Ultrasonic weather stations

The ultrasonic weather station instrument calculates apparent wind speed and direction, barometric pressure, air temperature, relative humidity, dew point and wind chill temperature. Using the internal compass and Global Positioning System, true wind speed and direction can also be calculated. The UV stabilized, compact housing is fully waterproof and resistant to chemicals.

The weather station contains four transducers, visible through the four holes in the top of the sensor’s wind channel. The transducers operate in pairs- one transducer injects a pulse into the air, and the other (directly opposite) listens for the arrival of that pulse. Each pulse bounces off the anodized aluminum plate at the bottom of the wind channel and is carried by the wind to arrive at the opposing transducer a short time later. When there is no wind, the pulse travels at the speed of sound from the sender and receiver. Whenever the wind is blowing in that direction, the pulse will arrive sooner than if the air is still. The four transducers take turns in sending and receiving pulses to cover all eventualities of wind direction.  A built in microprocessor combines the measurement from all four transducers to calculate the resultant wind speed.

Once configured, the main dashboard display will show current weather conditions (below) on the technician's tablet.  The values that are displayed are Wind Speed, Wind Direction, and Temperature. If the weather station gets turned off or unplugged, the dashboard will alert the technician. We also upload restrictions from the pesticide label such a minimum and maximum wind speeds, as well as minimum and maximum air temperatures. If any of these values are not reached or exceeded the system will alert the technician. The weather information is saved with each spray point second by second.  The values that are stored are Wind Speed, Wind Direction, Temperature, Humidity, and Barometric Pressure. 

This is a sample graphic from the tablet in-cab display - weather information is in the red box on the right side (please note: the temperature shown below is far too cold for ULV applications in the CMMCP area - this is an example for illustration purposes):

Here is a screenshot from our vehicle & sprayer GPS tracking system - weather information is in the treatment log, outlined in the red box: