Skip to content IOP Science home Accessibility Help Search Journals Books Publishing Support Login Journal of Physics: Conference Series Purpose-led Publishing, find out more. PAPER • THE FOLLOWING ARTICLE ISOPEN ACCESS Spatially distributed and simultaneous wind measurements with a fleet of small quadrotor UAS Tamino Wetz1 and Norman Wildmann1 Published under licence by IOP Publishing Ltd Journal of Physics: Conference Series, Volume 2265, Wind and Wind Farms; Measurement and Testing Citation Tamino Wetz and Norman Wildmann 2022 J. Phys.: Conf. Ser. 2265 022086 DOI 10.1088/1742-6596/2265/2/022086 DownloadArticle PDF References Download PDF Article metrics 281 Total downloads 99 total citations on Dimensions. Share this article Article and author information Abstract The understanding of micro-scale flow in the atmospheric boundary layer is one major challenge in wind energy research. Besides the broad possibilities of numerical simulations, experimental data are necessary for tests of the flow conditions within a wind farm under real conditions. In wind energy and atmospheric science, a variety of measurement devices exist for measuring the wind speed. We propose a measurement system that enables completely flexible simultaneous wind measurements using a fleet of multirotor unmanned aircraft systems (UAS). This approach is validated through a two-week measurement campaign at the boundary layer field site Falkenberg of the German National Meteorological Service (DWD). The wind speed is calculated from UAS motions in hover state without additional wind sensors. The measurements are calibrated and validated against sonic anemometers mounted at a 99 m mast. The capability of highly accurate spatial distributed wind measurement with an improved wind algorithm is proven by a root mean square error (RMSE) of 0.25 ms−1 for the horizontal wind speed and < 5° for the wind direction. Further, turbulence measurements are presented showing valid results up to a frequency of 2 Hz in high turbulence conditions. Additionally, spatially horizontal distributed measurements with multiple UAS are examined in a case study of a gust front event.