Washington: A scientist at the University of Florida has developed tiny airplanes and submarines, which can swarm over, under and through hurricanes to help predict the strength and path of the storms.
The tiny, autonomous craft - some fly, others dart under the waves - can spy on hurricanes at close range without getting blown willy-nilly, while sensors onboard collect and send in real time the data scientists need to predict the intensity and trajectory of storms: pressure, temperature, humidity, location and time.
Kamran Mohseni, director of UF`s new Institute for Networked Autonomous Systems, said people always ask him how the miniature flying machines - just 6 inches long and about the weight of an iPod Nano - can take on one of the monster storms.
"Our vehicles don`t fight the hurricane; we use the hurricane to take us places," said Mohseni, the W.P. Bushnell Endowed Professor in the department of mechanical and aerospace engineering and the department of electrical and computer engineering.
The aerial and underwater vehicles can be launched with commands from a laptop hundreds of miles from the eye of a hurricane.
The devices are a departure from current technology, which uses hurricane reconnaissance aircraft to punch through a storm`s eye wall and release dropsondes, sensors that free-fall and might or might not collect helpful data. Underwater data are even more difficult to collect today, although just as important, considering that the warm, moist air on the ocean surface provides fuel for hurricanes.
Mohseni`s vehicles, even launched hundreds at a time, also reduce the cost of hurricane reconnaissance.
The prototypes produced at the institute are about 250 dollars apiece and are too small and lightweight to cause damage when they hit something, a big consideration in hurricane-force winds and waves.
With proper funding, Mohseni said, the vehicles could be tested in a real-world hurricane in two or three years.
ANI
