Weather Station

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Note: This experiment is currently unavailable while we update both software and hardware. This article is based on the old version.

Description of the Experiment

This experiment allows access to a weather station's database.

Experimental Apparatus

This weather station is installed on top of Instituto Superior Técnico's Central Pavilion, in Lisbon, Portugal. It is permanently recording the data it acquires in a database, averaging the values for each hour. The user can access the data from the last acquisition and the database itself, represented as graphs.

The sensor is a thermistor, i.e. a resistor that varies with temperature. The temperature for a given value in electrical resistance can be found with the following formula (given by the manufacturer):

$T = \frac{ \beta }{ ln(\frac{ R }{ R_{ref} }) + \frac{ \beta }{ T_{ref} }}$

This sensor was developed by the MERCATOR company, having been placed in a RHU217-AT model board. Operational values are between 0º and 60º (precision $$\pm 0.7 ºC$$ at 25ºC).

Protocol

First, the user has to select the data to be observed (by default, the latest data is shown).

Sensor panel:

• Select the type of data to be shown, by choosing which sensor to look at.

Resolution panel:

• Select the time scale for the graphical representation.

Period panel:

• Select the time interval between samples.

Buttons:

• OK - confirm the chosen selections, go to the experiment stage.
• Cancel - close the config window.
• Default config - default selection.

Data Visualization Window After the configuration, the chosen data can be observed. The latest acquisition is always shown and the data from the database is shown graphically.