Surface Observing Station—called also as Automatic Weather Station (AWS) or Data Collection Platform (DCP), are the foundation of surface weather observation networks. A growing number of Internet Connected Devices will also increase the importance of network and data security of other connected devices like Weather stations.
Soon DCP is expected to do more than just data collection and quality checks. Future Automatic weather station has capability to do more advanced data processing to support machine learning and artificial intelligence. Automatic weather station role will be closer to the edge computing. These capabilities are available through modern open software platform supported by advanced tunable adaptive hardware.
The need for higher data rates comes together with wider communication bandwidth. In the past, the reporting interval was hourly-based, today it is typically at a 10-minute level, and in the future, it is expected to be up to every second level.
Trends in sensor and DCP development
The trend in sensor development has been to more intelligent sensors with even network connectivity. This raises the question: Do we need a weather station with a central processing unit if we can connect sensors straight to data collection? In some cases, the answer is no, but often it is cost efficient and even more flexible to have the weather station connecting the sensors.
What is the AWS / DCP? It is not only the processing unit but also power management, mechanics, telemetry, and sensors, all integrated. Common powering and telemetry provide cost efficiency as well as robustness and reliability. The main processing unit provides in-situ cross functional validation capability, a single point maintenance interface and better cyber security. And of course, the mechanical structure protects the components and provides an optimal installation place for sensors.
Weather station design has many challenges: The operating temperature range is wide, power is often limited, and it must support several telemetry options, e.g., Ethernet, cellular, satellite or just serial interface. In the temperature range the challenge is low temperature down to -60°C or even lower. The industrial standard goes down to -40°C but many components do not even meet this standard. Product lifetime is the second big challenge. The weather station lifetime is typically more than 10 years, so the system ideally needs to be supported up to 20 years.
Open Architecture
What, then, are the main issues and why is open architecture is important?
Open architecture means the capability to integrate any kind of sensors: analog, digital and intelligent. Several manufacturers and interfaces are not standardized. For users, it is important to be able to select the best sensors available and use existing sensors.
Open architecture also means having the option to view or even edit all calculation algorithms in an automatic weather station.
In the current offering, many manufacturers’ dataloggers offer some configurability, with at least the possibility of selecting from ready-made library components and sometimes with coding options. The configuration tools are typically proprietary. The challenges with proprietary configuration tools are functional limitations and non-standard programming languages.
Programming and configuration tools are easy to use, and anything may be possible, but what does that mean? It is challenging to provide both at the same time. This can be solved by combining ready-made components with a standard programming environment. Open architecture allows the user to view formulas made in a standard programming language such as Python 3. When a user can write own programming with standard programming language, it expands the capability to integrate any sensors, plus their own algorithms and communication protocols.
Modern communication infrastructure brings modern risks: Cyber security must be taken seriously. Hacking the weather station is not necessarily serious, but it is serious if the hacker gets into the institute network through the weather station! Avoiding that risk means protecting the system. The modern system must have unique authentication without any factory password. The end user activates the system with a unique device activation code and sets the user account and password: If the password is forgotten, the unit can be activated again using the device activation code and all user settings are cleared at the same time. The custom application program code must be signed to ensure the correct content.
Cyber security also requires continuous security updates. The weather station processor unit must have the capability to secure firmware updates. Depending on the communication interface, automatic updates should be possible.
Extendibility means the option to add new interfaces for additional sensors. A cost-effective way to do this is to have a basic system with the minimum set of interfaces, plus the capability of adding new interface modules when needed. Examples include interface modules for serial communication, analog measurements, and telemetry. The interface modules should be integrated with the main processor unit and be available in one application configuration.
Conclusion
The modern weather station processor must have:
- Low power consumption
- Powerful processing for Edge computing
- An easy-to-use configuration tool with programming capability
- Extendibility with additional interface modules
- A wide operating temperature range
- Cyber secure Firmware and hardware design
- Long design lifetime
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