The main motivation behind my project is the fact that although clouds have a large impact on the environment, they are still not properly understood. Also, studying clouds poses interesting engineering challenges regarding platform integration, customisation of equipment and dealing with noise sources. From a project point of view, my skill set includes having built and integrated sensors on UAVs; experience with general design software; and attending field testing campaigns.
From a personal point of view, I am interested in automation, remote sensing and environmental science. I intend to develop an electric field sensor and mount it on an airborne platform in order to fly within non-thunderstorm clouds and gather new data about the cloud microphysics. The main challenges I face are low noise measurements, having to weave engineering and science and reaching a cost effective design while meeting all the specifications.