5/6/2006:
Work for the Spring has been completed. The MARS project was a partial success.

The avionics and software development was largely successful. Working avionics, flight software, and ground software packages were completed and tested. The system is capable of multi-sonde communication and data display at line-of-site ranges of 3 km+. Successful drop-sonde tests were conducted with the Sig-Rascal 110 host vehicle and deployment system over Boulder Model Airfield, and limited testing with the COTS Sky Surfer vehicle was conducted as well, which demonstrated the open loop control capability, and verified the performance of the guidance and control software.

The parafoil and vehicle design, while demonstrated to be flight worthy on a couple of occasions, is not repeatably controllable due to stability problems, and is highly succeptible to initial launch conditions. Moreover, it is abundantly clear that such a platform could not be reliably flown in storm conditions, as the vehicle is much too susceptible to wind and gusts.

The final report is available in the Documents section. A collection of pictures of work from the Spring semester is shown below:

Design Expo Center Poster
Design Expo Left Poster
Design Expo Right Poster
MARS Groundstation Page 1
MARS Groundstation Page 2
Avionics Package
Modified Sky Surfer
Finished Structure
Sig Rascal 110 Deployment System

12/15/2005: Final report is available in the Documents section.

Abstract:

There is a need in the meteorological community for the ability to measure state variables such as temperature, pressure, and humidity in the atmosphere, especially in extreme conditions such as those that exist in a severe storm or in the polar regions.  The Research and Engineering Center for Unmanned Vehicles (RECUV) at the University of Colorado is actively seeking to address this need through the study and use of unmanned vehicles.  The RECUV group is pursuing cooperative mobile sensing systems with three particular areas of focus: wildfire, polar, and storm.  The severe conditions that exist in these three environments create a need for mobile, robust, and autonomous sensing systems.

The current availability of meteorological sondes is primarily limited.  Most current sondes are available only as dropsondes, which limits their functional descent and directionality.  Conversely, there also exists a fully autonomous and maneuverable UAV with similar data gathering capabilities, the Aerosonde.  Even though these vehicles are small (on the order of 30-lb maximum takeoff weight), they are too expensive to be considered expendible.  A specific need thus exists to create low cost sondes with a controlled descent capability and the ability to operate successfully in severe conditions such as those that exist in storm and polar environments.  This senior project group will investigate the dispersal and communications issues of a distributed sensor system of low-cost, maneuverable sondes with the design and test of a system that demonstrates the feasibility of a system that might be deployed in severe environments.