platforms and instrument mountings.This additional collaboration is expected to take place in late June 2016 when the projectgroup gathers in Oklahoma for a field session and discussion of technical challenges. Addi-


tional work toward the project goals will consist of continued work toward understandinghow radar signatures varying in supercell storms across a spectrum of possible environmentscharacterized by different wind and moisture conditions. The task lead (Van Den Broeke)will also be attempting to obtain funding to support instrumentation needs, and will bepresenting related science to the Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences at UNL inApril 2016.

Workforce Development The task lead (Van Den Broeke) is currently recruiting a Grad-uate Research Assistant to join the Storm Microphysics research group starting in fall 2016.

Leveraged Opportunities and Activities The technical goals of this research task alignwell with some portions of the task leads research activities outside of this NSF project. Hestudies polarimetric radar signature variability in severe storms as a function of environment,and how this variability may be predictive of near-term future severe weather occurrence. Heanticipates publishing at least two manuscripts in this area in peer-reviewed journals over thenext several months, and expects to be able to leverage the results into the development ofresearch questions and hypotheses for this NSF project. He also anticipates that the uniquedatasets and methods generated through this NSF project will open new opportunities forlearning about radar signatures and microphysical processes in convection, and anticipatessubmitting a future proposal in this area.

2.2.3 Task 2-3: Airborne Soil Hydrology

Research Accomplishments The overall objective of this task is to determine the feasi-bility of applying a novel remote sensing technology towards early detection of water stressin production agriculture. This objective is being addressed with two specific aims: (1) todevelop a novel passive narrow-band single-pixel multispectral sensor for measuring visibleand near-infrared (NIR) reflectance used to compute NDVI and NDWI and to determine itsspectral response; (2) to test the hypothesis that the spatial patterns in land surface hydro-logical behavior are reflected in (a) low-altitude atmospheric humidity measurements and (b)NDWI measurements of bare soil, and that the pattern is related to the spatial variability incrop water supply as measured by NDVI/NDVI of the crop during the subsequent vegetativeperiod. The technical goals of these specific aims are to build a custom reflectance sensorusing off-the-shelf photodiodes, filters, and supporting electronics, and to deploy it aboarda sUAS platform.

Current activity to date has focused on determining the optimal wavelengths in thevisible and NIR bands for quantifying soil surface moisture variability through direct soilobservation. This data is needed to define the appropriate optical filters to be used in thecustom reflectance sensor. Reflectance data were collected using a visible and near-infraredspectrometer for a single soil type that was sieved to control particle size and to removeforeign material. Preliminary results are shown in Fig. 8. Results show the potential to usetechniques for directly assessing soil surface moisture content similar to those already usedto assess crop water variability.

The spectrometers used to collect the reflectance data have been packaged in aportable enclosure to allow the instruments to be deployed during field campaign testing


Figure 8: Preliminary soil moisture reflectance data and index calculations: (a) reflectanceversus wavelength for varying soil moisture; (b) ndvi/ndwi versus soil moisture (%gwc).

in Oklahoma this coming June/July (Fig. 9).

Figure 9: Portable visible and NIR spectrometer for laboratory and field use.

Workforce Development Ali Hamidisepehr (Ph.D. Biosystems and Agricultural Engi-neering, University of Kentucky) worked on developing MATLAB scripts for processingspectrometer reflectance data and computing NDVI and NDWI indices.

Leveraged Opportunities and Activities Currently, two proposals are under consid-eration that have been developed as a result of the efforts on this project. The first is acollaboration between two CLOUD-MAP faculty members, Jesse Hoagg and Michael Sama,along with computer science and livestock systems engineering faculty at the University of


Kentucky, to develop a UAS-based system for livestock health monitoring. The second isa proposal from Michael Sama to the Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research titledOptimizing Agricultural Water Use Efficiency with Unmanned Aircraft Systems.

2.2.4 Task 2-4: Local-Scale Temporal and Spatial Climate Variation Measure-ments

Research Accomplishments The long-term goal of this task is to establish a UAS cli-mate monitoring network across the region in order to improve our understanding and earlydetection of droughts and pluvials and the impact on agriculture and water resources. [9, 10]In order to complete this goal, we must first establish the capabilities of UASs to measureclimate-relevant variables. This is currently ongoing at the University of Oklahoma andincludes a variety of technical approaches. The specific climate variables of interest includetemperature, humidity, winds, soil moisture, and carbon dioxide (CO2) due to their relevancefor long-term climate change, pluvials and droughts. Challenges associated with spatial andtemporal correlation of these variables as measured by UAS with current in-situ and re-mote observations and model projections and predictions have been identified and assessedin conjunction with Task 2-7 at OSU. These challenges are helping to guide and developmeasurement strategies including frequency of flights and spatial extent in the vertical andhorizontal. Meteorological instrument calibration led by Dr. Chilson (OU) and CO2 sensoridentification are ongoing. CO2 sensor identification and calibration techniques is in collab-oration with Task 2-5 at OSU and discussions have begun with faculty at the University ofMaryland who have developed a small CO2 sensor with high accuracy (AMS abstract refer-ence). Vertical profiles of CO2 over different vegetation types in different climate conditionsare of high relevance to climate change but are very limited globally, especially at the lowestlevels,[11] which will be performed with UAS carrying a CO2 sensor. The test-bed goalsidentified as part of this task (Test-Bed 1: Advance understanding of the role of the local-scale on droughts and pluvial periods, and Test-Bed 2: Identify local-scale characteristics ofwinter climate) are anticipated to begin in the upcoming year when calibrated and validateddata is collected.

Workforce Development Undergraduate student, Myleigh Neill, began compiling a lit-erature review concerning climate variability and change across the Great Plains to identifypotential variables, space and time scales, and processes of interest for measurement withUAS. The undergraduate student has also begun investigating vertical CO2 variations in-cluding the results and instrumentation packages used in order to develop a comprehensivemeasurement strategy for vertical CO2 profiles with UAS. The student was active in theproject between September and December 2015 before participating in a meteorology studyabroad opportunity at Monash University in Australia as part of her undergraduate degree.[12]

2.2.5 Task 2-5: Airborne Sampling Systems

PI: Dr. Marcelo Guzman, co-PIs: Dr. Sean Bailey and Dr. Jamey Jacob ParticipatingStudents: (Ph.D. Candidate) ) Liz Pillar-Little and (High School Senior) Jimmy Kaindu


Research Accomplishments Much of the work in Task 2.5 to date has focused on thetechnical and engineering aspects necessary for developing an operational prototype sen-sor system for multiple trace atmospheric gases. Under the guidance of the PI (MarceloGuzman), a Ph.D. graduate student (Liz Pillar-Little) has been working of a selection ofsensors for quantifying concentrations of trace tropospheric gases. The acquired sensors arebeen extensively studied together with the development of communication protocols usingthe Arduino programming environment. At this point we are able to control a 60% of thesensors wired in a series array and translate voltage outputs into usable concentrations. Thedevelopment of a code for each sensor permits us to perform individual testing before thenext stage, where they will be combined to run the full code for the prototype. After pro-graming completion, the next step tested is the utilization of a datalogging shield, whichexpands the capabilities of Arduino by capturing real time measurements. Currently codebugs are being corrected and the operation of the shield includes successful tests for storingdata in an onboard SD card. The final circuit layout is nearly complete. Once a final modelis complete, printed circuit boards will be designed using a circuit board printing company.

The aim of flying robust, lightweight atmospheric sensors on UAVs is to monitor airquality, investigate pollution sources, and determine real-world exposures to gases of concernnear or at ground level. Measurements of this type will serve to complete atmosphericinventories of trace gaseous species by sampling and profiling underrepresented areas of thetroposphere. Data collected onboard UAVs during the June field campaign and from groundtests will be paired with GPS data to construct chemical maps.

Workforce Development All the worked described above is performed by a female Ph.D.student (Liz Pillar-Little) under the direct supervision of the PI and consultation with theco-PIs for this task. The interdisciplinary training is highly contributing to the professionalpreparation of the student.

STEM Outreach: During the 2015-2016 school year, a high school senior from anunderrepresented group in STEM disciplines (Jimmy Kaindu, pre-engineering program atLafayette High School) joined the project. After an initial tutorial in atmospheric andanalytical chemistry, set out to assist in the design of the electronics and code requiredto develop the completed prototype. This experience is providing the student a uniqueexperience to continue with his goal of becoming an engineering student in the fall of 2016.

2.2.6 Task 2-6: Atmospheric Infrasonic Sensing

Research Accomplishments The objective for this task is to develop infrasonic monitor-ing of the atmosphere and assess if infrasonic microphones can be integrated with UAS. Thework plan for achieving this objective can be broadly divided in two phases; (1) establishinga trusted ground source and receiver and (2) integrating infrasonic sensing with UAS. Thefirst phase will provide a trusted source that can be compared with the UAS data to assessthe accuracy of the UAS acquired data. The technical goals for phase 1 include buildingthe reference infrasonic array using off-the-shelf components, developing a robust infrasonicsource, and establishing in-house acoustic localization algorithms. The technical tasks ofphase 2 are integrating a microphone on the UAS platform, data acquisition and filtering,and flight control and communication.


