Path Prediction for an Earth Based Demonstration Flight

Anuj Arora, June 27, 2008.

The basic idea of this project is to demonstrate that a balloon can autonomously navigate in the Earth's atmosphere (where we are familiar with the wind patterns) and thus hopefully show that it might be possible to do the same on Titan (for which we possess very limited knowledge about atmospheric conditions). Due to the changing and variable wind patterns, it shall be a challenging task to predict the path for a passive balloon. I shall attempt to prove that a balloon can get from one point to another without our specific control, with a hope that this could, in the future, be replicated on Titan. In the end, I shall also look at the relative advantages and benefits of adding extra control features to the balloon - such as the ability to change altitude, for example, or to install sensors - with the ability to sense winds in a vertical column or within a particular radius - which might help the balloon get back on track in case it deviates from its path.

One of the mainstays of my project is to apply LCS (Lagrangian Coherent Structures) in a fresh way to atmospheres - the way it is applied to ocean currents. This would involve the use of inputs from WRF (Weather Research & Forecasting Model). Thus, my immediate goal would be to learn how to use the WRF model to generate wind fields. Once this is done, I would need to use the results from the WRF model to compute LCS - analyzing the results obtained to aid in my project.

Surf Progress Report 1

August 8 Presentation