Author Topic: Interesting features for Ultra-sonic anemometer  (Read 1873 times)

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Offline giulio

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Interesting features for Ultra-sonic anemometer
« on: June 15, 2017, 07:23:44 PM »
Hello All, I work for a company manufacturing weather equipment. We are now developing a new Ultrasonic anemometer. My team is asking me which features and solution (apart from the wind measurement, which is sure  :grin:), we should consider in our development. For example, is it important to consider birds and insects protections? It is important to include other measurements as temperature, rain presence, pressure, storm front distance? It can be nice to mount a leds system to inform about the sensor status (hardware problem) and alarms regarding measurement threshold. I would like to know your point of view about it and also to know about any other ideas and suggestion you may share with me, to make a "attractive and not usual" sensor. Thank you for your cooperation. Giulio

Offline vreihen

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Re: Interesting features for Ultra-sonic anemometer
« Reply #1 on: June 15, 2017, 08:33:10 PM »
Start by reading the NWS proper siting manuals for weather station sensors before you go any further.  Temperature should not be read from wind-sensor height on any serious (read: non-home consumer) device.  One second updates, external power (fast updates and ultrasonic transmitters are rough on batteries), a heater to keep the microphones/speakers clear, and my personal favorite feature of wanting a wifi interface and TCP/IP access to the sensor as a JSON IoT device.....
WU Gold Stars for everyone! :lol:

Offline vreihen

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Re: Interesting features for Ultra-sonic anemometer
« Reply #2 on: June 15, 2017, 08:35:42 PM »
Oh, and if/when you get to the point of needing a beta tester, I will gladly beat your product up for a small fee....  :lol:
WU Gold Stars for everyone! :lol:

Offline Mattk

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Re: Interesting features for Ultra-sonic anemometer
« Reply #3 on: June 15, 2017, 08:56:44 PM »
Power needs to be minimized which typically means other "nice" things like WiFi and TCP/IP become a burden.

An Ultra-sonic anemometer should be just that an anemometer, nothing more, nothing less. Communication protocols need to support weather stations without the need for additional interfaces which may mean different (up-loadable) firmware modules to support a wide cross section of manufacturer's protocols. In built cable connector a opposed to fixed wiring.   

Sensor arms/pods should be protected (under a roof/hood type design) as opposed to the typical open exposure models that generally exist.

Mounting needs to be a multiple-point type design that relies on something more than PVC moulding slipped over a pipe and held on with a single hose clamp. All wiring needs to be able to be fully protected within/through the anemometer mounting and the support/mast.   

Offline Dog2puppy

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Re: Interesting features for Ultra-sonic anemometer
« Reply #4 on: June 20, 2017, 02:18:48 PM »
Start by reading the NWS proper siting manuals for weather station sensors before you go any further.  Temperature should not be read from wind-sensor height on any serious (read: non-home consumer) device.  One second updates, external power (fast updates and ultrasonic transmitters are rough on batteries), a heater to keep the microphones/speakers clear, and my personal favorite feature of wanting a wifi interface and TCP/IP access to the sensor as a JSON IoT device.....
A heater for a microphone and speaker? Is there a joke I'm missing?


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Offline SLOweather

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Re: Interesting features for Ultra-sonic anemometer
« Reply #5 on: June 20, 2017, 03:07:42 PM »
A heater for a microphone and speaker? Is there a joke I'm missing?

Probably to keep them from freezing up due to condensation/frost etc.

Offline Dog2puppy

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Re: Interesting features for Ultra-sonic anemometer
« Reply #6 on: June 20, 2017, 06:06:32 PM »
A heater for a microphone and speaker? Is there a joke I'm missing?

Probably to keep them from freezing up due to condensation/frost etc.
But whats the microphone and speaker do?


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Offline vreihen

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Re: Interesting features for Ultra-sonic anemometer
« Reply #7 on: June 20, 2017, 06:27:20 PM »
A heater for a microphone and speaker? Is there a joke I'm missing?

I over-simplified the technical description since I suspected that original poster was not a native English speaker, and I tried to avoid technical buzz words on the off chance that he/she was using a web-based translation service.

The question was regarding an ultrasonic anemometer...which as its name implies measures wind speed/direction using high frequency sound waves traveling between a pair of emitters and receivers (usually clocked 90 degrees apart on cheaper units to make the geometry calculations easier).

As for the heater, what is the speed of sound through accumulated snow or ice?  Trying to temperature-compensate the in-flight time for sound waves at varying temperatures is hard enough without trying to compensate for passing through solids or semi-liquids.  How useful is an instrument that tells you that the wind is out of the northeast at 200 MPH because it is iced up?

The joke here is what Gill and RM Young charge for their heated ultrasonic anemometers:

http://www.youngusa.com/products/6/71.html

http://gillinstruments.com/products/anemometer/windobserver-65.html

http://gillinstruments.com/products/anemometer/windsonic-m.html

Hope this helps to clarify things.....
WU Gold Stars for everyone! :lol:

Offline Mattk

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Re: Interesting features for Ultra-sonic anemometer
« Reply #8 on: June 20, 2017, 06:44:44 PM »
Ultra sonic anemometer (only) power requirements are generally reasonable but with heating starts to require some serious power and typically 24 volts

Offline Dog2puppy

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Re: Interesting features for Ultra-sonic anemometer
« Reply #9 on: June 22, 2017, 08:58:42 AM »
A heater for a microphone and speaker? Is there a joke I'm missing?

I over-simplified the technical description since I suspected that original poster was not a native English speaker, and I tried to avoid technical buzz words on the off chance that he/she was using a web-based translation service.

The question was regarding an ultrasonic anemometer...which as its name implies measures wind speed/direction using high frequency sound waves traveling between a pair of emitters and receivers (usually clocked 90 degrees apart on cheaper units to make the geometry calculations easier).

As for the heater, what is the speed of sound through accumulated snow or ice?  Trying to temperature-compensate the in-flight time for sound waves at varying temperatures is hard enough without trying to compensate for passing through solids or semi-liquids.  How useful is an instrument that tells you that the wind is out of the northeast at 200 MPH because it is iced up?

The joke here is what Gill and RM Young charge for their heated ultrasonic anemometers:

http://www.youngusa.com/products/6/71.html

http://gillinstruments.com/products/anemometer/windobserver-65.html

http://gillinstruments.com/products/anemometer/windsonic-m.html

Hope this helps to clarify things.....
Oh, by ultra-sonic, I thought they wanted to make a sensor that was extremely accurate and all, I forgot all about the sensors that measure by using sound. :P My misunderstanding, sorry.


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