Vortex Electrica: Vizier of Weather Systems

(Crackles knuckles) Here we go.

Being a final year student, the thesis titles brought up to the attention of the Electrical Engineering (EE) students are somewhat watered down to suit the students' capabilities. Like I said before, we are all seriously underestimated by some of the lackadaisical lecturers, so let's just say that I measure students' barometer by the level of pride they put in their work in their thesis projects. It doesn't need to be 'fanciful' (the type with acronyms of techno-savvy stuff with superfluous words... oh you'll get it when you get there), but being meaningful is what this is all about.

My thesis supervisor (beautifulmind's as well) went for a technology convention in Geneva 2005 (check out for a smart cane for the less capable) and out of 1300 exhibits, his innovation came out Number ONE. How did he do it? In my own words, I say "An idea which is expressed with authenticity and meaningfulness is always favored over the ultra-complex fuselage of engineering enigmas which is not unknown" ..

So, my interests has always been about being a hacker in electronics amalgamated with structure and with a dash of moderate programming (ask my fellow bloggers) so I googled for low cost sensors for the scrooge and found out about low cost humidity sensors using scraped carbon film resistors, then the next two months' worth of Googling, a solid idea came through: An electronic weather station featuring mobility, solid state per se, fully constructed and improvised by a Vortex Electrica member!

I can't spill out the details now, remember it is a patented thesis, (or so I was informed) but I'll be glad to share the rest of the circuitry, the electronics, and the structural integrity which is essential in the construction, all in this blog after the submission of my dissertation. Some are original discoveries, some are improvised, and some is the icing on the cake, so to say.

I truly spent a lot of time gathering information on this, so see the pictures with the knowledge I spent nearly a year building it. This project is due for exhibit for the MTE 2010 in Putra World Trade Centre, Kuala Lumpur between 4-6 February

Here are the pictures of my work:

Figure: CRAE Solid State Weather Sensor System

Figure: Some of the electronics

This system is designed to measure:

a) Ambient temperature
b) Barometric Pressure
c) Humidity
d) Rain precipitation
e) Wind Speed, and
f) Wind Direction

The cost of the electronics is around RM100 as opposed to the commercial weather transmitter, WXT510 which is around USD 3000 (around RM10000). If this may replace the current model, oh my. The discoveries (Bi'iznillah) with Allah's guidance include the wind sensors improvisation which helped me complete a solid-state wind sensing system.