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Energy production, distribution, and storage systems play a critical role in powering modern-day society. Due to its strategic importance, this area of applications is constantly raising new and exciting research challenges that span a variety of different fields.

Autonomous Mobile Sensors for Wind Field Estimation

Image courtesy of Dr. Christopher J. Bay.

In an effort to improve the efficiency of wind energy, this project investigates the use of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) to estimate the airflow within a wind farm.

This is done using simplified turbine wake models to identify the areas with the highest density of information and generate a suitable flight path for the UAVs. The measurements taken by the mobile sensors are then used to update the current model of the wind field.

Collaborators:Cory Dixon¹, Lucy Pao¹, Jennifer Annoni², Christopher J. Bay²
1. University of Colorado Boulder
2. National Renewable Energy Laboratory

Students: David J. Pasley

Funding: Autonomous Systems IRT (Seed grant)