PROGRESS IN GEOGRAPHY ›› 2021, Vol. 40 ›› Issue (10): 1691-1703.doi: 10.18306/dlkxjz.2021.10.007

• Articles • Previous Articles     Next Articles

High-resolution simulation analysis of meteorological factors of unmanned aerial vehicle air route in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region

ZHAO Lei1(), XIE Feng2,*(), XU Chenchen3,4,5, ZHONG Ruomei1, WEN Xiaohang1   

  1. 1. Electronic Experimental Center, Chengdu University of Information Technology, Chengdu 610225, China
    2. Qingdao Meteorological Bureau, Qingdao 266003, Shandong, China
    3. State Key Laboratory of Resources and Environmental Information System, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, CAS, Beijing 100101, China
    4. The Research Centre for UAV Application and Regulation, CAS, Beijing 100101, China
    5. Institute of UAV Application Research, Tianjin and CAS, Tianjin 301800, China
  • Received:2020-11-25 Revised:2021-01-26 Online:2021-10-28 Published:2021-12-28
  • Contact: XIE Feng E-mail:zhaolei@cuit.edu.cn;xiefengqd@163.com
  • Supported by:
    National Key Research and Development Program of China(2017YFB0503005);National Natural Science Foundation of China(41971359)

Abstract:

The low-altitude air route environment in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region is complex and unstable. The safety of low-altitude flight is mostly affected by meteorological factors such as thunderstorms, wind shear, low visibility, and extreme temperature and humidity. It is difficult to accurately simulate and forecast the meteorological elements on the low-altitude air route of the unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). Based on the mesoscale Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model and its advanced three-dimensional variational assimilation system (3D-Var), we took the "7·20" heavy rainfall of North China in 2016 as a study case. The temperature field, humidity field, and wind field of the UAV low-altitude air route in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region were simulated, and the ground observation data and numerical simulation results were compared and analyzed. The aim was to provide a reference for the flight safety of UAVs in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region. The conclusion is as follows: WRF model can better simulate the daily variation trend of near-surface temperature, humidity, and wind speed in this area. The root mean square error (RMSE) and the bais between the simulated values and the observed values of the plain sites (Tianjin and Miyun) is lower, the wind speed simulations in mountainous areas is higher, and the simulation effect in plain areas is better than that in the northern and western mountainous areas. When heavy rainfall occurs, the temperature difference between the plain areas and the mountainous areas is about 15 ℃, the relative humidity is above 95%, and the boundary layer height is less than 500 m. The strong temperature difference, higher humidity, and lower boundary layer will affect UAV flying performance. At an altitude of 900 hPa along the 117°E longitude line, a wind speed of more than 10 m·s-1 appeared in Langfang-Hengshui in Hebei Province, forming a strong northeast wind. The northern part of the region (39°N-40.5°N) has a clear updraft. The vertical wind speed at a height of 1000 m also exceeds 2 m·s-1. The strong updraft is extremely unfavorable to the flight of the UAV, and will have a significant impact on the flight attitude and flying height of the UAV, causing potential safety hazards.

Key words: UAV, low-altitude air route, WRF model, data assimilation, meteorological factors, Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region