Design And Construction Of Microcontroller Based Weather Station

ABSTRACT

The measurements of temperature, atmospheric pressure, relative humidity and dew point temperature remotely by using the sensors is not only important in weather monitoring but also crucial for many other applications like agricultural and industrial processes. A device for real time weather monitoring is presented in this paper to monitor the real time temperature, atmospheric pressure, relative   humidity   and   dew   point   temperature of the atmosphere   via   GSM   network,   using analogue and digital components. The analogue outputs of the sensors are connected to a microcontroller through an ADC for digital signal conversion. An LCD display is also connected to the microcontroller to display the measurements. For analysis and archiving purposes, the data can be transferred over GSM and receiver section is connected to PC. Received data is further processed to generate graphical display using weather modeling algorithms. The device has many advantages compared to other weather monitoring systems in terms of its smaller size, on-device display, low cost, portable and robust.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

COVER PAGE

TITLE PAGE

APPROVAL PAGE

DEDICATION

ACKNOWELDGEMENT

ABSTRACT

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1      BACKGROUND OF THE PROJECT

• PROBLEM STATEMENT
• AIM / OBJECTIVE OF THE PROJECT
• SIGNIFICANCE OF THE PROJECT
• SCOPE OF THE PROJECT
• APPLICATION OF THE PROJECT
• PROJECT ORGANISATION

CHAPTER TWO

LITERATURE REVIEW

• REVIEW OF THE RELATED STUDY
• EXISTING SYSTEM
• PROPOSED SYSTEM
• FEATURE AND ADVANTAGES OF THE PROPOSED SYTEM
• PARAMETERS OF WEATHER STATION
• MONITORING APPROACHES
• DIFFERENT TYPES OF WEATHER INSTRUMENTS

CHAPTER THREE

METHODOLOGY

• DESIGN CONSIDERATION
• SYSTEM BLOCK DIAGRAM AND DESCRIPTION
• SOFTWARE IMPLEMENTATION

CHAPTER FOUR

4.0      RESULT AND TEST ANALYSIS

• CONSTRUCTION PROCEDURE
• CASING AND PACKAGING
• ASSEMBLING OF SECTIONS
• PACKAGING
• MOUNTING PROCEDURE
• RESULT AND DISCUSSION

CHAPTER FIVE

• CONCLUSION
• RECOMMENDATION AND FUTURE SCOPE
• REFERENCES

CHAPTER THREE

1.0                                                        INTRODUCTION

Climate plays an important role in human life. The thermal comfort of human being is known to be influenced mostly by six parameters, i.e., air temperature, radiation, air flow, humidity, activity level and clothing thermal resistance. The advancement in technology has made these small and reliable electronic sensors capable of monitoring environmental parameters more favourable.

In several earlier studies the sensors have used for the monitoring of weather parameters [1-2] more favourbly. Microclimate monitoring of indoor environments using piezoelectric quartz crystal humidity sensors is also studied by some researchers [3]. Moghavvemi et al. [4] developed a reliable and economically feasible remote sensing system for temperature and relative humidity measurement. Using capacitive-based sensors DeHennis and Wise [5] introduced a wireless sensing microsystem for monitoring the environmental parameters. monitoring,. Buff et al., [6] used surface acoustic waves devices as the temperature and pressure sensor.

However, all these systems are very expensive and complex in nature as some of them require the use of on-chip transmitter circuit and involves costly fabrication processes also.

Combination of these sensors with data acquisition system has proved to be a better approach for temperature, pressure, relative humidity and dew point monitoring. In our country some agricultural activities, industries, hospitals, storage places etc require to measure the temperature and humidity for research, production, treatment and diagnosis of the patients, storing food, beverage etc. Sometime, in weather monitoring, for instance, parameters such as, the temperature and humidity needed to be measured, thus sensors have always been given the task for doing so.

1.1                                           BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

Weather is the state of the atmosphere of a given place at a particular time (Yates 1947). In order to describe the atmospheric conditions, certain key weather elements must be known and quantified. Some of those important elements are temperature, relative humidity, atmospheric pressure, wind speed, wind direction, cloud cover, precipitation, etc. In meteorology, the data collected on the various weather elements is used in weather forecasting (the act of predicting the weather) which is helpful in one way or the other in the course of daily living.

The study of weather is as old as man as he has always tried to figure out the causes of different weather conditions he finds himself in and possibly predict what the weather would be like in a short term. There cannot be a study of the weather neither its prediction without the knowledge of the prevailing conditions of the atmosphere (Yates 1947). For this reason, man has always devised means of measuring different elements of the weather. Table 1 shows some weather elements and instruments used for measuring them (Wang and Felton 1983).

