Two fast temperature sensors for probing of the atmospheric boundary layer using small remotely piloted aircraft (RPA)

摘要

Two types of temperature sensors are designed and tested: a thermocouple anda fine wire resistance thermometer. The intention of this study is to figureout which kind of measurement principle is in general more suited foratmospheric boundary layer meteorology with small remotely piloted aircraft (RPA). The sensors arecalibrated in a NIST traceable climate chamber and validated in flightagainst tower measurements, radiosondes and remote sensing. The sensors havea measurement range of at least −10–50 °C, an absolute RMSerror of less than ±0.2 K which is stable over the lifetime of thesensors, and a resolution of about 0.01 K. Both devices are tested fortypical errors like radiation error and adiabatic heating, as well as fortheir dynamic response. Spectral resolutions of up to approximately 10 Hzcan be obtained with both sensors, which makes them suitable for turbulencemeasurement. Their low cost of less than 100 EUR in pure hardware is a majoradvantage for research with small RPA.