Table of Contents
Certification i
Dedication ii
Acknowledgements iii
Table of Contents iv
List of Tables vii
List of Figures viii
List of Abbreviations/Glossary ix
Abstract x
CHAPTER ONE 1
1 INTRODUCTION 1
1.1 Background of Study 2
1.2 Statement of the Problem 3
1.3 Aim of the study 3
1.4 Objectives of the Study 3
1.5 Expected Benefits of the Project 4
1.6 Scope of Work (Limitations/ Delimitations) 4
CHAPTER TWO 6
2 REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE 6
2.1 Weather Monitoring by Microcontroller 6
2.2 Weather Monitoring Using Simple Instruments 7
2.3 Wireless Automatic Weather Monitoring Station (WMS) 7
2.4 Weather Monitoring Using GSM/Wireless Technology 8
2.4.1 GSM 8
2.4.2 Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) 9
2.4.3 Long Term Evolution 9
2.5 Related Works 10
CHAPTER THREE 14
3 MATERIALS AND METHOD 14
3.1 Method 14
3.2 Materials 16
3.2.1 Hardware Component 16
3.2.1.1 BMP085 16
3.2.1.2 DHT22 17
3.2.1.3 ARDUINO UNO 18
3.2.1.4 XBEE / ZIGBEE 19
3.2.1.5 LM044L LCD Module 20
3.2.1.6 12C Serial converter 22
3.2.1.7 Neo- 6M GPS Sensor 23
3.2.2 Software Requirement and Methods 23
3.2.2.1 Simulation Environment Error! Bookmark not defined.
3.2.2.2 LabVIEW 2017 26
3.2.2.3 Proteus PCB Design and Simulation Software 27
3.2.2.4 The C# Programming Language 27
CHAPTER FOUR 28
4 DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION 28
4.1 SYSTEM DESIGN 28
4.1.1 GUI and Web Hosting Facility 29
4.1.2 The Control Station 29
4.1.3 The Remote Station 29
4.2 System Design and Integration 34
4.3 Data Acquisition 36
4.3.1 BMP085 36
4.3.2 Measurement of Pressure and Temperature 38
4.3.3 Calibration Coefficients 39
4.3.4 Calculation of Pressure and Temperature 40
4.4 Calculation of Approximate Current Weather Condition 42
4.5 The Start-Up sensor 42
4.6 Relative Humidity Conversion 43
4.7 Temperature Conversion 44
4.8 Calculation of Dewpoint 44
4.9 Bill of Quantity 46
CHAPTER FIVE 47
5 RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS 47
5.1 RESULTS 47
5.1.1 Developed GUI and Web Hosting Facility 47
5.1.2 Developed Hardware 50
5.2 Data Measurements Recorded 50
5.2.1 Temperature 50
5.2.2 Altitude 50
5.2.3 Pressure 50
5.3.4 Relative Humidity 51
5.2.5 Rain Intensity 51
5.2.6 GPS Latitudes and Longitudes 51
5.2 Discussions 51
5.2.1 Correlation Analysis 51
5.2.3 Graph of Plots 51
CHAPTER SIX 52
6 CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 52
6.1 Conclusion 52
6.2 Recommendations 53
REFERENCES 54
List of Tables
Table 4.1: Detailed Pin connections to the Arduino Uno 35
Table 4.2: Calibration Coefficients [9] 39
Table.4.3: Basic Commands for DHT22 [10] 43
Table 4.4: Dew Point and Human Comfort [Source: Wikipedia 2014] 45
Table 4.5: Bill of Quantity 46
List of Figures
Figure 5.1: Microcontroller Based WMS 6
Figure 2.2: Wireless Automatic WMS 7
Figure 2.3: GSM Modem[3] 8
Figure 3.1: Design and Implementation stages of the prototype 15
Figure 3.2: BMP085 based Digital Sensor [9] 16
Figure 3.3: DHT22 Humidity Sensor [10] 18
Figure 3.4:Arduino UNO based on ATMega-328 Microcontroller [12] 19
Figure 3.5: XBee Module [13] 20
Figure 3.6: 16×2 LCD Module 20
Figure 3.7: 12C serial Coverter Module 22
Figure 3.8: NEO 6m GPS module 23
Figure 4.1: System Block Diagram 28
Figure 4.2: Flow chart of System Processes 30
Figure 4.3: Control (Transmitting) Station Circuit Diagram 31
Fig.4.5: BMP085 Application Circuit [9] 37
Fig. 4.6: Measurement of Temperature and Pressure [9] 38
Fig. 4.7: Calculating Pressure and Temperature [9] 41
Figure 5.1: GUI and Web Hosting Facility Logon page 47
Figure 5.2: GUI Front Panel (Offline Mode) 48
Figure 5.3: Web Hosting Facility Front Panel (Online Mode) 48
List of Abbreviations/Glossary
Nigerian Meteorological Agency – NiMeT
Printed Circuit Board – PCB
Operating System – O.S
Integrated Development Environment – IDE
Time-To-First-Fix – TTFF
Power Save Mode – PSM
Analog Digital Converter – ADC
Long Term Evolution – LTE
Universal Mobile Telecommunications System – UMTS
Freedom of Mobile Multimedia Access – FOMA
Wideband code division multiple access – W-CDMA
Weather Monitoring Station – WMS
Global System for Mobile Communication – GSM
Graphical User Interface – GUI
Personal Computer – PC
Abstract
