An atmospheric turbulence detection method includes: providing a temperature difference measuring device including a thermocouple element and two sensing probes, wherein the thermocouple element has two opposite end portions, the two sensing probes are respectively disposed at the two end portions, and there is an ambient distance between the two end portions; placing the temperature difference measuring device in an atmospheric environment to generate an electromotive force by a temperature difference between the two end portions; analyzing the electromotive force to convert the electromotive force into an ambient temperature difference of an environment where the two end portions of the thermocouple element are located, an atmospheric refractive index structure constant is calculated according to the ambient temperature difference and the ambient distance, and a value of the atmospheric refractive index structure constant corresponds to an ambient disturbance of an atmospheric turbulence. An atmospheric turbulence detection device is also provided.

Improved mechanisms for collecting information from a diverse suite of sensors and systems, calculating the current precipitation, atmospheric water vapor, atmospheric liquid water content, or precipitable water and other atmospheric-based phenomena, for example presence and intensity of fog, based upon these sensor readings, predicting future precipitation and atmospheric-based phenomena, and estimating effects of the atmospheric-based phenomena on visibility, for example by calculating runway visible range (RVR) estimates and forecasts based on the atmospheric-based phenomena.

The present invention relates to a method and system for gathering data along points of travel using common portable electronic devices that are typically used for other functions. More specifically, the data gathered by these portable electronic devices may be accessed, processed, validated, and used in conjunction with, or alone, to produce, augment, and/or validate other data sets across wide ranges of science and technology.

A system and method provide improved remote turbulence measurement. The system includes an image capturing device that captures time-lapse images of a distant target anywhere from a km to more than a 100 km away. A processor of the system tracks relative motion due to atmospheric turbulence of some number of patches of definite size on each of these images using a subpixel accurate correlation technique. The processor computes differential tilt variances between every pair of patches from the image collection and evaluates the theoretical weighting functions between turbulence along the path and differential tilt variances. The processor determines weights to linearly combine the weighting functions such that the combined weighting function closely resembles the weighting function corresponding to a turbulence parameter of interest. The processor then combines the differential tilt variances using the determined weights to obtain the desired turbulence parameter.

Systems and aircraft are provided. An avionics system includes a storage device and one or more data processors. The storage device stores instructions for monitoring an actual performance of the aircraft. The one or more data processors are configured to execute the instructions to: determine a first measured value of a flight characteristic of the aircraft at a first position of the aircraft; execute at least one flight maneuver between the first position and a second position of the aircraft; generate a predicted energy change between the first position and the second position based on the at least one flight maneuver and an energy state model; determine a second measured value of the flight characteristic of the aircraft at the second position; and generate an adjustment to the energy state model based on the first measured value, the second measured value, and the predicted energy change.

According to one embodiment, there is provided an aviation weather control system including: a processing unit configured to receive weather information of an area to be overseen including a vertically integrated liquid water content, and specify a weather phenomenon affecting an airplane based on the received weather information; and a notification unit configured to notify the weather phenomenon specified by the processing unit.

The present disclosure is of an atmospheric characterization system that has a central processing board that has a first and a second communication interface. Further, the atmospheric characterization system further has a first precision temperature sensor that is communicatively coupled to the central processing board via the first communication interface and positioned a distance from a first side of the processing board, wherein the precision temperature measures a first temperature and transfers data indicative of the first temperature to the central processing board. In addition, the atmospheric characterization system has a second precision temperature sensor that is communicatively coupled to the central processing board via the second communication interface and positioned the distance from a second opposing side of the processing board such that the first precision temperature sensor and the second precision temperature sensor are equidistance from the processing board and a distance between the first precision sensor and the second precision sensor is a predetermined distance, r, and the second precision temperature sensor measures a second temperature and transfers data indicative of the second temperature to the central processing board simultaneously with the transferring of the first temperature. Additionally, the atmospheric characterization system has a processor that receives the first temperature and the second temperature and calculates a value indicative of atmospheric turbulence based upon the first temperature and the second temperature, wherein the value indicative of the atmospheric turbulence is used for designing, modifying, calibrating, or correcting an optical system.

Disclosed are methods, systems, and non-transitory computer-readable media for detecting wind shear conditions in an urban airspace. For instance, the method may include obtaining aircraft information related to an aircraft in the urban airspace, accessing three-dimensional building information corresponding to the airspace, obtaining wind speed and direction data from a plurality of sensors provided about the airspace, and detecting wind shear conditions in at least a portion of the airspace based on the obtained wind speed and direction data. The method may further include determining real-time flight safety parameters in the portion of the airspace based on the wind shear conditions detected in at least the portion of the airspace, analyzing the determined real-time flight safety parameters along a designated flight path through the portion of the airspace to determine whether an unsafe flight condition exists, and transmitting the analysis to the aircraft or a remote operating station.

Systems and methods for assessing and presenting aviation-focused weather information are provided. One computer-implemented method comprises receiving, at one or more processors, weather information for a select geographic location and a select time period, the select time period comprising a plurality of consecutive hours, and the weather information including general weather conditions and aviation-specific weather conditions for each of the hours; and displaying, on a display unit of an electronic device, a weather forecast user interface configured to present the weather information, wherein the weather forecast user interface comprises a first region configured to depict one or more of the aviation-specific weather conditions for each hour of the select time period using color-coding or shading associated with the corresponding aviation-specific weather condition.

The present disclosure is of an atmospheric characterization system that has a central processing board that has a first and a second communication interface. Further, the atmospheric characterization system further has a first precision temperature sensor that is communicatively coupled to the central processing board via the first communication interface and positioned a distance from a first side of the processing board, wherein the precision temperature measures a first temperature and transfers data indicative of the first temperature to the central processing board. In addition, the atmospheric characterization system has a second precision temperature sensor that is communicatively coupled to the central processing board via the second communication interface and positioned the distance from a second opposing side of the processing board such that the first precision temperature sensor and the second precision temperature sensor are equidistance from the processing board and a distance between the first precision sensor and the second precision sensor is a predetermined distance, r, and the second precision temperature sensor measures a second temperature and transfers data indicative of the second temperature to the central processing board simultaneously with the transferring of the first temperature. Additionally, the atmospheric characterization system has a processor that receives the first temperature and the second temperature and calculates a value indicative of atmospheric turbulence based upon the first temperature and the second temperature, wherein the value indicative of the atmospheric turbulence is used for designing, modifying, calibrating, or correcting an optical system.