Meteorological sensing systems and methods

Abstract

A portable weather station, including an lower body portion; an upper body portion disposed on the lower body portion in a spaced apart relationship thereby forming an open channel between the upper body portion and the lower body portion; and a plurality of weather condition sensors wherein a first set of one or more of the plurality of weather condition sensors is mounted on the upper body portion of the portable weather station and a second set of one or more of the plurality of weather condition sensors is mounted on the lower body portion of the portable weather station.

We claim: 
     
         1 . A portable weather station, comprising
 a lower body portion;   an upper body portion disposed on the lower body portion in a spaced apart relationship thereby forming an open channel between the upper body portion and the lower body portion;   a plurality of weather condition sensors wherein a first set of one or more of the plurality of weather condition sensors is mounted on the upper body portion of the portable weather station and a second set of one or more of the plurality of weather condition sensors is mounted on the lower body portion of the portable weather station.   
     
     
         2 . A wind sensing apparatus, comprising:
 a thermal generator coupled to a power source;   a plurality of temperature sensors arranged in a predetermined pattern with respect to the thermal generator;   a detection module configured to determine wind speed or wind direction based on temperatures measured by the temperature sensors.   
     
     
         3 . The wind sensing apparatus according to  claim 2 , wherein the detection module is configured to determine wind direction based on differences in temperatures sensed by one or more of the plurality of temperature sensors. 
     
     
         4 . The wind sensing apparatus according to  claim 3 , wherein the wind direction is determined based on an increase in temperature sensed at one or more of the plurality of temperature sensors. 
     
     
         5 . The wind sensing apparatus according to  claim 3 , wherein the wind direction is determined based on a temperature differential measured at one or more of the plurality of temperature sensors relative to the other of the plurality of temperature sensors. 
     
     
         6 . The wind sensing apparatus according to  claim 2 , wherein the detection module is configured to determine wind speed based on a temperature measured by one or more of the sensors relative to a predicted temperature for that sensor. 
     
     
         7 . The wind sensing apparatus according to  claim 6 , wherein the predicted temperature for said sensor is determined based on one or more of an amount of energy applied to the thermal generator, a distance between the thermal generator and said sensor and the ambient temperature. 
     
     
         8 . A cloud-ceiling sensing apparatus, comprising:
 an optical light source disposed to transmit light toward the cloud ceiling;   a photodetector disposed in an orientation to receive light from the light source that has been reflected from the cloud ceiling;   a shroud at least partially surrounding the optical light source at a predetermined height, wherein the predetermined height is selected based upon a height needed to prevent light from the optical light source from directly impinging on the photodetector.   
     
     
         9 . The cloud-ceiling sensing apparatus according to  claim 8 , further comprising a ceiling height calculation module configured to determine a time of flight for the light to travel from the light source to the cloud ceiling and to the photodetector and to compute a distance from the cloud-ceiling sensing apparatus to the cloud ceiling based on the determined time of flight. 
     
     
         10 . A method for detecting weather anomalous events using weather sensor fusion, comprising:
 receiving at a cybersensor weather data samples from first weather sensing equipment;   the cybersensor evaluating the weather data samples from the first weather sensing equipment against weather data in a database, determining whether or not the weather anomalous event exists based on the evaluation, generating the first alarm indicating the presence of a weather anomalous event when the determination is positive, and not generating the first alarm indicating the presence of a weather anomalous event when the determination is negative; and   receiving at a second cybersensor a subset of the weather data samples, evaluating the weather data samples against weather data in a database, determining whether or not the weather anomalous event exists based on the evaluation, generating a second alarm indicating the presence of a weather anomalous event when the determination is positive, and not generating the second alarm indicating the presence of a weather anomalous event when the determination is negative;   wherein the first cybersensor has a higher likelihood of a false positive determination than the second cybersensor;   generating a final alarm indicating the presence of a weather anomalous event when both the first and second cybersensors determined that the weather anomalous event exists, and not generating the final alarm indicating the presence of a weather anomalous unless both the first and second cybersensors determined that the weather anomalous event exists.   
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 10 , wherein the subset of weather data samples received at the second cyber sensor comprises only those weather data samples for which the first cybersensor positively determined the presence of a weather anomalous event. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 10 , further comprising receiving at the second cybersensor one or more additional weather data samples corresponding to weather anomalous events positively determined by one or more additional cybersensors. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 10 , further comprising receiving at one or more successive cybersensors, a corresponding subset of the weather data samples, each corresponding subset of the weather data samples comprising weather data samples for which an immediately prior cybersensor determined a weather anomalous event exists, and wherein the final alarm indicating the presence of a weather anomalous event when is generated when all of the cybersensors have determined that the weather anomalous event exists, and not generated unless all of the cybersensors have determined that the weather anomalous event exists. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 10 , wherein the final alarm is the second alarm generated by the second cybersensor. 
     
     
         15 . A system for detecting weather anomalous events, comprising:
 a database storing weather events and corresponding weather data for the weather events; a plurality of cybersensors arranged in series relative to one another, each cybersensor having an input coupled to receive weather data samples generated by weather sensing equipment, and each cybersensor configured to evaluate the weather data samples against weather data in a database, determine whether or not a weather anomalous event exists based on the evaluation, generate a signal indicating the presence of a weather anomalous event when the determination is positive, and not generating the signal indicating the presence of a weather anomalous event when the determination is negative; wherein each successive cybersensor is configured as having a progressively lower likelihood of a false positive determination than its preceding cybersensor.