Unidata’s Weather Stations have a broad range of applications depending on your choice of instruments and configuration.
One of our simplest Weather Stations consists of temperature and humidity sensors mounted in a double-louvred radiation screen. These are connected to a fully programmable 512k data logger mounted in a weatherproof enclosure.
A system more often required includes instruments that enable you to monitor and record temperature, relative humidity, global solar radiation, and wind speed and direction.
The data logger will measure, store and display weather data for about one year using its internal battery (this period will vary according to configuration). The weatherproof enclosure also includes a field termination strip that makes it easy to connect external instruments and enables you to condition incoming signals.
You can extend the functionality of the Weather Station by adding instruments to measure barometric pressure, ambient temperature, solar radiation and rainfall. Remember that if the instruments you add increase the power burden, you will need to add a solar panel, external battery and regulator, or some other form of external power supply.
Typically our customers choose to mount the instruments and data logger enclosure on a fixed pole. However, Unidata can also supply a pole with a tripod base for installations that will not be permanent.
Because many of our customers install the Weather Station in remote or unattended locations, they often install one of the telemetry options – landline, cellular or radio communication links, whichever is available and most cost effective at the installation site. Doing so means you can collect data, re-program, and monitor the health of the Weather Station from your office.
Installing the telemetry feature reduces the need for time consuming site visits. Note that when using one of the telemetry options you will need to provide external power such as a solar panel, external battery and regulator and use a larger weatherproof enclosure.
The range of configurations available with Unidata weather stations is endless. For example, you might install a 6529-3 Evaporation Monitoring System adjacent to the weather station and connect the two systems using the SDI-12 communications facility. This also enables the weather and evaporation systems to share a single telemetry facility.
Another common configuration involves connecting a series of soil moisture sensors to a weather station and using the data acquired from them to compare soil moisture with rainfall and other conditions.
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