Ateneo de Davao to install mini-weather station
After six months of conceptualizing and developing a mini-weather station as part of a weather monitoring and disaster alert system, a team from Ateneo de Davao University (ADDU) is close to completing preparations for the installation of the device in Davao City.
Two members of the ADDU team attended a week-long immersion program with the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) to learn how to maximize the use and the benefits of a weather station, including calibrating the instrument according to international standards.
(from left) George Frederick Tujan and Engr. Marloue Pidor of Ateneo de Davao University with PAGASA weather specialist II Ferdinand Barcenas.
Under the tutelage of PAGASA weather specialist II Ferdinand Barcenas, ADDU faculty and team leader Engr. Marloue Pidor and project consultant George Frederick Tujan participated in the calibration of two prototypes of their low-cost automatic weather station.
Each prototype includes a thermometer for measuring temperature, an anemometer for wind speed, wind vane for wind direction, hygrometer for humidity, barometer for pressure, and a rain gauge for the amount of rainfall.
The automated weather station fabricated by ADDU is part of a project to gather data that may be used in the development of an early warning system for flood-prone areas in Davao City.They have likewise developed a river monitoring station. ADDU has been working closely with various local government units as well as with Smart Communications, Inc. for this undertaking.
“Coming here, I thought calibrating the entire device would be as simple as a half day or a whole day’s work. I soon realized that it is a tedious process. It took us an entire day to calibrate the temperature alone,” says Pidor.
Testing of the anemometer in a wind tunnel took one day and a half to complete. They had to test it four times in increasing wind velocity.
Pidor noted how serious and focused Barcenas was about the task on hand. “It was obvious from day one that Sir Ferdie is very passionate about proper calibration. His was a very scientific approach, explaining the process every step of the way.”
Mentor and students would work from 8:30am to 5pm, making the necessary adjustments in the sensors just to get a reading or measurement that matches the calibrated data set by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO).
“Here in PAGASA, we are calibrating our instruments, stations and all other things related to the weather observation system based on WMO guidelines and calibration techniques. We want ADDU’s device to be similarly standardized,” says Arnel Manoos, weather facilities specialist III.
Engr. Marloue Pidor and George Frederick Tujan of Ateneo de Davao work on their web-based monitoring system under the tutelage of PAGASA weather specialist II Ferdinand Barcenas (standing).
“We are also looking forward to an integration of all the monitoring or observation facilities installed in the country. It is therefore very important that the data or facilities are standard to be suitable for operations. That way, we can use it in PAGASA,” adds Susan Espinueva, assistant weather services chief of the HydroMetrological division.
Espinueva cites the low network density of PAGASA compared to other countries which makes it a good move to train interested groups like ADDU that can help increase the monitoring facilities of the weather bureau.
Asked to rate the prototypes by ADDU, Barcenas gives them a grade of 90%.
Further improvements have to be made with the anemometer to correctly measure higher wind speed. After correction, this would have to be re-calibrated by PAGASA. Save for this, the other sensors of ADDU’s automated weather station registered linear reading vis-a-vis the calibrated data.
“Because the output of our device is linear or it follows the same curve as the calibrated data, we just have to apply correction factors. This is the case with our temperature, relative humidity and barometric pressure measurements,” says Pidor.
ADDU will be calibrating the rain gauges themselves based on instructions given by Barcenas. These include how to compute calibration factors and how to adjust a standard rain gauge.
Tujan, who joined ADDU as a web application consultant for the project, worked closely with Karl Vasquez, weather specialist at PAGASA, for the website development aspect.
“Sir Karl provided us an overview of how PAGASA transmits remote data in near real time, their standard data sets as pattern for data retrieval, and the required display format for international exchange of data,” shares Tujan.
ADDU’s monitoring system is web-based and uses the OpenStreetMap for data visualization.
“I learned a lot from this immersion.PAGASA was very supportive in providing what we needed and answering all our questions,” says Pidor.
He credits SMART for this opportunity.“SMART has made a lot of things possible with their wide network. Because of them we are able to work with government agencies.”
The industry-academe partnership between SMART and ADDU has its roots in the Smart Wireless Engineering Education Progarm (SWEEP) of which the latter is a partner school.
With the support of SMART, a winning search and rescue management system designed by ADDU for the SWEEP Innovation and Excellence Awards has been further refined as a sea and land-based tracking device for Davao City. This initial collaboration with the local government of Davao City has since grown to include the development of the mini- weather station and river monitoring station.
(Published 02 June 2010, Smart Communications Inc.)