Current activity to date has focused on developing of the reference array and theinfrasonic source. For the reference array we have used low cost, off-the-shelf infrasonicmicrophones to assess the performance of windscreen configurations. While we have plans touse NASA designed windscreens in the future, for the initial reference array we have decidedto utilize traditional configurations that utilize soaker hoses extending radially from a centralhub that houses the infrasonic microphone. Due to a lack of control with the propane torchand the low quality of the infrasonic microphones used, the results were inconclusive apartfrom demonstrating that windscreens are required to reduce the noise. We are currentlyresearching several infrasonic microphone options and will purchase a higher quality set inthe near future.

Figure 10: Wind screen configuration testing using a pulsed propane torch as the infrasonicsource.

We have also done work to improve our infrasonic source. Here our M.S. student hasbeen testing in the laboratory a subwoofer, which should help for identification of preferredwindscreen materials/configurations. In addition, a senior design team is currently develop-ing a custom-designed pulsed propane torch. The characterization of these new infrasonicsources is not yet complete, but we expect to have established a trusted laboratory and fieldtesting infrasonic source by the conclusion of the Spring 2016 semester.

Figure 11: Current design of the developed pulsed propane torch, which can be used to gen-erate an infrasonic signal. (left) Schematic of the overall design, (middle) inside combustionnozzle showing the pilot burner, and (right) the torch valve assembly.

Workforce Development Arnesha Threatt (M.S. Mechanical Engineering, OklahomaState University) worked on the subwoofer design and characterization, microphone spec-ifications, and led all field-testing efforts. Besides her technical development, she is alsogaining leadership experience having to lead our undergraduate students.


Madison Likins (B.S. Mechanical Engineering, Oklahoma State University) has stud-ied attenuation of infrasonic signals computationally and experimentally as well as currentlyis leading her Capstone Senior Design Project team on the design of the pulsed propanetorch. She is a Wentz Research Scholar.

In addition, the remainder of Madisons Capstone Senior Design team (Jacob Bertrand,Jacob Nichols, and Maxwell Niemeyer) have learned about infrasonics, combustion, flow con-trol, and instrumentation.

This task has broadened participation and diversity in STEM with two females takingthe primary leadership roles on this task as well as engaging undergraduate students (4 total)with impactful research opportunities.

Leveraged Opportunities and Activities Currently, a proposal is under considerationby the W.M. Keck Foundation to assess the correlation between infrasonic emissions fromtornadoes and the flow-field properties. This proposal is a collaborative effort betweenOklahoma State University and the University of Oklahoma with two of the NSF CLOUD-MAP faculty members in lead roles (PI Elbing, co-PI Chowdhary).

Elbing and Chowdhary have also submitted a LOI for the 2016 NOAA-OAR VORTEX-SE. This FFO intends to fund two projects related to using infrasonic measurements fordetection and monitoring of tornadoes.

2.2.7 Task 2-7: GIS Multi-scale Correlation

Research Accomplishments The technical goals of this task are to (1) determine optimallocations for UAS siting and deployment using geospatial analytics, statistical analyses, andgeographic information systems (GIS), (2) rectify spatial and temporal scale disparities thatoccur due to integration of various types of data collected from multiple platforms, (3)develop methods for predicting fine-scale climate variables from coarse-scale data using UAS-acquired data as an intermediary, and (4) collect, process, and analyze data from post-eventlandscapes to evaluate forecasting decisions.

Progress on the first technical goal includes submission of one manuscript [13] inves-tigating the landscape and surface environmental impacts on tornado touchdown locationsin an effort to better determine where to site UAS for deployment based on the highestlikelihoods of touchdown. The study uses a combination of GIS analyses, geospatial analyt-ics, and statistics to determine statistical clusters of tornadoes across the United States andinvestigate the land cover and terrain variables associated with touchdowns in each region.Brasher and Hemingway are both graduates students in the Department of Geography atOSU. Phase two of this study will investigate the spatial landscape patterns of tornado pathsin an effort to determine surface heterogeneity impacts on tornado travel.

Progress on the second technical goal includes collaboration between Task 2-7 re-searchers at OSU, OU, and UK to investigate the challenges and opportunities of integratingUAS into GIScience. GIScience is the scientific discipline that studies the theoretical ba-sis (i.e., data structures and computational techniques) underlying geographic informationsystems and software. The manuscript presenting these findings has been submitted to apeer-reviewed journal in GIScience and is currently under review. [14] Progress on the sec-ond goal also includes the funding of an NSF proposal to investigate spatial scaling between


various types of areal data (e.g., satellite imagery) using different landscape paradigms (i.e.,patch-based vs. continuous). The official start date for this award is June 1, 2016 (Award#1561021), but efforts have begun to train a graduate student research assistant in the GIS,remote sensing, and statistical techniques that will be used in the study. Additionally, anundergraduate student will be hired in Fall 2016 to work on this project.

Workforce Development Trainee activities are ongoing and include GIS, remote sensing,and programming training for two masters student in the Department of Geography atOklahoma State University. Outreach activities included a UAS demonstration at GIS Dayat the Capitol, which is an open public event that takes place annually at the State Capitolbuilding in Oklahoma City to highlight GIS activities taking place within the state. Thisyear, the event drew approximately 250-300 students, legislatures (including the LieutenantGovernor), academic personnel, and GIS professionals. The static demonstration highlightedhow UAS operate and how aerial imagery can be collected via UAS for GIS and remotesensing-related projects.

Leveraged Opportunities and Activities Collaborations related to this task (and othertasks) have been leveraged for an NSF National Research Traineeship (NRT) program pro-posal submitted by UK.

2.3 Objective 3

Develop and demonstrate coordinated control and collaboration between au-tonomous air vehicles. The range, endurance and communication capabilities of SUAS isoften less than desired for some of the applications described. By collaborating with mobileground stations, the SUAS, both operating solo and in swarms, can relay communication,offload heavy computation, and potentially land to be refueled by the GCS.

Robust coordinated control of multiple SUAS is needed for routine operations in theNAS. There is a need to optimize control, coordination and communication and examinethe resulting impact that these systems have for characterization of the data. The overarching goal of this objective is to explore a multi-platform approach for observing neededmesoscale atmospheric and meteorological observations with UAS and gain experience indeploying the platforms, collecting atmospheric measurements, and coordinating operationsamong different UAS teams

2.3.1 Task 3-1: Cooperative Control of SUAS

This task focuses on cooperative control of UAS formations for distributed sensing applica-tions. For example, a coordinated group of air vehicles could be used in forest fire scenariosto measure wind velocities, which can then be used to predict how the fire will move. Simi-larly, coordinated air vehicles could provide distributed measurements for predicting airbornepollutant dispersion in a rapidly evolving emergency situation. In the agricultural industry,a coordinated group of air vehicles could conduct crop surveys on large farms.

In all of these applications, it is often desirable to have the vehicles fly in equallyspaced formations. For example, vehicles could travel together in a flock, where vehicles


maintain desired separation distances, avoid collisions, and match velocities.Swarming is another valuable control approach for distributed sensing. In this case,

a swarm of vehicles could provide measurement data that is approximately uniform in timeand space. Uniformly distributed data is valuable for a variety of atmospheric measurements,for example, wind velocity measurements for reconstructing an atmospheric flow field.

For some measurement applications, it is valuable to have formations that are ca-pable of reconfiguring based on real-time sensor measurements. For example, considered aformation of vehicles measuring pollutant concentrations. Collectively, these vehicles couldbe used to estimate concentration gradients in real time. Then, the entire formation couldbe manipulated based on the real-time gradient estimates. This type of approach is key totracking plumes and identifying their sources.

This task aims to develop, analyze, and demonstrate new methods of cooperativecontrol for UAS formations—methods for flocking and swarming as well as methods forformations reconfiguration. We will develop these methods through a combination of math-ematical analysis, numerical simulation, and experimentation.

Research Accomplishments The major research objectives for this task are: 1) developand test flocking methods; 2) develop and test swarming methods; and 3) develop andtest methods for real-time formation reconfiguration. During this first reporting period, wefocused on objective 1).

Flocking and Destination Seeking. We developed a new flocking-and-destination-seeking control approach that allows vehicles not only to flock but also to leave the flockas they approach a desired destination. Our approach is not a leader-follower method andrequires limited real-time information sharing. This decentralized method is beneficial forlarge formations. This work has been submitted for publication in a peer-reviewed archivaljournal. [15]

Fig. 12 shows a simulation of this new approach—a group of 20 vehicles form a flockand move toward a group of destinations. As the flock approaches the destinations, theformation breaks apart and each vehicle goes to its destination.

Discrete-Time Flocking. During this reporting period, we also developed a newdiscrete-time flocking method. Most formation-flying approaches (including flocking) are de-signed using continuous-time dynamics. However, these methods are implemented on digitalprocessors with sampled data, and if the feedback rates are not sufficiently fast, then sample-data effects can be significant. For example, these effects can cause instabilities, which arenot predicted from a continuous-time analysis. Thus, our new discrete-time method is ad-vantageous for implementation with slow feedback rates (e.g., less than 10 Hz).

