USRL focuses on cost-effective UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle) atmospheric applications (vertical profiling, 3D mapping, plume tracking) with miniaturized and lightweight atmospheric sensors fulfilling ACTRIS QA/QC and SOPs (e.g. Aerosol Number Size Concentration, Black Carbon Concentration). It comprises laboratories (150m²) with weather chamber for sensor qualification, specialised mechanical/electronic workshops, as well as a private airfield and permanent airspace (with max ceiling of 3km altitude) located nearby the Cyprus Atmospheric Observatory (ACTRIS National Facility candidate, https://cao.cyi.ac.cy/). USRL is operated by a team of 13 staff of experienced engineers (electronic, software, system, communication, mechanic /material), professional pilots (flying commercial airliners), and experienced researchers in atmospheric sciences. USRL includes a large fleet of customized UAVs (fixed and rotary wings) with different payload capacity (up to 10kg) and miniature air sensors.
Services currently offered by the facility: USRL provides 1) research support in performing intensive field campaigns (profiling, 3D mapping) of UAV-sensor systems, 2) technical support through customized integration of lightweight sensors into UAVs (multi-copter, fixed wing), 3) innovation support through the optimization of lightweight instrumentation for their specific use onboard UAVs, 4) quality UAV training of new users (pilots and scientists).
USRL has been successfully used in the past for in-situ validation of LIDAR retrieval algorithms (Mamali et al., 2018; Marinou et al., 2019), Ice Nuclei measurements in the cloud region (Schrod et al., 2017), on-flight validation of lightweight absorption sensors (Pikridas et al., 2019), or for the characterisation (weather chamber) of miniaturized aerosol sensors (Bezantakos et al., 2018). USRL was candidate (as TNA provider) for the 3rd TNA call of ENVRI+, and has been successfully used many large international field campaigns (EU-FP7 BACCHUS in Cyprus; H2020-ACTRIS2 in Greece and Finland; AESA-ASKOS in Cape Verde) and for the provision of services to public/private collaborators (e.g. NOA, Greece; CEA, France). Potential new users: ISARRA Community (International Society for Atmospheric Research using Remotely piloted Aircraft; http://www.isarra.org/); >250 members, EU Research Infrastructure (ICOS, EUFAR) partners from the Eastern Mediterranean and the Middle East region, governmental Units for Environmental monitoring, Security and civil protection. Support/training for SMEs developing UAV-sensor technology in compliance with EU directives (i.e. UAV-based stack emissions), for instrument testing and optimization, and training for UAV flight operation.
Novel remote access capabilities added: integration, testing and flights of new atmospheric sensors in USRL drones, performance of research (field) campaigns and UAV-sensor optimization with remote guidance by the end user.
