A weather drone, or weather-sensing uncrewed aerial vehicle (UAV),[1] is a remotely piloted aircraft weighing less than 25 kg[2] and carrying sensors that collect thermodynamic and kinematic data from the mid and lower atmosphere (e.g. up to 6 km).
The authors pointed out the need for "a simple, economical, controllable, and recoverable platform to carry meteorological sensors and instrumentation" and demonstrated that using a small, radio-controlled aircraft to collect weather data was both feasible and useful.
Its researchers have been developing the CopterSonde and created the 3D Mesonet concept, a network of stations from which weather drones are launched every hour or two to collect data from the mesoscale.
The fixed-wing drone flew at lower heights (900 m - 1.3 km) inside the eye of the hurricane and into the eyewall to collect temperature, pressure, and moisture values.
The first weather drones used fixed-wings as it allowed researchers to implement technological advances from the piloted aircraft domain and to cover a larger area owing to its capacity to fly for long hours.