Experimental Demonstration of Flocking. During this reporting period, weperformed an experimental demonstration of our flocking methods using 3 small quadcoptersas shown in Fig. 13. To implement our flocking techniques, each vehicle requires relativeposition and velocity measurements of the other 2 vehicles. We used a spatially fixed motioncapture system (manufactured by OptiTrack) to obtain position and velocity measurementsin real time. The OptiTrack motion capture system includes six OptiTrack Prime 13 cameraswith 1.3 mega-pixel resolution and a maximum motion capture rate of 120 frame per second.

Fixed-Wing Flight Experiments. We also made progress toward outdoor forma-


0400

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200t = 95 s

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t = 26 st = 8 .5 st = 0 s

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zp

osit

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Figure 12: Twenty autonomous air vehicles (dots) are controlled by the flocking-and-destination-seeking control strategy. These vehicles form a flock. As the flock approachesthe destinations (large circles on the left), the formation breaks up and each vehicle goes toits destination.

tion flying. We performed single-vehicle outdoor flight experiments using a new altitudecontrol approach, which will be beneficial for inner-loop control with multiple air vehicles.This work has been submitted for publication in a peer-reviewed archival journal. [16]

Workforce Development During this reporting period, we continued our work with theInstitute for Aerospace Education (www.iae.aero) on the Wing Design Competition, whichis a first-of-its-kind engineering competition for high-school students. This year’s rules werepublished in the fall of 2015, and we anticipate participation from over 300 students.

2.3.2 Task 3-2: Integration of Spatially Distributed Data from Moving SensorPlatforms

Research Accomplishments The goal of this effort is to evaluate integration of spatiallydistributed data from moving sensor platforms.

Summary of Objectives

Broader Impacts: Obtaining time-dependent spatial distribution of a quantity (x) canbe extremely valuable for understanding the turbulent transport, dissipation, and diffusionprocesses of a quantity (φ, which can be mass, momentum or energy) and the role that theatmospheric properties play in those processes. Predicting the transport of heat, momentum,water vapor and pollutants due to this turbulence is a crucial part of many scientific disci-plines such as meteorology, climatology, wind engineering and environmental science. Thus,


Figure 13: Three small rotorcraft travel in a flocking. Feedback data is obtained using asix-camera motion capture system.

increased understanding in this area will lead to improvements in many diverse and sociallyimportant scientific tasks including: modeling weather and climate patterns; prediction ofstructural loading; energy recovery in wind farms; or tracking pollutants in the atmosphere.

Intellectual Merit: Fixed-wing moving SUAS offer several advantages over small ro-torcraft, including the ability to traverse a larger space during the 30 minute periods ofquasi-statistical-stationarity. However, measurements made using fixed-wing UAVs are nei-ther fixed-point measurements, nor measurements of a spatial field, as both the position ofthe UAV and the flow field are time dependent. Thus, the measured quantity is φ(x(t), t).Hence, the objective of this task is to identify approaches which allow the fixed wing UAV toobtain scientifically relevant, spatially distributed data. It is hoped that by using a uniquecombination of experimental tools and analysis techniques, the use of SUAS will fill a void intraditional atmospheric boundary layer turbulence research capabilities and contribute newunderstanding atmospheric boundary layer structure, organization and transport processes.

Progress to Date Initial work is focusing on producing data reduction schemes which canbe applied to a single orbiting UAV following a fixed, repeatable path. Our first steps areintroducing 5-hole multi-component velocity probe measurements into a fixed-wing SUASand developing a data reduction scheme which will subtract the 6 degree of freedom SUASposition and velocity data acquired by the autopilot in the inertial frame of reference (groundspeed) from the measured 5-hole probe velocity to obtain a local wind velocity vector. Accu-rately knowing the local velocity vector is very important for this task, as the average windvector will give us both a convection velocity which will be used to estimate the velocitydistribution within the moving air mass.

At the time of preparing this report, we have successfully: (1) manufactured 5-holeprobes and introduced pressure scanner arrays into the airframes; (2) developed a probe


calibration apparatus; (3) conducted several successful test flights; and (4) developed a datareduction code to take position and or. Implementation of the data reduction code on thetest flight data has revealed inconsistencies in the reduced data. Examination of the data hassuggested that these inconsistencies are due to error in the autopilot magnetometer producingerror in the yaw angle. In turn, this inconsistently biases the velocity vector and errors wellover 50% have been observed. We are now examining alternate avenues to produce aircraftorientation which does not rely on magnetic heading (including utilizing a dual antenna GPSaided Inertial Navigation System or utilizing photogrammetry based orientation extraction).Once this is complete, we will begin to focus on flight path development in anticipation ofthe Summer 2016 measurement campaign.

Workforce Development Currently, we have 1 graduate student (male) actively workingon this project. This student is responsible for planning, executing and analyzing test flightdata and is learning project management, project planning and data analysis skills. Thisstudent is also responsible for managing by 7 undergraduate students (5 male, 2 female)supporting the project. These undergraduates are largely responsible for maintaining thehardware and SUAS involved in this project and are learning skills in problem solving, engi-neering design, sensing and autonomy. In addition, a visiting student from the University ofKarlsruhe (female) made significant contributions to the 5-hole probe hardware and softwaredevelopment and a high school student (male) is conducting a research placement in whichhe is learning programming, robotics, and sensing systems putting together a sensor packagefor use on the SUAS.

Leveraged Opportunities and Activities This project is closely related to NSF CA-REER related research which has resulted in significantly greater productivity and efficiencysolving technical challenges related to both projects. We also participated in University ofKentucky’s Engineering Day (E-Day) in February of 2016 by hosting an open house in theUAV lab. This is an open house in which an estimated 6,000-9,000 kids (of all ages) tourthe college of engineering. Students working on this NSF-funded research presented theirproject work to visitors, and gave visitors an opportunity to fly small quad-copters in anobstacle course contained within the lab’s CNC enclosure.

In addition, this year we are also developing modules for the Women in EngineeringSummer Workshop Series targeting the recruitment of female high school students in engi-neering. This is the first year that Mechanical Engineering will contribute a workshop forthis program, and we are planning a glider design contest which will incorporate instructionin fluid mechanics fundamentals and wind tunnel testing into an optimization problem. Anundergraduate student (male) is tasked with developing the design problem, advised by theTask 3-2 project lead.

Jacob and Bailey submitted a LOI and were selected to submit a proposal for the2016 NOAA-OAR VORTEX-SE RFP. This FFO intends to fund two projects related tousing atmospheric boundary layer measurements and impacts on surrounding terrain onsevere storm evolution.


2.3.3 Task 3-3: Heterogeneous Behavioral Control

Research Accomplishments To date, research in this task area has progressed alongtwo fronts, one aimed at producing early publishable research results and one focused ondeveloping the basic conceptual framework for shared autonomy in heterogenous platformdeployment. We have also collaborated with other task groups to produce other paperswithin the publication process (see the leverage section).

The first task resulted in the submission (currently under review) of a paper to RO-MAN (25th IEEE International Symposium on Robot and Human Interactive Communica-tion) entitled “Learning to assess the cognitive capacity of human partners”. In this work,we addressed the problem of whether a partially-autonomous system is able to evaluate thequality of directions and advice provided by a human team member, even in tasks whichrely on the human’s superior situational awareness for success. The robotic system was ableto train itself on a model of human behavior within a task for which success metrics wereobtainable by the robot itself, and leverage that model within a task for which human advicewas necessary, thus accurately assessing the reliablilty of the human’s direction. In a sce-nario where multiple heterogenous aerial systems are deployed for weather tracking and datacollection, it will be useful to integrate human advice into positioning and route planning,but only to the extent that the human operators are reliably able to integrate large amountsof information and act in the stressful context of a fast-moving and potentially dangerousweather phenomenon.

Our research group has also begun developing and deploying mesh networks of mobilerobots that are able to pass and integrate distributions over intentions using loopy propa-gation within factor graphs. This will form the basis of the heterogenous control algorithmswhich we intend to develop. We have designed functions to motivate navigation and explo-ration behaviors within our testbed network of ground-mobile robots. This will be extendedto aerial weather sensors in the next several months.

Workforce Development We currently have one graduate student, one special studentand two undergraduate students supporting this project. They are jointly engaged in devel-oping the mathematical foundation underpinning sensor and intention integration functionswithin the factor graph, developing the algorithms and data structures for modeling therobot network’s action and belief spaces, and solving the technical problems of communica-tion within the robot network.

Leveraged Opportunities and Activities We have worked with other research groupswithin the CLOUD-MAP umbrella to help produce two other papers for publication consid-eration, one to the International Journal of Geographic Information Science and another tothe IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA).

2.3.4 Task 3-4: Multi-Agent Manned-Unmanned HITL Simulator

Research Accomplishments The objective of this research effort is to develop a multi-agent simulation system capable of supporting Hardware in the Loop (HITL) simulationswith multiple separately controlled manned and unmanned agents, specifically for training


operators to use multiple UAS in weather monitoring.Towards this objective, we have been making significant advances to the Multi-Agent

Game Emulator (MAGE) system developed by co-PI Chowdharys group, in collaborationwith co-PI Crick. In particular, during the period from March 2016 to date, we have in-corporated compatibility of the MAGE system with the Robot Operating System (ROS)middleware platform. ROS provides a software platform that makes it significantly easierfor multiple agents to interact with each other. Each agent is represented as a node on anetwork, and information can be queried or pushed from any node.