In this research work, we have proposed and developed a low cost hardware module based on Arduino Uno Board, which measures the meteorological data for air temperature, atmospheric pressure, relative humidity, dew point temperature, altitude, rain intensity and geographical location. It sends this information to the graphical user interface (GUI) application running on a PC through Zigbee wireless link. The user friendly GUI, a standalone application for windows, is developed in Lab VIEW. The application displays the current conditions graphically, logs the data in a format accessible by MS Excel and has a facility to host the same information through a webpage on the internet. This system which consists of two remote stations being – the transmitting and receiving stations respectively is also a mathematical model capable of generating short time local alerts based on these weather parameters. This gives online and real time effect. The idea behind this program is to monitor, condition mapping, weather forecasting and further to warn the people from its disastrous effects. The data obtained in this research work was compared and analysed alongside the data gathered from local NiMeT offices which further bothered on testing the efficiency and accuracy of data collected by the prototype. It will be highly useful in increasing the resolution of high accuracy low cost weather stations on the land for a better forecasting model, landing the aircraft, navigational and the ship borne effects, tornado, tsunami, cloud bursts and in healthcare alerts etc. it is further proposed that through adequate funding, we are going to link with satellite system as a global feature of this system. It can be permanently located at one location or transported to another location where localized weather measurement is needed. Such a system with lower cost has been proposed in this thesis work.
CHAPTER ONE
1 INTRODUCTION
Current means of meteorological parameters data collection are rather limited and expensive altogether, this invariably results in the lack of comprehensively monitoring of remote weather parameters due to cost constraints and inconveniences even though the acquisition of comprehensive meteorological data is a prerequisite in day-to-day living. If there is not enough data gathered of meteorological parameters, the publicly available information about weather forecast would be inaccurate and this situation could lead to a high degree of problems with no indicators of future events will be readily available.
The problem of the lack of this data is further compounded by the methods of acquisition which till data bothers on manual methods. Climate measurements using traditional monitoring systems require qualified labour and regular equipment maintenance. Traditional weather stations lack self-sustainability, autonomous logging capabilities and the ability to transmit data wirelessly. Hence, some authors have tried to design and implement wireless low cost weather stations equipped with different types of sensors that permit one to establish fluent communication and to register and upload data online to a server for its processing [14,15]. Thus, various researchers have tried to implement systems able to obtain specific, efficient and reliable climate condition data with minimum human effort.
However, it is worthy to state that mobile monitoring systems are based on the global system for mobile communication (GSM). It is a digital wireless technology standard based on the notion that users want to communicate wirelessly without limitations created by network or national borders. In a short period of time, GSM has become a global phenomenon. The explanation for the success of GSM based monitoring system is the cooperation and coordination of technical and operational evolution that has created a virtuous circle of growth built on three principles: Inter-operability based on open platforms, roaming, and economies of scale. With GSM standards seemingly now adopted by more than 200 countries and territories, modern enterprises now rely on them for data acquisition or their existence. One contemporary problem that comes with GSM based weather stations are that they are too expensive for the average consumer and they have got a limited range of transmission. Although it is not possible to monitor the weather parameters of all the places as some places are not easily accessible, the advancement of science and technology can provide us a way to get information of such places by the use of wireless devices.