Table 1.  Weather elements         and    their measuring instruments.

Some of the measuring instruments listed in Table 1 are bulky, analogue, expensive and difficult to use. As such, newer techniques based on electronics were developed. This was made possible by the advances in digital electronics. Transistor-like sensors have been developed for measuring temperature, relative humidity and atmospheric pressure (O’Neil and Derrington 1979). These sensors give voltage or current output that is proportional to the magnitude of the measured element of weather. The earlier versions of these sensors were purely analog but recent developments have made their digital counterparts available so they could function in our present world which is fast becoming digitally inclined.

The aforementioned development of weather related electronic components made it possible for small and compact weather stations (data gathering devices) to be built. These sensors respond faster than their earlier counterparts and the data collected by them tend to be more accurate.

A weather station is an observation post where meteorological conditions are observed and recorded (Jackson 1993). It is a data acquisition system which begins with sensing of variables (i.e. elements of weather being monitored), signal conditioning and processing, storage, and finally analysis of the recorded data (Jackson 1993). The weather conditions over a considerably vast area vary widely, hence the need to localize weather stations to a small region. Modern weather stations are built around relatively high power digital processors that continually pool the sensors that serve as their link to the analog world. The primary benefit of a weather station is that it keeps the users abreast of the prevailing conditions of the atmosphere. The recorded (logged) data could also be analyzed by specialized meteorological software to predict the weather (Jackson 1993). Weather stations also provide data archives over a long period of time (Guo and Song 2010). Such archives could be used by the academia or research institutions.

The motivation for this work is centered on prevailing shortage of weather related data in Nigeria. The evidence of this fact could be seen in poor weather forecasting in the country, poor response to weather related natural disasters because of lack of foreknowledge, and unnecessary disruption of flights and flood disasters that destroy lives and properties. This is as a result of the unavailability of a network of weather stations dedicated for national weather service and partly due to the high cost of imported weather stations. Also, operating and managing imported weather stations requires much technical expertise making their use difficult for private users like small-scale agriculturists, industrialists and schools.

The design presented in this work was realized by using moderately inexpensive and commonly off-the shelf components to reduce the size, space and cost of running a weather station. This would make weather related data readily available to small-scale farmers, institutions and others that may need it without huge financial implications. Simplicity of operation was also factored into the design and as such a very high technical know-how is not necessary to operate the system.

1.2                                   PROBLEM STATEMENT

Before now, measurement of whether parameter such as temperature, wind direction and speed, humidity and flooding, is carried out with analogue instrument. But nowadays, this method has change. A different method is used as a result of technological advancement which enable one to measure whether parameters using microcontroller as the heart of the project. The system proposed is an advanced solution for weather monitoring that uses LCD to display the measured data. GSM unit used in this work is interfaced to laptop or desktop computer.

1.3                       AIM/OBJECTIVES OF THE PROJECT

The aim of this work is to design a device that allows you to view your indoor and outdoor weather data (temperature, humidity, barometric pressure, CO2 and noise).

1.4                          SIGNIFICANCE OF THE PROJECT

The advantage of this device is real-time weather monitoring. We provide solution to the observatory to achieve real-time monitoring of weather at different locations in the territories.

This device is used analyze past data, observe the present and forecast the future. The device allows you to view your indoor and outdoor weather data (temperature, humidity, barometric pressure, CO2 and noise) in graph or digital form for real-time tracking of your environment. Observe the cycles and forecast variations around you. It is commonly used by whether broadcasters and farmers.

1.6                                  SCOPE OF THE PROJECT

Weather information like temperature, wind direction and speed, humidity, flooding can be gathered via various measuring equipment in street weather station. All the data can be centralized, organized and sent to the observatory by our product provides extensive compatibility to sensors. Through cloud management platform, the data feedback from weather stations can be visualized in form of dashboard, chart. Since the data transmission is instantaneous, alert can be triggered in cloud management platform once abnormal weather data is received. The observatory can issue warning signal to the public immediately after poor weather condition is recognized.

1.7                                APPLICATION OF PROJECT

Application of this device is following places:

1. agricultural activities,
2. industries,

• hospitals,

1. storage places etc

1.8                                                         PROJECT ORGANISATION

The work is organized as follows: chapter one discuses the introductory part of the work, chapter two presents the literature review of the study, chapter three describes the methods applied, chapter four discusses the results of the work, chapter five summarizes the research outcomes and the recommendations.