The intellectual merit of this work is in creation of a multi-agent flight simulatorthat is both high fidelity and at the same time easy to interact with for both mannedand unmanned agents. Such a simulation system does not currently exist in the researchcommunity. Our system will be made available to collaborating researchers, and eventuallyto a broader audience as it matures. This will enable significant broader impact opportunitiesincluding research, as well as outreach.

Workforce Development Rakshit Allamaraju, a graduate student, has been workingon development of the MAGE system and is receiving training in machine learning andsoftware engineering from Chowdhary and Crick. Dane Johnson (OSU graduate, temporaryprofessional) and Logan Washbourne (graduate student) are working on hardware platformsfor multi-agent missions, and are receiving training in that area from Chowdhary.

Leveraged Opportunities and Activities The MAGE simulation system was utilizedas prior work in a SBIR proposal submitted in collaboration with Concepts2Systems inc.where Chowdhary was designated as the PI from OSUs side.

2.3.5 Task 3-5: Robust Conformal Antennas for UAS Communication

Research Accomplishments The development of robust conformal antennas for UAScommunications is centralized on development of an ability to maintain a data link betweena ground station and an aircraft without fail. Existing problems stem from the inability ofan antenna to radiate in all directions simultaneously and the nature of UAS flights possiblyorienting an antenna in any direction as well as the extremely size-constrained form factorsimposed by the small usable surfaces on the aircraft. The first goal with the developmentof such antennas is to investigate the influence of various UAS structures and the materialswith which they are constructed has on potential solutions. Different antenna types will bebetter suited to function with these different structures and materials. General conclusionswill be able to be drawn based on material properties and geometries as to whether certainantenna types are practical for embedded or conformal applications for a particular UAS.The second goal is to explore the use of multi-band antennas to counteract the inabilityof a single antenna to radiate isotropically. Duplicating the communication streams overmultiple bands with orthogonal radiation patterns that approach isotropic radiation as asystem would ensure link stability. The final goal is to apply the technologies from the firsttwo portions to communication systems between multiple UAS. This would enable furthercoordination between UAS and potentially enable expansion of existing scientific missionsthat implement UAS.


A short set of preliminary tests were performed on a folded monopole structure inHFSS to characterize the basic effects of conforming single-element antennas to varioussurfaces of a particular material and shown in Fig. 14. It was found that antennas achieveslightly reduced reflections at the ideal operating frequency with conformality. This came atthe cost of both a shift in operating frequency from the planar design and a slight variancein the radiation patterns. These effects were more apparent as the curvature or bend angleof the structure the antenna conformed to was increased.

Figure 14: Depiction of structures investigated in simulation to determine impact of confor-mality on antenna performance.

The cross dipole antenna was selected as a potential candidate for an effective con-formal antenna for applications where materials of minimal conductivity were used in theconstruction of body the aircraft. Tests were then performed to ascertain the effects of en-closing an antenna inside a craft. The craft used as the test case was the IRIS+ and wasmodeled by a series of cavities in simulations. Various positions of the antenna were usedwithin the cavities and the approximate rectangular form representation of the IRIS+ witha centralized antenna position is shown below in Fig. 15.

As can be seen in Fig. 16 below, both the isolation and the bandwidth around theoperating frequency are substantially reduced when the antenna is placed inside a simpleplanar box of even minimally lossy material. Additionally, a sidelobe-like effect becomesapparent in the radiation pattern of an enclosed antenna. As can be seen in the radiationpattern plots below, the main beamwidth narrows as the secondary maxima develop for theenclosed antenna, shown in red, versus a free space simulation, shown in blue. It is worthnoting that if the antenna is placed along the surface of the box, it exhibits a radiationpattern quite nearly equal to that of the free space simulation.

Having established that internal placement of the cross dipole was not optimal, it wasthen tested for feasibility in conforming to structure surfaces. The elements were bent in anarc upwards to simulate somewhat of a worst-case attachment to the underbelly of a verysmall craft with a sharp contour. A depiction of this bending is shown in Fig. 17. As canbe seen in the accompanying radiation pattern, the total gain of the antenna is only slightlyaltered with approximately the same unity gain beamwidth.

Current work is being done on the miniaturization of the cross dipole structure soit can be included in the IRIS+ structure which has a much smaller desired footprint forthe antenna than the half wave radiators that have been used thus far. Some attempts toreshape the radiators to achieve a smaller surface area footprint were attempted, as shown


(a) (b)

Figure 15: Depiction of a crossed dipole embedded in (a) a block of dielectric material and(b) the IRIS UAS. The block of dielectric in (a) was used as a representation in simulation ofthe impact the total structure in (b) would have had in simulation to reduce computationalcomplexity.

in Fig. 18, but were found to only minimally reduce the footprint while keeping the desiredproperties anywhere near optimal. One such example is the bent cross dipole shown below inFig. 18(a). Thus, size reduction by helix loading of the elements is currently being pursuedas the major mechanism for adhering to smaller form factors, as shown in Fig. 18(b). Itmay be possible to combine the two methods shown in Fig. 18(a) and Fig. 18(b) to create abent and loaded cross dipole structure to achieve the minimum size with optimal radiationproperties.

Workforce Development Taylor Poydence is the student working on this project. He iscurrently an undergraduate student in his senior year of his bachelor’s degree. He will becontinuing on in the project in the Fall of 2016 as a master’s student. This NSF grant willsupport him through to the completion of his master’s degree.

2.4 Objective 4

Develop and conduct UAS themed outreach in support of NSFs technology ed-ucation and workforce development. We will build on current STEM activities in Ok-lahoma, Nebraska and Kentucky to develop national K-12 activities. This will also includecommunity efforts to obtain a better understanding of public perceptions of UAS applica-tions to assist policy development concerning the potential widespread application of UASfor atmospheric science.

Primary outcomes of this objective include in the wider sense education of the publicon the use of UAS and in an academic emphasis to facilitate the broader application of UASfor atmospheric science. This will include seminars for faculty from EPSCoR states who areinterested in learning how to integrate UAS into research in the atmospheric sciences. Wealso wish to facilitate the application of UAS in secondary education pedagogy, specifically


(a) (b)

(c) (d)

Figure 16: Depiction of impact of embedding a crossed dipole antenna in a block of dielectricwhere (a) shows the return loss of the antenna in free space and (b) shows the return loss ofthe antenna within the block of dielectric. The radiation patterns in (c) and (d) show twodifferent cut planes and the free space antenna performance is in red while that embeddedin dielectric is shown in red.


(a) (b)

Figure 17: Depiction of a bent crossed dipole where (a) shows the radiation pattern and (b)shows a CAD drawing.

(a) (b)

Figure 18: Depiction of antenna miniaturization techniques for lower frequency communi-cation systems on UAS where (a) shows a bent arm configuration and (b) shows inductiveloading of the dipole ends.


working with experts in K-12 education (PLTW) to develop examples of how UAS canbe used in the classroom to illustrate basic atmospheric science and engineering principles.For example, atmospheric profiling using UAS can illustrate the dependence of temperatureand pressure on height and how this evolves throughout the day; the aircraft itself can bethe focus of discussions concerning remote command and control and basic aeronautics; byincorporating simple onboard autopilots, students could use basic computer coding principlesto design flight paths.

2.4.1 Task 4-1: Public Perception and Public Policy

Research Accomplishments The CLOUD-MAPproject will lead to revolutions in thestudy of the atmosphere by advancing the capabilities of UASs, their sensors, and the associ-ated data analysis and scientific modeling. Broad use of UASs, however, will require carefulconsideration of the public response to the use of UASs by scientists in the national airspace.The overall goal of this work is to assess public perception of UASs and identify key issuesthat may arise. In addition, this work will investigate how methods, such as responsibleresearch and innovation (RRI) as applied to technology, impact the perception and adoptionof such technology. The specific goals of this task are to: 1) Determine key issues that arelikely to arise among the public related to the use of UASs for atmospheric measurementand other applications; and 2) Determine the impact of different forms of RRI and respon-sivity on public trust. The approach used in this task merges social science methods withtechnology development to better close the loop between public perception and technologydevelopment. This will impact not only the other tasks in this project, but will result infindings that will inform best practices for technology development in a wide range of fields

We have made significant progress in assessing the public perception of UASs operatedin a variety of contexts. We developed a survey that we have deployed both regionally andnationally. So far we have collected 159 responses to this survey. To gain insight into theresponses, we have also conducted six focus groups with respondents to the survey. We arecontinuing to collect data and conduct focus groups to assess public perception of UASsand also to determine the impact of RRI and responsivity on public trust. We also havecontacted NWS employees and researchers and plan to conduct a focus group with thesestakeholders in the near future.

A full analysis of the surveys and focus group data will be completed in the next yearonce we have completed data collection. Initial results have already provided insight. First,many people refer to UASs as drones, and we expected that people may have a more negativeview of the term drone over UASs, however, our initial results indicate that this is not thecase. The UAS community is typically resistant to using the term drone, but these resultsmay indicate that insisting on using the term UAS may not affect public perceptionexcept toraise questions in the publics mind. Indeed, we have found that people express significantlyless familiarity with the technology when our surveys have used terms like UAS or UAV,with certain respondents asking are you talking about drones? or commenting that the surveywould be clearer if we simply used the term drones.

