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Engineers from CU Boulder get ready to deploy a RAAVEN drone during a storm. (Credit: IRISS)

This story is adapted from a version published by the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. .

This week, a storm-chasing drone operated by researchers at CU Boulder will get the blockbuster treatment when a version inspired by it appears in the summer popcorn flick “Twisters.”

The RAAVEN drone was developed by researchers at CU Boulder’s Integrated Remote and In-Situ Sensing (IRISS) program. It’s part of the Targeted Observation by Radars and UAS of Supercells (TORUS) project, a research effort that uses small drones and remote-sensing instruments to collect data on tornado formation in supercell thunderstorms. TORUS is led by principal investigator Adam Houston of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Brian Argrow and Eric Frew, professors in the Ann and H.J. Smead Department of Aerospace Engineering Sciences at CU Boulder, are among the co-principal investigators for the project.

In trailer scenes for “Twisters,” an uncrewed aircraft that matches RAAVEN swoops like a fighter jet toward storm clouds.

The RAAVEN’s appearance in the trailer surprised and delighted Argrow, its lead developer, when he first viewed it during the Super Bowl halftime this past February.

Argrow said he didn’t realize a blockbuster like “Twisters” was underway when a film crew contacted him in April 2023 for permission to create a radio-controlled model of the RAAVEN. He directed the moviemakers to make arrangements with the drone’s airframe manufacturer. 

“I don’t usually watch the halftime show, so I was about to go downstairs when the trailer came on,” he recounted. “I was shocked. This really is a big movie! And as I was watching, the RAAVEN appears. I said to my wife: ‘Did you see that? That’s a RAAVEN!’”

However, the RAAVEN already is a star.

Since 2017, the 6-and-a-half-foot wingspan drone has played a leading role in TORUS, which combines drones and tracking vehicles to gather thunderstorm data. TORUS explores how supercell thunderstorms give rise to tornadoes, and the researchers hope to help improve tornado warnings across the country. The project also involves the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Severe Storms Laboratory, the University of Oklahoma's Cooperative Institute for Severe and High-Impact Weather Research and Operations and Texas Tech University.

The RAAVEN can fly as fast as 90 miles per hour and has a battery life of up to three hours, putting it ahead of standard rotary wing drones, which can’t keep up with storms moving at 30 to 60 miles per hour and often run short of battery life, Argrow said.

“No one else is doing what we do,” he said, adding that it’s the RAAVEN and its mobile ground stations, authorized by the FAA, that make the research unique.