The Model 864 was designed and manufactured by
Terracene International for a customer specific weather monitoring
application. The project goal was to confirm that a large plot
of land was suitable for wind power generation. An economical solution
was arrived at by using a small dirigible to carry the airborne
instrumentation package. This approach relieved the customer of
the costs associated with tower construction.
The performance objectives for the Model 864 were:
- Ease of transport and installation.
- Light weight airborne package.
- Low power RF data link.
- Six month memory capacity.
- Download by PC or RF modem.
- Battery life in excess of 6 months.
Results of a detailed cost analysis indicated
that a combination of readily available atmospheric sensors and
a custom electronics package was required to meet the customers
design and budget constraints.
The instrument group at Terracene produced a system consisting of an airborne
sensor interface, a ground
based sensor interface, and a data logger. The system measures wind speed and
wind direction, temperature, barometric pressure, relative humidity, and altitude.
The Model 864 can accept a variety of sensors and can be configured according
to specific requirements.
Contact the Weather Group at
Terracene for more
information about a standard or custom instrument package for your
weather monitoring project.
