It's an old idea. Past attempts have failed because the temperature
gradients were too small to be detected reliably. Perhaps modern
sensors will work better.

As for number 2, there's really no debate. For conventional gliders,
the wing that goes up points in the direction of the thermal. Flying
wings may be a different story.



ContestID67 wrote:
I was sent a link to a gadget some college engineers-in-the-making
built. http://engenius.sece.rmit.edu.au/Abstracts/Page601.htm. It
tries to detect which way a thermal is based on temperature differences
between wing tips. Bright boys.

I have two questions;

1) Have there been other gadgets created to do the same thing? How
well did they work?

2) What do you use to determine if the thermal is on the left or the
right? This is the wing up or down when its near the thermal debate.

Thanks, John