Richard Hann
Research
My main research is pivoting around using autonomous systems and UAVs in cold climate conditions. In particular, I focus on the hazard of atmospheric icing. Atmospheric in-flight icing occurs whenever an aircraft, UAV, or wind turbine blade encounters supercooled liquid droplets inside clouds or freezing precipitation (rain/drizzle). These droplets have a temperature below the freezing point but are in liquid. When these supercooled liquid droplets impact on a surface, they freeze and quickly accumulate into ice shapes. These ice accumulations alter the aerodynamic shape of critical surfaces such as wings and propellers, leading to substantial aerodynamic performance losses (e.g., 80% efficiency loss on a rotor within 120s of moderate icing). Icing is a severe hazard for UAVs and can quickly lead to the loss of the aircraft without suitable protection systems – as a result, UAVs are typically not operated beyond visual line of sight when there are cold temperatures and visible moisture in the air (e.g., clouds, fog). Icing can occur worldwide and at any time of the year but is especially prevalent in colder climates and higher latitudes. While in-flight icing is a mature research field in manned aviation, little research has been conducted on the topic before 2014. Due to the big differences in configuration, size, airspeed, and operational environment, solutions and methods developed for manned aviation are not easily transferred to UAVs.
A second research focus of mine is the application of UAVs and drones in the Arctic, particularly in Svalbard. I mostly work with mapping of areas of interest in Svalbard, such as glaciers, permafrost, or sea ice. I collaborate with a wide range of researchers and support them in developing tailor-made solutions for using drones for their particular research questions. I also promote the general use of drones in Svalbard and offer support for drone-based fieldwork campaigns.
UAV Icing Lab
UAV Lab
Arctic UAVs
Publications
Atmospheric Ice Accretions, Aerodynamic Icing Penalties, and Ice Protection Systems on Unmanned Aerial Vehicles
Scientific Applications of Unmanned Vehicles in Svalbard
UAV icing: the influence of airspeed and chord length on performance degradation
Knowledge Transfer
Norwegian SciTech News
How to Mesh a Frozen Drone
NASA AMS Seminar Series
2023
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Academic lecture(2023) Inner-Loop Control of Fixed-Wing Unmanned Aerial Vehicles in Icing Conditions. AIAA AIAA SciTech Conference , National Harbor, Maryland 2023-01-23 - 2023-01-27
2022
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Academic lecture(2022) Opening session: UAV Icing Workshop. UAV Icing Lab UAV Icing Workshop , Trondheim 2022-11-29 - 2022-11-30
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Academic lecture(2022) Drone-based mapping of Gruvefjellet in Spring and Summer for cornice risk assessment. SIOS SIOS Online Conference , Svalbard 2022-10-12 - 2022-10-14
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Academic lecture(2022) Drone-based mapping of surging Scheelebreen and Vallåkrabreen glaciers in Svalbard. SIOS SIOS Online Conference , Svalbard 2022-10-12 - 2022-10-14
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Academic lecture(2022) Update to Scientific Applications of Unmanned Vehicles in Svalbard. SIOS SIOS Polar Night Week 2022 2022-01-24 - 2022-01-27
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Academic lecture(2022) UAV Icing – The freezing barrier for the future of aviation. NTNU AMOS AMOS Day 2022 2022-11-09 - 2022-11-09
2020
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Academic lecture(2020) Applications of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles in Svalbard. Arctic Change conference Arctic Change , Online 2020-12-07 - 2020-12-10
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Academic lecture(2020) Opportunities and Challenges for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) in the Arctic. SIOS SIOS Polar Night Week , Longyearbyen 2020-01-13 - 2020-01-17
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Popular scientific lecture(2020) A CFD benchmark study of ice accretion on a wind turbine blade and a comparison to the ice accretion of a rotating blade cylinder model . Swedish Windpower Association WinterWind- International Wind Energy Conference , Åre 2020-02-03 - 2020-02-05
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Academic lecture(2020) Icing on UAVs. Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Advanced Modeling & Simulation (AMS) Seminar Series , NASA Ames 2020-02-04 -
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Lecture(2020) A CFD benchmark: Ice accretion on a wind turbine blade. WinterWind 2020 2020-02-04 - 2020-02-06
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Academic lecture(2020) The Influence of Meteorological Conditions on the Icing Performance Penalties on a UAV Propeller. Deutsche Gesellschaft für Luft- und Raumfahrt DGLR Deutscher Luft- und Raumfahrtkongress 2020 , Online 2020-09-01 - 2020-09-04
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Academic lecture(2020) Overview of Unsettled Topics in UAV Icing. SAE International SAE International AeroTech Digital Summit , Online 2020-06-01 - 2020-06-04
2019
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Academic lecture(2019) Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in cold climate and wind energy applications. Winterwind Conference 2019 2019-02-04 - 2019-02-06
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Academic lecture(2019) Glacier Mapping and Wind Estimation with UAVs on Svalbard. Svalbard Science Conference 2019-11-05 - 2019-11-06
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Interview(2019) Drones learn from wind energy. Svensk vindkraft Svensk vindkraft [Business/trade/industry journal] 2019-01-15
2018
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Lecture(2018) Wind Turbine Noise due to Icing. BIS Group 2nd Wind Turbing Icing and Ice Prevention Forum , Berlin 2018-11-07 - 2018-11-08
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Lecture
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Poster(2018) Icing Protection Systems for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles in the Arctic. ArcticNet Arctic Change , Ottawa 2018-12-10 - 2018-12-14
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Lecture(2018) Icing on Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs). BIS Group 2nd Wind Turbing Icing and Ice Prevention Forum , Berlin 2018-11-07 - 2018-11-08
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Academic lecture(2018) Aerodynamic modeling of the Skywalker X8 Fixed-Wing Unmanned Aerial Vehicle. 2018 International Conference on Unmanned Aerial Systems , Dallas, TX 2018-06-12 - 2018-06-15
2017
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Academic lecture(2017) Impact of Atmospheric Icing on UAV Aerodynamic Performance. Linköping Workshop on Research, Education and Development of Unmanned Aerial Systems (RED-UAS) , IEEE 2017-10-03 - 2017-10-05
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Academic lecture
2015
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Poster