Unmanned Aerial Systems from CReSIS

The Center for Remote Sensing of Ice Sheets (CReSIS) conducts extensive research into the advantages of leveraging unmanned aerial systems (UASs) for remote sensing operations. UASs enable precision in tracking flight paths for collecting higher quality radar measurements using onboard radars. UASs reduce operational risks in hazardous regions by removing pilot and radar operators, while also bringing down cost and decreasing the environmental footprint.

UASs are an increasingly popular option for many reasons. Propulsion system advancements increase available aircraft thrust and decrease energy consumption, leading to more available payload and extended aircraft range and endurance. Recent breakthroughs in battery technology have increased the capacity and energy density for onboard batteries, directly increasing flight times and power outputs. UAS capabilities have dramatically expanded due to the miniaturization of airborne sensors, allowing for their integration onto increasingly smaller platforms. Finally, exponential advances in microprocessor technology have produced lightweight microprocessors of increasingly small form factors capable of running complex real-time processors aboard UASs, enabling the implementation of autonomous features.

Since 2005, CReSIS has developed numerous payload-driven radar-bearing UASs for polar research. The Meridian UAS was designed, manufactured, and flight tested by KU students and faculty in the USA, Antarctica, and Greenland. With a wingspan of over 26 feet and a takeoff weight of 1,100 pounds, the Meridian is the largest UAS designed by an academic entity in the world. The aircraft is capable of carrying 120 pounds of payload over a range of 1,750 km, along with a 300 km reserve. Following rapid advances in onboard computers, the radar systems were miniaturized dramatically, and their weight reduced by an order of magnitude. Such advancement in radar systems changed UAS requirements and their concept of operation.  With much smaller radars onboard, the size was reduced and became a new generation of UASs with built in CReSIS radars, named the G1X series. The G1X is capable of carrying the radar system over a total range of 100 km. The G1X was deployed to Antarctica in 2014, where it performed the first successful autonomous and over-the-horizon (OTH) sounding of ice sheets in Antarctica. In the spring of 2016, the KU team deployed another version of G1X UAS (called G1XB) to Kangerlussuaq, Greenland.  During this deployment, the KU team successfully collected ice thickness and bedrock topology measurements of the Russell Glacier, including eight OTH flights covering more than 200 miles of glacial surface. Since the 2016 deployment, the CReSIS UAS team has focused on a new generation of UASs capable of vertical takeoff and vertical landing (VTOL). VTOL UASs do not need long runways and they reduce the complexity of operation in polar regions.  The CReSIS team has already successfully flight tested a few VTOL UASs, and the new VTOL UAS (Astrid 2930) will be deployed to Greenland in 2021-2022.