A second initial finding is that privacy continues to come up as one of the primaryconcerns by the public. Focus group participants often observe that technological advanceswhich enable identification of the use/user of a drone might allay some privacy concerns. As


one participant noted,

· · ·how does this affect my privacy, again, identification, ya know, how do I knowthat this is a trusted resource as compared to something that has malice or otherintentions?

In discussions in the focus groups when people learned that not all UASs had cameras,the participants felt much more comfortable with the systems operating near their housesand property. This could directly impact technology design since developing systems withoutcameras could significantly reduce public concerns if the public is also informed of thesechanges.

Third, there have been mixed views on the amount of autonomy available to thevehicle. One person noted,

Well I dont think fully autonomous is the direction but I also think its usefulto have some controls on it.I think some limits on the device as far as elevationand height would maybe be a first step towards something like that. But I dontthink that throwing something up in the air and letting it do its thing withoutsome manual control [is a good idea].

Some participants felt more comfortable if the UAS had high levels of autonomy sincethis reduced privacy concerns (since a person is not watching) and also alleviated questionsabout how they could be operated in remote locations potentially far from operators. Otherparticipants, however, expressed concern about the capabilities of autonomous systems tomake the right decisions, especially when faced with challenging flight conditions or otheraircraft.

A particularly promising early finding of this work is that most participants haveexpressed more trust and acceptance of UASs operated by scientists for tasks that couldimprove their lives. Specifically, using UASs in relatively rural locations to measure atmo-spheric conditions to improve weather forecasting and modeling was viewed positively bymost participants. This is in contrast to commercial applications, such as UAS packagedelivery, that were viewed largely negatively due to significant safety and privacy concerns.As two participants noted,

I see a lot of [problems] with like the delivery though, cuz um like my husbandand I were talking you know what if the package gets dropped off at somebodyelses house, like the privacy issues. I know it says like 2500 feet, but that stillconcerns me. I dont really like that part on that. But like the tornadoes andstuff like that, I like that.

if they are everywhere I would feel like I was being constantly watched. The usesituations we have talked about dont make me feel like that at all. Tornadoes,send them out there. Im not by a tornado, god-willing. And so, same thing withfarms, Im not out there, so its ok and its self-limiting.

All of these findings are preliminary, but they have already provided good informationthat can be incorporated into system design and will also inform the design of the studieswe will conduct later in this project.


Workforce Development This task has involved workforce developments at a numberof levels. First, the team on this task involves an Assistant Professor (Dr. Detweiler), aResearch Associate Professor (Dr. PytlikZillig), and an Associate Professor (Dr. Houston).They have all been actively involved in the development and deployment of the surveys andfocus groups, which has also led to a number of mentoring opportunities.

Second, there are two students involved in this work. Janell Walther is a PhD studentpursuing a degree in communication and has been working closely with Dr. PytlikZillig andthe rest of the team in running the focus groups. Ajay Shankar is a new PhD student thatrecently started working on this project under the supervision Dr. Detweiler. He has hadthe opportunity to interact with other members of the team and is learning about UASs andthe particular challenges associated with collecting atmospheric data. Two undergraduatespursuing social science degrees (Alexandria PytlikZillig, psychology major, and AddisonFairchild, political science major) have also gained experience conducting and analyzingsocial science qualitative and quantitative data as a result of this project.

Third, this work has been disseminated in talks locally and will be disseminated at twoupcoming national meetings: the 4th Conference of the International Society for AtmosphericResearch using Remotely-piloted Aircraft (ISARRA) and Society for the Psychological Studyof Social Issues Conference (SPSSI).

Finally, to date the surveys have involved more than 150 participants and the focusgroups have involved 23 participants with diverse backgrounds. At the end of each focusgroup we give the participants the opportunity to ask further questions to the UAS expertsinvolved in the focus group. This has been remarked as one of the highlights of the focusgroup. Because both the surveys and focus groups provide links to relevant informationabout drones, including links to work from the present project, they are enabling additionaldissemination of the work in this project beyond traditional means.

Leveraged Opportunities and Activities This task has leveraged many of the othertasks to define atmospheric science scenarios, such as convection initiation (Task 2-1), andalso potential technological advances, such as the ability to use swarms (Task 3-1). Thesescenarios are used as part of the surveys and focus groups to assess public perception ondifferent types of applications and technologies. This task will likely have a significant impacton all other tasks as the results will help inform how the technology should be developedand deployed to alleviate concerns by the public and policy makers.

2.4.2 Task 4-2: UAS Workshops

Research Accomplishments As part of the community effort to foster better under-standing of public perception to UAS applications, this task will develop outreach edu-cational workshops for the public on locally specific applications of UAS. By highlightingthe potential benefits of UAS technology and determining the best ways to engage withthe public from Task 4-1, such as immediate flight capabilities and finer spatial resolutionsthat allow individual plant-level identification, to local communities, this task will work toimprove public perceptions of UAS technologies and provide the public with real-world ex-amples of how UAS technology can work for them. These workshops will then be scaledto K-12 educational activities to promote interest in STEM fields and teach primary school


students how multiple fields (e.g., mechanical and aerospace engineering, remote sensing, ge-ography, agriculture) are being combined to overcome real-world challenges. The workshopswill take several forms, including traditional in-class and hands-on workshops, seminars, on-line courses, and summits. CLOUD-MAPwill actively participate as sponsor and organizerin UAS in Weather focused summits, in particular those involving stakeholder partners.

Workforce Development Students will participate in the workshop effort as part of boththe workshop development activities and as active attendees, depending on the workshop andlevel of student participant. In addition to workshops, the team is in the process of devel-oping “101” courses that provide introductory multi-disciplinary material for UAS weatherresearchers and scientists. These include topics such as Introduction to UAS, MeteorologicalDynamics, Atmospheric Sensing, and others.

(a) (b)

Figure 19: 4H workshop participants in April 2016.

Integration with high school and collegiate design competitions is underway. Thisincludes Speedfest and Wing Design. Speedfest is an ongoing aircraft design/build/fly com-petition hosted by OSU. Speedfest VI featured two racing classes: Alpha (Advanced) Classwhich is open to collegiate teams, and India (Invitational) class, which is open to highschools and academic teams with similar levels of experience. A total of 18 teams competedin Speedfest VI, including well over 200 students and teachers. The Boeing Foundation sup-ported the effort through a grant. Over 850 people attended the event, most as spectators.Kentucky Wing Design is now a part of the NASEI Aerospace Competition Day, held thisyear on May 14, held at the Lake Cumberland Regional Airport. Weather kept the planesgrounded, so teams were judged by design not flight. UK College of Engineering (J. Hoagg)partnered with Lockheed-Martin (lead), Belcan, and Kentucky Dept of Aviation for judging.The event was sponsored by Stantec and others.

Leveraged Opportunities and Activities Oklahoma, Nebraska, and Kentucky servelarge rural populations and both Oklahoma and Nebraska serve Native American popula-tions. The project team will use the proposed research as a vehicle to serve these underrep-resented groups. They will work with Oklahoma and Nebraska Tribal Colleges to establishUAS workshops and training courses and have partnered with the Cheyenne and Arapaho


Tribal College at SWOSU to achieve that goal. The PIs will also coordinate with the Okla-homa Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (OK-LSAMP) program to generatemulti-disciplinary courses and opportunities between the various departments and campusesto provide unique STEM related opportunities to underrepresented students.

A number of general audience and technical seminars have been presented to variousstakeholder audiences by the PI and various Co-PIs, including FAA, FPAW, OEAC, KTC,and ESIP. These are listed in §3.1.

2.4.3 Task 4-3: Rapid Dissemination of Risk Information

Research Accomplishments The technical goals of this task are to (1) determine in-formation needs and data gaps by working with stakeholder groups such as local/regionalfirst responders, NWS, and emergency managers, (2) integrate UAS-acquired data and newdata streams into risk modeling processes and validate the contributions of these new streamsthrough post-event assessment, and (3) determine best practices for geovisualization of UAS-acquired data for risk mapping through public focus groups, surveys, and collaboration withstakeholder groups.

Progress on these the first technical goal has included work to develop a survey forNWS personnel by team members at UNL as well as initial steps to identify other local andregional stakeholder groups, particularly in Oklahoma.

Progress on the third technical goal has included investigation of geovisualizationstrategies using preliminary atmospheric data collected by team members at OU as wellidentification of geovisualization challenges and opportunities for UAS-acquired data withinGIScience. These findings have been included in a collaborative manuscript between OSU,OU, and UK currently under review. [14]

Workforce Development Trainee activities are ongoing and include training in geovisu-alization techniques for one masters student in the Department of Geography at OklahomaState University.

2.5 Flight Campaign

The assembled teams will coordinate activities and work in close partnership. Monitoringpre-storm environments and the initiation of convection requires highly reliable and robustplatforms that can routinely perform atmospheric measurements in a variety of weatherconditions. The teams have considerable experience in designing, building, and flight-testingsuch sUAS platforms. We will conduct research and development on multiple platform types(custom built and commercial off the shelf, rotor craft and fixed-wing platforms). Thesesystems will be equipped with high-precision and fast-response atmospheric sensors (seeAppendix for details) to be evaluated for their suitability for carrying a variety of sensorsfor the study of ABL properties.

