Research Projects

For this project, Embry-Riddle faculty and students are collaborating with the sponsor, the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration, to produce an unmanned aircraft supporting in-situ sensing of a tropical cyclone environment near the ocean surface.

A new unmanned aircraft is being researched and developed to support this unique mission. Sensors from the dropsonde, a parachute-based data collection package, will be repackaged and integrated into the aircraft's onboard systems. To support a tube-based launch from a P-3 hurricane hunting aircraft's sonde buoy launch system, the airframe will feature collapsible wings that will deploy after launch. Aircraft test flights are anticipated during summer 2011, with a possible tropical cyclone flight during the 2011 or 2012 hurricane seasons.

• Learn more about research projects in the Daytona Beach College of Engineering and its Department of Electrical, Computer, Software, and Systems Engineering