Advancements continue on the CopterSonde platform through ongoing research at the University of Oklahoma.
NORMAN, OKLA. – On the day of the 2023 Rolling Fork tornado, researchers with the Cooperative Institute for Severe and High Impact Weather (CIWRO) and NOAA’s National Severe Storms Laboratory, headquartered on the University of Oklahoma campus, piloted a small network of drones through increasingly hostile conditions. The nimble airborne devices collected data about the changing atmosphere and demonstrated that such a tool could be used to improve the prediction of violent tornadoes. These drones are part of a lineage of uncrewed aerial systems (UAS) developed at CIWRO that are changing the face of weather observations.
The CopterSonde-SWX (foreground) is the next CopterSonde under development at CIWRO. The CopterSonde-SWX and the rest of the drones in the CopterSonde line have been developed in the National Weather Center (background) a hub of meteorological research headquartered at the University of Oklahoma. Photo by Jonathan Kyncl.
Tony Segales, Ph.D., has led the system’s development since he began his doctoral work at OU in the fall 2017. The CopterSonde-3D, the culmination of his dissertation, is a patented design for a weather-sensing UAS that is now exclusively licensed with InterMet, the world’s leading supplier of atmospheric sensors. The patent, awarded last year, is specifically for the front scoop design of the CopterSonde-3D, a weather sensor package equipped with temperature and humidity sensors arranged in a strategic way to avoid data contamination by sources of heat around the drone.
Originally posted on May 5, 2025 by Kat Gebauer
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