Tether-based wind estimation

A system comprising a processor configured to perform operations comprising:

• causing an aerial vehicle to deploy a tethered component to a particular distance beneath the aerial vehicle by releasing a tether connecting the tethered component to the aerial vehicle;
• obtaining, from a camera connected to the aerial vehicle, a plurality of images that are captured at a plurality of different times and represent the tethered component while the tethered component is deployed to the particular distance beneath the aerial vehicle;
• determining, for each respective image of the plurality of images, a corresponding location of the tethered component within the respective image;
• determining, based on the corresponding location of the tethered component within each respective image of the plurality of images, an average location of the tethered component over the plurality of different times;
• determining, based on the average location of the tethered component, a wind vector that represents a wind condition present in an environment of the aerial vehicle;
• and
• causing the aerial vehicle to perform an operation based on the wind vector.

A non-transitory computer-readable medium having stored thereon instructions that, when executed by a computing system, cause the computing system to perform operations comprising:

• causing an aerial vehicle to deploy a tethered component to a particular distance beneath the aerial vehicle by releasing a tether connecting the tethered component to the aerial vehicle;
• obtaining, from a camera connected to the aerial vehicle, a plurality of images that are captured at a plurality of different times and represent the tethered component while the tethered component is deployed to the particular distance beneath the aerial vehicle;
• determining, for each respective image of the plurality of images, a corresponding location of the tethered component within the respective image;
• determining, based on the corresponding location of the tethered component within each respective image of the plurality of images, an average location of the tethered component over the plurality of different times;
• determining, based on the average location of the tethered component, a wind vector that represents a wind condition present in an environment of the aerial vehicle;
• and
• causing the aerial vehicle to perform an operation based on the wind vector.