MetroWeather, TruWeather to Build Wind Condition Sensing Infrastructure for NASA

MetroWeather, a wind condition technology provider, will help weather analytics company TruWeather Solutions build an urban weather observation infrastructure for NASA, which the agency is expected to use in support of the wide-scale deployment of commercial urban air mobility.

Design work on the Urban Wind Experiment is being done under a Phase I Small Business Innovation Research contract between NASA and TruWeather.

Construction of the UWEX will proceed if a Phase II SBIR contract is awarded, MetroWeather and TruWeather said.

MetroWeather said it will provide the required sensing algorithm and develop the model for multiple lidar data fusion using its compact data lidars.

Jun-ichi Furumoto, CEO of MetroWeather, said large numbers of small high-performance Doppler lidars can be deployed over drone ports and drone routes.

They can also be used to create real-time visualizations of local wind conditions that may affect a drone’s takeoff, landing and flight, Furumoto added.

MetroWeather said it will also design the application programming interface and the system that will deliver the observation data.

TruWeather will integrate the recorded wind measurement data into its urban wind model to design a system that can predict the weather needs of unmanned aerial systems and air transportation services. 

Don Berchoff, CEO of TruWeather, said MetroWeather’s technology is essential for NASA’s effort to develop a testbed for detecting potentially harmful wind shear conditions.

The companies said their cooperation will help advance the next-generation weather services needed for the development of air mobility services.