OU and OSU will focus on operations to collect thermodynamic, air chemistry, andwind data at two surface stations within the Oklahoma Mesonet, which provide measure-ments with an update time of 5 min. [17, 18] OSU will fly fixed-wing and vertical takeoffand landing (VTOL) while OU will fly a small, fixed-wing aircraft. We intend to leverage


the infrastructure provided by these sites and demonstrate the value of extending the con-ventional surface Mesonet concept to include vertical profiling. [19, 20] Systems developedfor testing include those shown in Fig. 20.

Figure 20: Flight profiling systems for evaluation in June 2016 campaign.

The UCB/UNL team will operate the Tempest UAS at the Colorado Pawnee NationalGrassland (PNG) to refine capabilities flying horizontal transects to collect thermodynamicand wind data for targeted observations. The Tempest UAS is built on a legacy of suc-cessful applications using a Miniature In-situ Sounding Technology (MIST) sonde (Hockand Franklin 1999) flown into severe storms during the second Verification of the Originsof Rotation in Tornadoes Experiment (VORTEX2) in 2010. [21, 22] Since VORTEX2, theteam has focused on characterizing the error in inertial-wind measurements made from theTempest UAS with a 5-hole probe. [23] UCB has a 37,000 sq-mi COA for Tempest UASoperations, and has current funding (in part from NOAA) to produce two TTwistor UAS, atwin-motor upgrade to the Tempest UAS, and is purchasing a tracker/scout vehicle requiredfor nomadic deployments. UNL is currently equipping a second tracker/scout vehicle that isalso being equipped as a mobile mesonet.

The UK team will focus on operations to measure soil conditions, evaluate inte-gration of spatially distributed data from moving sensor platforms, and multi-vehicle UASoperations. Initial work at the flight campaign will acquire wind velocity data from 5-holemulti-component velocity probe measurements into a fixed-wing SUAS and developing a datareduction scheme. The scheme will subtract the 6 degree of freedom SUAS position and ve-locity data acquired by the autopilot in the inertial frame of reference (ground speed) fromthe measured 5-hole probe velocity to obtain a local wind velocity vector. Soil measurementswill examine remote sensing systems for early detection of water stress.

The proposed flight campaign areas are shown in Fig. 21 and include the OSU Un-manned Aircraft Flight Station (UAFS), the Marena Mesonet site, and the DOE SouthernGreat Plains Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) site. All are within driving dis-tance of the OSU campus. The OSU UAFS will allow testing under controlled conditions andprovides operators with network, power, runway, and hangar access. This will primarily beused to evaluate platforms, sensors, communication systems, and protocols prior to headingto the field. The Marena Mesonet, in addition to providing a dedicated Mesonet tower, alsohouses the Marena, Oklahoma In Situ Sensor Testbed (MOISST). MOISST was establishedin 2010 to evaluate and compare existing and emerging in situ and proximal sensing tech-nologies for soil moisture monitoring. The SGP site consists of in situ and remote-sensinginstrument clusters arrayed across approximately 143,000 square kilometers in north-centralOklahoma and is the largest and most extensive climate research field site in the world,making it an invaluable resource.


All participants will operate under FAA Certificates of Authorization (COAs) forthese locations.

Figure 21: June 2016 proposed flight campaign areas.

3 PUBLIC OUTREACH 42

3 Public Outreach

In an effort to broaden the appeal of the project to the general public and end-users alike andto stress the importance of NSF funding, the PIs have engaged in a number of seminars andspeaking engagements across the country as well as press publications, as outlined below.

3.1 Invited Seminars and Public Forums

• FAA Air Traffic Control Workshop

• Friends and Partners of Aviation Weather

• Oklahoma View (part of America View)

• Federation of Earth Science Information Partners (ESIP)

• Kentucky Transportation Center

• Oklahoma Association of Electric Cooperatives

The PIs have organized a special session on UAS Weather Applications at the Amer-ican Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics Aviation Conference to be held in June 2016in Washington, DC.

3.2 General Science Publications

A general publication was published in Meteorological Technology International magazine,which is dedicated to the developments in climate, weather and hydrometeorological fore-casting, measurement and analysis technologies and service providers. [27] The publicationis circulated globally to over 16,000 subscribers.

3.3 Social Media

In addition to the CLOUD-MAPweb-site, accounts have been setup on social media sites,notably FaceBook and Twitter. GitHub will be used for data and algorithm collaborationand archiving.

• General web-site: www.cloud-map.org

• Facebook: www.facebook.com/uasweather

• Twitter: twitter.com/UASWeather

• GitHub: github.com/UASWEATHER

http://www.cloud-map.org

https://www.facebook.com/uasweather

https://twitter.com/UASWeather

https://github.com/UASWEATHER

3 PUBLIC OUTREACH 43

3.4 Popular Press

In addition to a number of articles that were published upon award of the program, PIshave discussed the effort with several popular press outlets during the initial months of theprogram. A few of the notable articles that highlight efforts of the faculty and trainees areprovided below:

• Voice of America, Small Drones Could Enhance Local Weather Forecasts. [28]

• WKYT, UK to use drones for weather data collection. [29]

• PBS NewsHour, In Tornado Alley, using drones to pinpoint severe weather. [30]

Figure 22: PhD student Alyssa Avery speaks with PBS reporter Stephen Fee for PBS New-sHour.

• OState TV, OSU Researchers using UAVs to improve tornado forecasting. [31]

• The Oklahoman, The Sky’s the Limit. [32]

Figure 23: Graduate student Arnesha Threatt, of Oklahoma City, works in the lab of theUnmanned Systems Research Institute at Oklahoma State University. [Photo by ChrisLandsberger, The Oklahoman]

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/in-tornado-alley-using-drones-to-pinpoint-severe-weather/

http://www.wkyt.com/home/headlines/UK-to-use-drones-for-weather-data-collection-322449851.html

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/in-tornado-alley-using-drones-to-pinpoint-severe-weather/

http://www.ostate.tv/channels/college-engineering-architecture-technology?play=5383DAE7-F59D-3DCC-C900-7BF7D5180C01&autoplay=1

http://newsok.com/article/5492595

4 CLOUD-MAPGOVERNANCE 44

4 CLOUD-MAPGovernance

As part of the first year effort, the CLOUD-MAPPIs developed a governance document toprovide guidance for all members of the team, including, faculty and trainees. This documentwas developed by Prof. Suzanne Smith with input from the other institutional PIs. Thecurrent version is included below.

4.1 Governance Philosophy

We find ourselves in a time when the advancement of unmanned systems technologiespresents a unique opportunity for discovery and understanding of complex weather andagricultural science. Therefore, CLOUD-MAP is envisioned as a multi-disciplinary team ofdiverse researchers who each bring key expertise to meet the challenges of developing newunmanned systems technologies for this scientific endeavor, evaluating their performance inannual flight campaigns, advancing scientific understanding of atmospheric physics and mete-orology, and catalyzing future use and knowledge through scientific publications, conferenceorganization, and various avenues of broader impacts.

In addition to the technical objectives, CLOUD-MAP is also envisioned as a collabo-ration of thirteen early-career faculty from the four partner universities who may continueto work together for decades, thus amplifying the impact of the EPSCoR investment. Thecollaborations are facilitated and mentored by four senior faculty, one at each of the fourinstitutions, all led facilitated by the PI Jamey Jacob and Oklahoma State University.

Aspects of this governance philosophy were derived from team member experienceand also from recent publications [1-3] on organizational knowledge creation and successfulteam collaboration. Team identification, commitment, patient communication and trust arerecurring themes in successful multi-disciplinary science teams.

4.2 Organizational Structure

The CLOUD-MAP team as a whole is comprised of faculty researchers, postdoctoral scholars,graduate students, undergraduate students, staff, advisory board members, NSF EPSCoRprogram managers and broader impacts participants, among others. CLOUD-MAP managementincludes a coordinating team comprised of the institutional PIs (senior faculty at each in-stitution), an external advisory board, and technical project team-leaders. Faculty fromall institutions assume leadership roles on the technical projects and/or coordinating team.The following summarizes the primary roles and responsibilities associated with the organi-zational structure for CLOUD-MAP .

4.3 Team Expectations

CLOUD-MAP faculty and students comprise a collaborative, interdisciplinary, cross-institutionalteam. The project values the development of a strong, respectful, communicative team andthe establishment of an inclusive, integrated student cohort. To this end, we encourage stu-dents, postdocs, and faculty alike to participate in the broader CLOUD-MAPcohort-buildingendeavor by attending all all-hands team meetings, annual flight campaigns and conferences,


recommended training and seminars, student proposal and dissertation defenses, and otherrelated research and engagement activities.

• Reporting All CLOUD-MAP participants are required to contribute to project re-porting by completing input to the annual reports. All research products, includingpapers, presentations, and other intellectual materials produced under the grant, mustacknowledge NSF appropriately. In all respects, project participants must adhere toNSFs expectations for data management and sharing. Participants will be expectedto utilize the projects online reporting system (Data Portal) for reporting pertinentoutcomes.

