Unmanned Aircraft Missions

Understanding and knowing the impact of hurricanes is always of interest during this time of the year. Hurricane season in the Atlantic begins June 1st and ends November 30^th. The Eastern Pacific hurricane season begins May 15th and also ends November 30^th (“National Hurricane Center”). One of the agencies that does hurricane monitoring is the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).  Up until recently NOAA has used a small variety of manned aircraft to accomplish tracking and researching hurricanes. One of those manned aircraft is the Lockheed WP-3D Orion.  NOAA has described the Orion as a “versatile turboprop aircraft” because of the Orion’s “unprecedented variety of scientific instrumentation, radars and recording systems ("Lockheed WP-3D Orion").”  The WP-3D Orion has played a pivotal role in data collection and research of hurricanes, this “data is to help forecasters make accurate predictions during a hurricane; and to help NOAA researchers achieve a better understanding of storm processes, thereby improving their forecast models ("NOAA’s “Hurricane Hunter” Aircraft Lockheed WP-3D Orion ").” The overall effective range and crew requirements of the WP-3D Orion is as follows: For lower altitudes the aircraft can operate an area of 2500 nautical miles or 9.5 hours, alternatively at higher altitudes the aircraft has an effective range of 3800 nautical miles or 11.5 hours. The crew consists of 2 Pilots, Flight Engineer, Navigator, Flight Director (meteorologist), 2 or 3 Engineering/Electronic specialists, Radio/Avionics specialist, and a up to 12 Scientist or Media personnel.

An alternative to this mission would be the use of an unmanned aircraft system (UAS). One of the platforms that NOAA has actively acquired in conjunction with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is the Global Hawk UAS. “For the last five years, NOAA has teamed up with NASA to fly NASA’s Global Hawk unmanned aircraft to get an inside look at how hurricanes form and intensify over the Atlantic (Allen, "New mission for the Global Hawk").”  The HS3 Global Hawk is a capable UAS that provides an endurance of over 24 hours and an effective range of 12,300 nautical miles ("U.S. Air Force"), almost quadruple that of the manned WP-3D Orion.  Another capable UAS used by both NOAA and NASA is the Aerosonde UAS. The Aerosonde UAS was utilized on September 16^th, 2005, to observe and fly into tropical storm Ophelia. At the time, Ophelia was a 55kt tropical storm and was located off the North Carolina coastline ("NOAA Unmanned Aircraft Systems"). The ability for this particular UAS intercept the tropical storm proved to be critical, as it was “capable of flying at altitudes of 500 feet or less within the high-wind hurricane eyewall environment. This is thousands of feet lower than any manned aircraft is able to operate ("NOAA Unmanned Aircraft Systems").” Again this UAS has a much higher endurance, within the realm of 30 hours ("NOAA Unmanned Aircraft Systems"), to perform a similar mission to the WP-3D Orion.  The last and final UAS up for consideration is Raytheon’s Coyote. This UAS is also used by NOAA in their efforts to collect better data on hurricanes. According to NOAA the Coyote is “dropped from a free fall chute in the belly of the plane, the Coyote is designed to then open its six-foot wingspan and fly through the storm (Pomerleau, "NOAA drones drop in on hurricanes -- GCN").” Like the Aerosonde, the Coyote is capable of collecting data of hurricanes at much lower altitudes, something manned aircraft just cannot do safely(Pomerleau, "NOAA drones drop in on hurricanes -- GCN").
            The capability to use a more cost effective means of tracking hurricanes is one of the benefits using any of these UAS provide. Additionally the data that is collected because of these UAS’s capacity to stay aloft longer can prove to be beneficial in the long-term. From Raytheon’s website they cite that the Coyote “meets current P-3 mission requirements and is developed and tested to save lives, reduce operational costs and provide tactical surveillance data ("Raytheon").” These benefits and cost savings grossly outweigh the use of manned aircraft and should prove to be a valuable asset in the future.

There are problems with using these unmanned aircraft systems however, and that extends from legal issues.  This legal issue is the certificate of authorization (COA) required from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to operate those unmanned systems commercially. The COA allows an operator to use a defined block of airspace and includes special safety provisions unique to the proposed operation. COAs usually are issued for a specific period – up to two years in many cases ("Public Operations (Governmental)"). Many of these UAS’s operate in areas where there is not aircraft, not too many aircraft are willingly flying towards a hurricane, but there is still that requirement to do so legally. In regards to ethical challenges, there are not too many that are opposed to better tracking of a potential disaster. One that comes to mind is the possibility of wasting materials (systems like the Coyote not being always being recovered) and the potential for one of these UAS to crash into the ocean. This stems from an environmental standpoint and could pose a threat to wildlife in the immediate vicinity of the hurricane and the aftermath of spilled fuel, should one of the UAS malfunction or be enveloped in the storm.

This particular type of mission appears to be an “ideal” mission for UAS, and most certainly agrees with the type of dirty, dull, and dangerous operations we most associate with UAS. The greatest challenge that these systems will face is the shear amount of data that they provide, and the time that will be required to analyze such data. In a give and take relationship however, the tradeoff appears promising, as scientists are granted a better glimpse of what is going on inside of hurricanes with the potential to create better forecasting models.

References

Allen, M. (2014, September 11). New mission for the Global Hawk. Retrieved September 20, 2015, from http://research.noaa.gov/News/NewsArchive/LatestNews/TabId/684/ArtMID/1768/ArticleID/10742/New-mission-for-the-Global-Hawk-.aspx

Lockheed WP-3D Orion. (n.d.). Retrieved September 20, 2015, from http://www.aoc.noaa.gov/aircraft_lockheed.htm

NOAA Unmanned Aircraft Systems. (2005). Retrieved September 20, 2015, from http://uas.noaa.gov/projects/demos/aerosonde/Ophelia_final.html

NOAA’s “Hurricane Hunter” Aircraft Lockheed WP-3D Orion. (2005, June 1). Retrieved September 20, 2015, from http://www.aoc.noaa.gov/Backgrounders/Lockheed WP-3D Orion.pdf

National Hurricane Center. (n.d.). Retrieved September 20, 2015, from http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/

Pomerleau, M. (2015, June 18). NOAA drones drop in on hurricanes -- GCN. Retrieved September 20, 2015, from http://gcn.com/articles/2015/06/18/noaa-hurricane-drones.aspx

Public Operations (Governmental). (n.d.). Retrieved September 21, 2015, from https://www.faa.gov/uas/public_operations/

Raytheon. (n.d.). Retrieved September 20, 2015, from http://www.raytheon.com/capabilities/products/coyote/

U.S. Air Force. (2014, October 1). Retrieved September 20, 2015, from http://www.af.mil/AboutUs/FactSheets/Display/tabid/224/Article/104516/rq-4-global-hawk.aspx