Unmanned Aircraft Aimed for the Arctic

Sheela McLean
NOAA Fisheries Service

December 15, 2008 — Scientists recently launched and retrieved an unmanned aircraft from the NOAA research vessel Oscar Dyson, preparing for an expedition to study ice seals in the Bering Sea this spring.
 

“We are particularly interested in using this new technology in the Arctic, where we urgently need better data in very remote locations,” said Robyn Angliss, deputy director of NOAA’s National Marine Mammal Laboratory, Alaska Fisheries Science Center, and a lead scientist for the Arctic testbed of NOAA’s Unmanned Aircraft Systems Program. 

 “We have long envisioned unmanned aircraft as the best technology to use to assess the abundance and distribution of ribbon, bearded, spotted, and ringed seals” added Josh London, the project’s chief scientist from NOAA’s Alaska Fisheries Science Center.  “Ice seals range so broadly and so far from shore that surveying the full range of these populations using traditional manned aircraft is challenging.”

The aircraft, commonly known as a ‘ScanEagle,’ weighs less than 25 pounds empty.  It has a 10-foot wingspan and can carry up to 12 pounds of fuel plus a payload for up to 20 hours.  At cruise speed, it flies between 45 and 70 knots.

Greg Walker and Don Hampton from the University of Alaska-Fairbanks piloted the ScanEagle from the Oscar Dyson. 

“Teamwork among the commander and crew of the Dyson was critical,” according to Angliss “because the commander and crew have to adjust vessel course and speed for coordinated air vehicle launch and recovery.” 

When the ScanEagle returned to the Dyson, the team captured it using a ship’s crane integrated “skyhook” system -- line was strung vertically and airframe mounted hooks at the end of the ScanEagle wings clipped to the line as it returned to the Oscar Dyson.

Commander Mike Hoshlyk, the commanding officer of the Oscar Dyson, commented. “The officers and crew of the Dyson were honored to be an integral part of helping NOAA adopt this new technology.  This effort required many NOAA offices to work together with the University of Alaska and industry.”