• Safety CLOUD-MAPparticipants should be trained on appropriate safety proceduresfor their disciplinary specialties. However, participants in field activities are also en-couraged to complete a storm-spotter training course and other specific training asneeded. The safety training provided in these courses is necessary and the meteorol-ogy lessons are useful for non-meterologists on the team. Those not already familiarwith the science covered in the basic training can access slides as well as live onlineadvanced spotter training courses that are offered periodically and previously-recordedofferings can be viewed as well. These include the sites below:

– http://www.srh.noaa.gov/oun/?n=onlinespottertraining

– http://www.slideshare.net/chowd/national-weather-service-storm-spotter-training

– https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bl3l2P3z0Bc

.

• Responsible Conduct of Research (RCR) All CLOUD-MAP faculty, post-docs,graduate students and undergraduates conducting research must become familiar withNSF materials on the Responsible Conduct of Research[26] and participate in CLOUD-MAP -offered training when scheduled.

• UAS Operations All UAS operations will abide by current FAA guidelines as wellas any state or local ordinances. Approved and trained pilots-in-command (PIC) andobservers will be used for system operation and all PICs and observers will meet currentFAA requirements and follow best practices. [25] UAS pilots and observers shouldmeet all minimum FAA certification requirements as well as platform specific trainingas needed.

4.4 Team Members

4.4.1 ManagementTeam (Institutional PIs)

The CLOUD-MAP Management Team, consisting of the CLOUD-MAP institutional PIs ledby PI Jamey Jacob, facilitates all aspects of project success including annual reporting, ad-visory board interactions, field campaign logistics, conference organization, communication,and large follow-on proposal initiatives. The CLOUD-MAPCoordinating Team:


• Jamey Jacob, Oklahoma State University (CLOUD-MAP PI)

• Phil Chilson, University of Oklahoma

• Adam Houston, University of Nebraska-Lincoln

• Suzanne Weaver Smith, University of Kentucky

The Coordinating Team interacts via e-mail frequently (i.e., several times a week) andthrough a weekly-scheduled telecon (as needed). Primary responsibilities on the CLOUD-MAP research project funded by the NSF EPSCoR Track II Award include:

• Management of all programmatic, fiscal, and administrative components of the EP-SCoR Track II project to ensure that all activities conform with research goals andwith institutional and NSF guidelines, including review of participant research plans,outcomes, and progress to ensure synergy and successful progress toward achievingoverarching goals and objectives;

• Development and maintenance of the organizational structure, policies, and procedures,as well as project scientific integrity, alignment, and integration, while facilitating cross-institutional involvement and interactions;

• Utilization of on-going feedback loops from assessment and evaluation to ensure short-and long-term strategic program development and implementation for continued suc-cess of CLOUD-MAP beyond the EPSCoR funding;

• Direct interactions with project advisory groups, including NSF’s EPSCoR Office, theproject’s External Advisory Board, jurisdiction EPSCoR offices, and NSF-sponsoredexternal review processes; and

• Representation of CLOUD-MAP at internal and external meetings.

Although the PIs and co-PIs collectively share responsibility for guiding the project, indi-vidual Institutional PIs and co-PIs may take on particular roles and responsibilities for theproject as it progresses, in particular as hosts of the annual flight campaign and conferencein Years 2-4 and leaders of large follow-on proposal efforts, among others.

4.4.2 Research Project Leaders

The project includes twelve technical project teams, along with three additional projects re-lated to perception and dissemination. Each are led by one CLOUD-MAP faculty researcherand involve collaborators from multiple institutions. The CLOUD-MAPProject Leaders andtitles as as follows:

• 2-1 Convection Initiation Investigation, Houston (UNL)

• 2-2 Storm-scale Microphysics, Van Den Broeke (UNL)

• 2-3 Airborne Soil Hydrology, Sama (UK)


• 2-4 Local-scale Temporal and Spatial Climate Variation Measurements, Martin (OU)

• 2-5 Airborne Sampling Systems, Guzman (UK)

• 2-6 Atmospheric Infrasonic Sampling, Elbing (OSU)

• 2-7 GIS Multi-scale Correlation, Frazier (OSU)

• 3-1 Cooperative Control of SUAS Formations for Distributed Measurement, Hoagg(UK)

• 3-2 Integration of Spatially Distributed Data from Moving Sensor Platforms, Bailey(UK)

• 3-3 Heterogeneous Behavioral Control, Crick (OSU)

• 3-4 Multi-Agent HITL Simulator for Training Operators, Chowdhary (OSU)

• 3-5 Robust Conformal Antennas for UAS Communications, Ruyle (OU)

• 4-1 Public Perception and Public Policy, Detweiler and (UNL)

• 4-2 UAS Workshops, Jacob (OSU)

• 4-3 Rapid Dissemination of Risk Information, Frazier (OSU)

Project leaders coordinate efforts from a sub-team of three or more CLOUD-MAP researchersfocused on developing and completing specific research and broader objectives for that spe-cific task, including organization, direction, communication, and reporting. Since many in-dividual tasks rely on coordination with project results, coordination among these researchteams is key to success.

4.4.3 Postdoctoral Researchers / Graduate Students / Undergraduate Students

CLOUD-MAPpostdocs, graduate students, and undergraduate students are full-fledged teammembers. This means that they will be invited and expected to participate in team meetingsand consider themselves as part of the team. The research they produce for their disser-tation or masters thesis needs to align with our projects key goals and help advance ourcollective progress in achieving our objectives and outcomes. CLOUD-MAPwill coordinaterelevant science and technology courses (101 sessions), and students, postdocs and facultyare expected to participate annually in as many as possible to advance their understandingof other disciplines.

4.4.4 Project Staff

Project staff will provide support to the CLOUD-MAP team and partners in the managementof all technical, programmatic, fiscal, and administrative components of the EPSCoR TrackII project to ensure that all activities conform with research goals, institutional guidelines,and NSF terms and conditions, as well as FAA and other regulatory requirements.


4.5 External Advisory Board

The Advisory Board, composed of six members, will provide informed evaluation and guid-ance to the project on our progress toward meeting the technical objectives. Our board willalso help to support the project by providing feedback on your perception of how we areworking together to build the collaboration. Lastly, we hope that our board also will help usto advance the project beyond the current NSF Track II support by helping us to identifyfollow-on opportunities and for communicating our work to scientific and public audiences.

The advisory board was selected from a experts in the field of meteorology, atmo-spheric physics, and UAS. The current members of the advisory board are as follows:

• Prof. Brian Argrow: Professor, Aerospace Engineering Sciences, University of Colorado

• Dr. Bruce Baker: Director, Atmospheric Turbulence and Diffusion Division, Air Re-sources Laboratory, NOAA

• Geoff Bland: Aerospace Flight Systems, NASA/GSFC

• Dr. Erik Rasmussen: Project Vortex Coordinator, National Severe Storms Laboratory

• Steven Piltz: Meteorologist-in-Charge, National Weather Service, Tulsa Weather Fore-cast Office

• Dr. Vanda Grubisic: Director, Earth Observing Laboratory, National Center for At-mospheric Research

4.6 Communication

CLOUD-MAPcommunications are an essential aspect of ensuring the success of the researchcollaboration and broader impacts of the research. Technical publications and acknowledge-ment are addressed under Authorship Guidelines and NSF Acknowledgement in Sections6 and 7, respectively. However, a number of other facets are important, including projectinformation sharing, coordinated websites, media archives, outreach events, and annual work-shops/conferences.

4.6.1 Internal Communications

A Google Drive will be used by project faculty for information and file sharing supportingproject meetings, reporting and other information exchange. A password-accessed wiki maybe implemented to enable wider information sharing among the 80 plus team members andto explore the effectiveness of tagged information-sharing common in distributed corporateteam situations.

4.6.2 Websites

A website has been developed to provide overarching project communication and publicdata retrieval. This website will be maintained by the PI. Each partner institution shoulddevelop its own CLOUD-MAPwebpage summarizing the overall project aims (and linking


to the overall program web site), the institution-led projects, as well as news, students,publications and available positions. Ideally the overall program web page will link to ourinstitutional pages and share news items, position announcements, publications and othercontent.

4.6.3 Media

All media on CLOUD-MAP should be collected on the CLOUD-MAP share drive for refer-ence in the annual reporting.

4.6.4 Outreach Events

Though not part of the specific proposed effort, it is expected that outreach events will beconducted continually throughout the course of the program as part of normal universitySTEM activities. CLOUD-MAP participants will opportunistically utilize these efforts whenpossible and acknowledge NSF support where applicable.

4.6.5 Workshops/Conferences

Annual workshops and conferences are planned for every year of the program with increas-ing external participation in out years. CLOUD-MAP specific talks and sessions will beorganized as part of international conferences starting in 2016.

4.7 Logos

Two logos have been developed for use in CLOUD-MAP literature and PR. These maybe used in all CLOUD-MAPactivities, including publications, presentations, press releases,and promotional items such as web-sites, shirts, and other items. Logos may be modifiedfor individual institution use within reason. Both logos are shown in Figs. 24.

(a) Logo 1 - Fixed wing version. (b) Logo 2 - Rotory wing version.

