Monitoring During Emergency Conditions Using WindSonic, MetPak & MaxiMet
Direct monitoring of weather parameters during emergency operations can often be critical to not only people being rescued but also to the emergency services that are carrying out the rescue.
Product update: MetStream has been discontinued. This note is kept for reference. For current data and display options, speak to our team.
Application
First responders to natural disasters and civil emergencies must move fast, set up equipment quickly, and maintain a safe distance set-back from hazardous areas for command-and-control centres. To make accurate decisions, they need to know in exact detail what weather conditions are at the actual site and have instantaneous warning of any change.
Fire service and rescue workers tend to have mobile command-and-control centres, which are normally sent directly to the site so that direct measurement can be met and fed back into any rescue planning. The minimum for this is normally wind speed and direction as this will help to provide data with regard to which direction to send in fire crews and provide data on which way the fire is going to spread to aid evacuation of at risk areas. MaxiMets built in compass as standard and single string output for multiple parameters allows for an easy, quick installation that is immediately aligned when the mobile vehicle arrives on site.
Temperature / Humidity and pressure measurement are also of interest with regard to handling these types of applications. MaxiMet and WindSonic also support emergency monitoring further a field, where data is required remotely so that monitoring and rescue planning can be put in place for when conditions allow i.e. during storm events or other natural disasters.
Installations
Rapid deployment of wind sensors and weather instruments is essential during emergency situations so that data can be collected immediately. Instruments and sensors are typically mounted on an easily transportable tri-pod, with sensors such as the Gill WindSonic providing data from as little as 5 seconds after switch on.
Other installations have included WindSonic integrated into an easy to deploy Weatherpack, WindSonic and MetPak on Fire Brigade control vehicles.
Why Gill?
All Gill ultrasonic wind sensors have the added benefit providing instantaneous wind data from a compact and robust package. MaxiMets compact, multi-sensor design and single digital output via RS232, RS422 or RS485, allows easy integration into compact, self-contained monitoring systems. The future MaxiMet 3-axis optional compass module and standard optional GPS will enhance the capabilities of using MaxiMet in during emergency conditions.
Originally published as a Gill application note (AN0009).
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