A large part of my research involved the weather satellites operated by NASA and NOAA. These devices are wonderful and contributed in ways no other technology can. But, (again) I will continuously and consistently claim that weather, and especially bad weather, exists in the first 1,000 feet of altitude from local ground level. Weather satellites are the best solution by far for upper air evaluation. However, when using satellites ground level inquires leave a bit to be desired. The problem is that seeing ground level moisture means they must look through miles of moisture-laden atmosphere. There are methods to subtract the interference of upper atmosphere moisture, but that is not the same as knowing ground level conditions with high resolution and accuracy.
Toward that end, I am developing a local self-contained weather station (called Toto) that, I hope, people will purchase for themselves. The TOTO is a portable self-contained weather station to mount on a pole in a person’s yard. The pole only needs to be high enough to be out of the reach of children. The unit will communicate via WiFi much like their printers and phones do now. The unit will connect to an Internet site and upload stored weather data. The unit will also have the capability to report more often when such things as high wind speed, large changes in barometric pressure or changes in wind direction as well as emailing that information to the owner.
Data use is less than 10 minutes per day and controlled by the owner. Packet size is very small, less than 10K bytes per transmission.
Each TOTO will measure:
- Temperature to 1%
- Humidity to 1%
- Wind speed to 1%
- Wind direction to 5 degrees (winds are more shifty than Snidely Whiplash)
- Light level to 1%
The target price is $125. Each unit will belong to the individual. Unit installation is diy. The unit requires no wires or other complication other than mounting it on a pole. It would be best to mount the unit away from buildings, trees and other wind obstructions or shade. Each Toto will report data via the owner’s wifi or telephone. A percentage of units will be capable of transmitting to satellites in case of widespread blackout.
A small solar cell and generator on the wind anemometer provides unit power. The anemometer is the spinning cups to measure wind speed and direction.
Why would I control the product? I have a decades-long background as a design engineer including years in high-volume electronics manufacturing and maintenance. I can professionally design, program, manufacture and maintain the units.
Why not let the government provide the product?
- It wouldn’t come on the marked for decades.
- It would be re-designed by a committee of politicians.
- It would end up costing thousands of dollars per unit, used for nefarious means and thrown away on a whim.
Not a chance I would let the government design this product.
Why would individuals purchase these?
- It’s the right thing to do.
- They would get a good weather station they could monitor with their phone.
- They want to support me, a really nice guy with decades of experience developing and manufacturing extremely high volume electronic products.
To be transparent, I would farm construction out to a contract-manufacturing firm such as Sanmina or Benchmark (whom I used to work for) as soon as volume warrants.
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