Figure 24: CLOUD-MAP logo options.

4.8 Data Sharing Policy

It is the intent of CLOUD-MAP to operate in the spirit of collaboration, and this spiritextends to the sharing of data and information among project personnel and beyond with


the larger scientific community. While there may be good reasons to not immediately re-lease data (such as to check data quality), it is the policy of CLOUD-MAP to share data asopenly and quickly as possible. A formal Data Management Plan covers many more detailsof data management and sharing, and should be reviewed by researchers. Researchers gen-erating data and/or using data generated by others on this project must abide by the DataManagement Plan. Data, computer codes, and algorithms will be shared via github.

4.9 Conflict Resolution

Conflict often emerges as part of collaboration. Having an effective mechanism for addressingconflict as early as possible will ensure a strong, collaborative team dynamic. Differenttypes of conflicts necessitate different responses. Generally, team members may approacha member of the Coordinating Team to ask for assistance in addressing a conflict. Someconflicts necessitate involvement of other individuals and resources, especially when theyare of a more serious nature or involve a power differential. Should conflicts arise amongCLOUD-MAP faculty or students that cannot be addressed on a person-to-person basis, theproject will provide a conflict resolution process including the possible formation of a ConflictResolution Committee, who will review the issues at hand and help to identify strategies foraddressing the issue in a fair and timely fashion.

4.10 Authorship Guidelines

There is variation across disciplines and journals regarding authorship policies. CLOUD-MAP s guidelines are meant to help establish general parameters about what constitutesauthorship and what processes should help determine authorship. We offer the following asa general guidelines for discussing and determining authorship and author order. Authorshipdisputes can arise easily, and open communication can help to ensure a respectful, productiveenvironment for collaboration.

4.10.1 General Principles

As is common across many diverse disciplines, the concept of authorship implies that theindividuals listed as authors have made a direct, substantial intellectual contribution toresearch design, data interpretation, and/or the writing and drafting of the respective paper.

• Discuss authorship and author order early and often. Miscommunications can best bemanaged by open, clear communication, in print if it is helpful to do so.

• Confirm author order before submitting a manuscript before publication. Many inter-disciplinary teams like CLOUD-MAPwork on multiple manuscripts simultaneously. Asimple email reminder will confirm the agreed upon order.

• The lead author should keep all co-authors informed of a manuscripts status and includethem in conversations about revisions. The lead author should also communicate themost current version of a manuscript title and author order once the manuscript hasbeen submitted. This will help to refine reporting practices so that the same manuscriptdoes not appear with different titles.


• In keeping with the CLOUD-MAPData Sharing Policy manuscripts detailing annualinvestigations and field investigations should be submitted as quickly as possible toinspire secondary uses of the data and be referenced by related or follow-on efforts.

4.10.2 Authorship Guidelines

The particular circumstances of the field campaigns and subsequent availability of campaigndata indicate the need for guidelines that are agreed-upon in advance. Generally, authorshipcontribution consists of individuals who: 1) were closely involved in conceptualizing anddesigning the research or concept explored in the manuscript; 2) assumed responsibility fordata collection and interpretation; 3) participated in drafting the manuscript; and/or 4)substantially edited/approved the final version of the publication.

With the total number of 80 faculty and students involved in CLOUD-MAP and upto 40 to 50 actively contributing to the annual field campaign, it is impractical for a singlepublication to include all those involved as coauthors. Therefore, publications are envisionedto follow the authorship contribution guidelines above as well as the following framework:

• Overall Project and Annual Field Campaigns: Manuscripts should be submitted an-nually by the Coordinating Team (Institutional PIs) as co-authors to detail the overallCLOUD-MAPproject or the annual field campaign. All project and campaign contrib-utors should be acknowledged in as much detail as is practical in these publications.

• Field Investigations: Manuscripts detailing specific field investigations should includeindividuals as contributing authors per the guidelines above. If these occur as part ofthe annual campaign, manuscripts should reference the overall campaign publicationfor background and context. When field investigations occur independent of the annualcampaign, manuscripts should reference the overall CLOUD-MAPpublication.

• Secondary Data Investigations: Manuscripts detailing secondary uses of available fieldinvestigation data should include individuals as contributing authors per the guidelinesabove, carefully considering the extent of the contribution of the original field investi-gations design in the secondary investigation when deciding on co-authorship. Thesemanuscripts should reference the original field investigation as well as overall campaignor CLOUD-MAPpublications.

• Individual Faculty/student Investigations: Manuscripts detailing ideas developed bystudents with their faculty advisor(s) should follow general authorship contributionguidelines, as well as reference, when applicable, overall CLOUD-MAP publicationsfor background and context or field campaigns for inspiration.

• Other Situations: The complex intra-, multi- and inter-disciplinary nature of theCLOUD-MAPcould result in situations that were not anticipated at this writing, soif they arise follow the guidelines above and consult with the Coordinating Team asnecessary.


4.10.3 Acknowledgments

Formal acknowledgement is appropriate for individuals who may have made a contributionto a manuscript, but do not meet the criteria for authorship (eg. staff, editorial assistants,etc.). All manuscripts submitted or published that utilized CLOUD-MAP resources mustacknowledge NSF, award # 1539070, per the next section.

4.11 Acknowledgement of NSF Support and Disclaimer

An acknowledgment of NSF support and a disclaimer must appear in publications (includingWorld Wide Web sites) of any material, whether copyrighted or not, based on or developedunder NSF-supported projects.

4.11.1 NSF Credit:

The following statement (or alternate abbreviated form below it) and logo must appear onany materials, publications, posters, websites, etc. that involve any research, education, orother activities supported by the CLOUD-MAPNSF EPSCoR Track II award:

4.11.2 Journal Publications:

Must include credit that

This work is supported in part by the National Science Foundation under GrantNo. 1539070, Collaboration Leading Operational UAS Development for Meteo-rology and Atmospheric Physics (CLOUD-MAP ), to Oklahoma State Universityin partnership with the Universities of Oklahoma, Nebraska-Lincoln and Ken-tucky.

4.11.3 Disclaimer:

Except for articles or papers published in scientific, technical or professional journals, thefollowing disclaimer must be included:

Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in thismaterial are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of theNational Science Foundation.

4.11.4 Interviews:

NSF support also must be orally acknowledged during all news media interviews, includingpopular media such as radio, television and news magazines.

4.12 External evaluation and assessment

External evaluation is a component of the grant project that is mandated by NSF, and thecontinuation of our funding will be partly based on the results of this process. All project


participants should respond to requests for information or participation regarding evaluationand assessment.

REFERENCES 54

References

[1] National Research Council, Observing Weather and Climate from the Ground Up: ANationwide Network of Networks, National Academies Press, 2009.

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[3] Teixeira, J. et al., “Parameterization of the Atmospheric Boundary Layer,” Bull. Amer.Meteorol. Soc., 89, 453-458, 2008.

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Participants

Participants for the current phase of the project are shown in the following tables brokenout by faculty (Table 4), graduate student trainees (Table 5), and undergraduate studenttrainees (Table 6), respectively. Metrics of participant participation were not available forYear 1, so are not presented herein.

Table 4: Research faculty.First Name Last Name Institution RoleSean Bailey UK IPhillip Chilson OU Co-PIGirish Chowdhary OSU IChristopher Crick OSU ICarrick Detweiler UNK IBrian Elbing OSU IAmy Frazier OSU IMarcelo Guzman UK IJesse Hoagg UK IAdam Houston UNK Co-PIJamey Jacob OSU PILisa PytlikZillig UNL IJessica Ruyle OU IMichael Sama UK ISuzanne Smith UK Co-PIMatthew VanDenBroeke UNL I

REFERENCES 58

Table 5: Graduate trainees.First Name Last Name Institution RoleDean Adams UK GRakshit Allamaraju OSU GSyed alMahi OSU GAlyssa Avery OSU GAllan Axelrod OSU GJordan Brasher OSU GShea Fehrenbach OSU GMatthew Goranson OSU GAli Hamidisepehr UK GBen Hemingway OSU GElizabeth Pillar UK GGregorio RoblesVega UK GAjay Shankar UNL GArnesha Threatt OSU GJanell Walther UNL GLogan Washbourne OSU GBrandon Wellman OU GBrandon Witte UK G

REFERENCES 59

Table 6: Undergraduate trainees.First Name Last Name Institution RoleJacob Bertrand OSU UGErin Burns OU UGCaleb Canter UK UGBrandon Centeneo OU UGDan Cornish OU UGAustin Dixon OU UGAddison Fairchild UNL UGNicholas Foster OSU UGJonathan Hamilton UK UGJenny Handsley OU UGDane Johnson OSU UGMadison Likins OSU UGJoshua Martin OU UGBradley McNeely OSU UGJasmine Montgomery OU UGMiranda Morgan OU UGMyleigh Neill OU UGJacob Nichols OSU UGMaxwell Niemeyer OSU UGTaylor Poydence OU UGAlexandria Pytlik Zillig UNL UGKah Hooi Quah OSU UGMcClain Robinson OSU UGAlexander Schueth UNL UGRobert Singler UK UGVirginia Smith UK UGTyler Wawr OU UGSawyer Wells OU UG

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