Tools for DIY site-testing

Federico Flores; Roberto Rondanelli; Accel Abarca; Marcos Diaz; Richard Querel

doi:10.1117/12.927251

24 September 2012 Tools for DIY site-testing

Federico Flores, Roberto Rondanelli, Accel Abarca, Marcos Diaz, Richard Querel

Proceedings Volume 8446, Ground-based and Airborne Instrumentation for Astronomy IV; 84464B (2012) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.927251
Event: SPIE Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation, 2012, Amsterdam, Netherlands

Abstract

Our group has designed, sourced and constructed a radiosonde/ground-station pair using inexpensive opensource hardware. Based on the Arduino platform, the easy to build radiosonde allows the atmospheric science community to test and deploy instrumentation packages that can be fully customized to their individual sensing requirements. This sensing/transmitter package has been successfully deployed on a tethered-balloon, a weather balloon, a UAV airplane, and is currently being integrated into a UAV quadcopter and a student-built rocket. In this paper, the system, field measurements and potential applications will be described. As will the science drivers of having full control and open access to a measurement system in an age when commercial solutions have become popular but are restrictive in terms of proprietary sensor specifications, “black-box” calibration operations or data handling routines, etc. The ability to modify and experiment with both the hardware and software tools is an essential part of the scientific process. Without an understanding of the intrinsic biases or limitations in your instruments and system, it becomes difficult to improve them or advance the knowledge in any given field.

Citation Download Citation

Federico Flores, Roberto Rondanelli, Accel Abarca, Marcos Diaz, and Richard Querel "Tools for DIY site-testing", Proc. SPIE 8446, Ground-based and Airborne Instrumentation for Astronomy IV, 84464B (24 September 2012); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.927251

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