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The Observatory Successfully Patented the Design of Automatic Weather Station

23 December 2020

The Hong Kong Observatory successfully registered a patent in Hong Kong for its in-house developed bollard design for automatic weather station (AWS) in December 2020. With the new design, various meteorological sensors can be housed together in a compact enclosure, solving the problem of installing an ordinary automatic weather station in urban areas where space is limited. This facilitates the future development of microscale weather monitoring.

Having a combination of sensors for meteorological measurements, such as air temperature, relative humidity, air pressure, and ultraviolet index, the bollard style AWS also has a lighting feature that allows it to be integrated within parks or landscaped gardens as a landscape fixture. To establish the design, the Observatory used 3D printing technology to fabricate the prototype of the radiation shields and electronic housing. This expedited the making of the enclosure that is not only functional but with an outlook unlike any ordinary AWS.

Another characteristic of the bollard style AWS is the use of new technologies such as an open-source microcontroller as well as microsensors for measurement of various weather elements. The open-source technology in the design of the instruments was so chosen in order for this technology to be available for schools and institutes to develop similar systems. The Observatory also started to organize workshops for teachers and students under the Community Weather Information Network (Co-WIN) scheme to promote this technology. The bollard style AWS are currently installed at the Observatory’s Headquarters, the Zero Carbon Building at Kowloon Bay, and the Chinese University of Hong Kong for trial of weather measurement.

       bollard style automatic weather station installed at the Zero Carbon Building bollard style automatic weather station installed at the Chinese University of Hong Kong
Trial of weather measurement by the bollard style automatic weather station installed at the Zero Carbon Building and the Chinese University of Hong Kong