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The S0 UAS, an Air Deployed Solution for Boundary Layer Observations in Turbulent Environments

Award Information
Agency: Department of Commerce
Branch: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Contract: 1305M219CNRMW0030
Agency Tracking Number: 18-2-103
Amount: $399,578.08
Phase: Phase II
Program: SBIR
Solicitation Topic Code: 8.2.13
Solicitation Number: NOAA2018-2
Timeline
Solicitation Year: 2019
Award Year: 2019
Award Start Date (Proposal Award Date): 2019-06-27
Award End Date (Contract End Date): 2022-06-23
Small Business Information
3200 Valmont Rd Ste 7
Boulder, CO 80301
United States
DUNS: 078359543
HUBZone Owned: No
Woman Owned: No
Socially and Economically Disadvantaged: Unavailable
Principal Investigator
 Jack  Elston
 CEO
 (720) 638-9656
 elstonj@blackswifttech.com
Business Contact
 Jack  Elston
Phone: (720) 638-9656
Email: elstonj@blackswifttech.com
Research Institution
N/A
Abstract

Previous efforts have demonstrated that targeted observations of tropical storms by UAS can provide extremely valuable data sets for improving forecasts and models, but are also difficult to obtain. A number of obstacles including regulations and the distance required to intercept evolving storms have limited the number of land based flights. The use of airborne deployed UAS have recently overcome some of those limitations, and have generated targeted data that compares quite well with measurements obtained using proven methods. However, even these UAS are plagued by obstacles including reliability, the high cost of the platform, and the relatively limited observation time.
As the next step in boundary layer and sea surface observations, Black Swift Technologies proposes the development and flight validation of the S0, a commercial UAS platform designed for air deployment which will build on the successes of the Aerosonde and Coyote platform. The S0 will be designed to gather 3D wind measurements along with PTH measurements, sea surface temperature, and vehicle height from the water at lower altitudes. The key innovation is to reduce the complexity and weight compared with existing platforms, offering an order of magnitude decrease in cost while maintaining endurance without sacrificing performance and measurement quality.

* Information listed above is at the time of submission. *

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