Contact: Dr. Stephen Foster, Aventech Research Inc., 110 Anne Street South, Unit 23, Barrie, Ontario, Canada L4N 2E3  email: foster@aventech.com

Summary:  Real-time wind measurement on-board a spray aircraft can be an effective tool in the battle against drift.  Data acquired at spray release height, at the time of release, ensures wind information will be truly representative of the conditions affecting drift during a particular application.  For airborne wind measurement to be an operational tool, however, it must be accurate, reliable, easy to use, and cost-effective.

 Accuracy and cost-effectiveness are design parameters that are frequently at odds.  To address these conflicting requirements, a study was undertaken prior to the development of the Aircraft - Integrated Meteorological Measurement System (AIMMS-20) to closely examine error propagation from primary measurements through to the final wind solution.  Measurement-error limits for the sensor inputs and requirements for the data reduction algorithm were established to deliver wind data of necessary accuracy.

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