UAV-based atmospheric tomography using Large Eddy Simulation data

Atmospheric acoustic tomography is used to estimate the 2 or 3 dimensional spatial distribution of temperature and wind in the Atmospheric Boundary Layer. Some applications of these results are atmospheric research, boundary layer meteorology, theories of atmospheric turbulence and wave propagation through a turbulent atmosphere. The tomographic technique described in this paper uses an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle flying over a horizontal array of ground based microphones. The temperature and wind profiles are estimated using tomographic inversion derived from the sound propagation time estimates between the Unmanned Aerial Vehicle and the microphones. Previous papers have reported on this technique for a random atmosphere that is not necessarily realistic. This paper reports on the results from investigations using more realistic atmospheres generated using Large Eddy Simulation.