The CopterSonde-3D, designed by a small team of researchers led by scientists Tony Segales and Tyler Bell, captures information similar to a weather tower while moving through the atmosphere. Several versions of the design have been produced since 2016 using feedback from other researchers and meteorologists.
“The drone evolved, and we believe that it's kind of shaped by weather because every time we go out there, there's a different challenge that weather presents us,” Segales said.
The researchers, along with others at CIWRO, are helping the National Severe Storms Lab develop a new weather forecasting system that could improve warning lead times from about 20 minutes to up to two hours, Bell said. The project could result in quicker alerts for people in the line of tornadoes, thunderstorms and flash floods.
The drone is one tool the forecasters could use to get detailed insights into evolving weather events.
Challenges like violent wind or snow pose threats to the durability of the drone, which the researchers produced using a 3-D printer. Private company InterMet Systems licensed the design and has plans to refine the product, adapting it to the nation’s turbulent weather systems. The market-ready product will likely be lighter with more resilient material, Segales said.
The drones are designed to pick up details missed by weather balloons, which are launched twice a day across the country. Bell said the devices could be installed in Mesonet networks to measure weather throughout the day.
The Trump administration’s recent cuts to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) have resulted in fewer weather balloon launches, likely impacting the nation’s forecasts. The researchers say the CopterSonde has the potential to help close those gaps.
“At this moment, there's issues with staffing, and one of the ways that we might be able to fill it is with these [uncrewed aerial systems],” Bell said. “So, they are getting more interest as valuable tools to be able to observe more of the atmosphere.”
CIWRO is among 16 institutes across several states the Trump administration seeks to dissolve in its proposed budget. The organizations, some of which date back decades, are partnerships between NOAA, universities and other entities.
A passback document from the White House outlined a plan to shrink NOAA, which serves as the nation’s authority on weather forecasting, climate data and ocean research. It would also effectively eliminate the agency’s research arm.
Scientists told StateImpact the nation’s forecasts would be impacted by the lack of data collection, risking lives and property.
The researchers could not comment on the ongoing budget talks, but said the federal funding and partnership with NOAA were critical to the drone’s development.
“That really allowed us to pursue funding that was risky and allowed us to do risky development and produce a much better product than we would've otherwise,” Bell said.
The devices are a few years out from hitting the market, Segales said, and the researchers are now designing boxes to charge the drones without help from humans.
“In the future, we would like to have these drones deployed in the field in a more autonomous way,” he said. “Right now, we are sending people out in the field to use these drones close to storms and more risky conditions.”
It’s unclear if research from CIWRO, which employs more than 200 workers, could continue without federal dollars. Trump’s budget proposal was sent to Congress in early May.
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