One station on the field,
sited the way the standard expects
Separable weather stations for automated airport reporting, bringing wind, temperature, humidity, pressure and rainfall into one record without stacking the sensors in a single housing.
An automated report is only as good as where its sensors sit
An automatic weather station produces a report that feeds ATIS, the tower and the operational record, and everyone downstream treats it as fact. What it does not show is how the sensors were arranged to produce it.
Siting guidance asks for sensors separated by height, because temperature at screen height and wind at ten metres are different measurements taken in different air. A station that stacks everything into one housing at one height is answering a slightly different question from the one the report implies.
Most airports also arrive with instruments already installed. A visibility sensor, a cloud base recorder or a runway sensor bought under a previous programme still has to appear in the same report, which makes third-party integration a requirement rather than a feature.
Every airfield decision starts at a measurement point
An airport measures across the whole estate. Surface wind along the runway. Temperature, humidity and precipitation for approach and de-icing. Heat stress and machinery condition on the apron.
Runway threshold and touchdown zone
Surface wind at the threshold is the number the crew acts on, and it is reported continuously whether or not anyone can reach the mast.
- WindObserver 70 FAA and CAA accepted for AWOS use, heated head, 0 to 70 m/s
- WindObserver 75 316 stainless open head where site winds run higher
- WindSonic 60 lighter 2-axis for a secondary reference
Runway midpoint reporting
Wind can differ along the length of a runway, so mid-point sensors give the tower a truer picture than a single threshold reading.
- WindObserver 70 1 to 4 Hz output, RS422 and RS485
- WindSonic 75 0 to 75 m/s, 0.5 kg, low-cost additional reporting point
- MetConnect THP adds temperature, humidity and pressure at the same location
Runway stop-end and secondary masts
Stop-end and secondary masts fill in the picture the threshold sensor cannot see, and they sit where access needs a runway closure.
- WindObserver 70 no moving parts to seize between inspections
- WindObserver 90 0 to 90 m/s where exposure demands the wider range
- WindSonic M heated aluminium body, operating to -40 degrees C
Approach and departure path
Approach decisions depend on wind, visibility and precipitation reported from the ground, at the rate the procedure needs.
- WindObserver 70 the model that carries FAA and CAA acceptance
- MaxiMet GMX501 wind, temperature, humidity, pressure and solar in one unit
- TruMet PW100 optical rainfall, 0 to 200 mm/hr, no moving parts
Control tower and ATIS reference
The tower display and the automated broadcast both trace back to one set of sensors, so the output format matters as much as the accuracy.
- WindObserver 70 RS422 and RS485, full or half duplex, 1200 to 38400 baud
- MetConnect One ASCII, Modbus RTU and ASCII, NMEA 0183 and SDI-12 v1.3
- MetConnect THP pairs with a heated remote anemometer for cold sites
AWOS and automatic weather station enclosure
The field station is where the parameters come together, and WMO siting wants them separated by height rather than stacked in one housing.
- MetConnect THP separates sensors by height, accepts Pt100 and analogue inputs
- WindObserver 70 the remote anemometer feeding the station
- TruMet PW100 contact-closure rainfall input, 0.1 mm resolution
Airfield wind reference and sensor siting
A wind sensor is only as good as where it sits. Obstructions, buildings and mast height all change what the instrument reports.
- WindObserver 75 open head holds accuracy as the flow angle increases
- WindSonic 60 0 to 360 degrees with no dead band
- MetConnect One integrated WindSonic with T, H and P in one hub
Helipad and HEMS operations
Rotary wing operations turn round fast and often at night, and the wind limit is checked at the pad rather than the main met station.
- WindObserver 70 heated, IP66, 316 stainless, icing tested to MIL-STD-810F
- MaxiMet GMX501 compact station where pad space and cabling are tight
- WindSonic M heated, 0.9 kg, for a lightweight pad-side reference
De-icing pad and winter operations
De-icing is scheduled against temperature, humidity and precipitation, and the holdover time depends on getting those three right.
- MetConnect THP temperature to 0.2 degrees C, humidity to 1.5 percent RH
- MaxiMet GMX550 wind, T, H, P and rainfall, optional heating to -40 degrees C
- WindSonic M heated wind sensor for the pad itself
Aircraft stands and ground handling
Ramp crews work through the hottest part of the day in high-visibility clothing, and heat stress is measured as WBGT rather than air temperature.
- MaxiMet GMX552 WBGT heat stress with wind, T, H and P, 1.29 kg, IP66
- MaxiMet GMX500 wind, temperature, humidity and pressure for the apron
- MetConnect One where the stand needs third-party sensor inputs too
Hangar doors and maintenance areas
Large hangar doors carry a wind limit, and the interlock needs a measurement it can act on rather than a forecast.
- WindSonic 60 0 to 60 m/s, 0.5 kg, straightforward to mount on a door frame
- WindObserver 65 1, 2, 4, 5, 8 or 10 Hz output for faster interlocks
- Blade position sensors non-contact door and actuator position feedback
Fuel farm and hydrant system
Fuel storage is a certified hazardous area, so the wind sensor has to carry the certification before anything else about it matters.
- WindObserver IS ATEX, IECEx and UKEX certified, EN 60945:2002 for EMC
- LevelPro capacitive liquid level sensing with no moving parts
- LevelLite level measurement for smaller tanks and bowsers
Airfield construction and crane operations
Cranes working airside stop at a defined wind speed, and the reading has to hold up if the stoppage is ever questioned.
- WindSonic 75 0 to 75 m/s, full-range accuracy published
- WindObserver 90 0 to 90 m/s for exposed lifts
- MaxiMet GMX200 wind only, 0.5 kg, for a temporary works mast
UAV operations and airspace monitoring
Drone inspection and BVLOS work at an airfield runs to its own wind limits, on airframes where every gram counts.
- WindUltra compact 2-axis, IP69k, low power, built for mobile platforms
- WindSonic 60 0.5 kg ground reference for launch and recovery
- MaxiMet GMX200 portable wind reference for a temporary operating site
Environmental and air quality monitoring
Noise and emissions reporting is only as defensible as the meteorology recorded alongside it, and that record has to run for years.
- MetConnect THP WMO-compliant separation, two analogue inputs and a Pt100 input
- MaxiMet GMX551 wind, T, H, P, solar and rainfall in one compact station
- TruMet PW100 optical rainfall, 5 percent accuracy, no tipping bucket to clear
Ground support equipment condition
Tugs, loaders and steps fail on the stand rather than in the workshop, and oil tells you what is wearing before the failure does.
- WearDetect oil debris sensing for wear particles in lubricated equipment
- LevelLite fluid level in fuel, oil and hydraulic tanks
- Blade position sensors non-contact position feedback with no wearing parts
Calibration and verification
A reported wind speed is only defensible if it is traceable, and an accredited certificate is what closes the question.
- UKAS-accredited air velocity calibration traceable certification for anemometers and probes
- Multi-parameter calibration six parameters, equipment from any manufacturer
- Recalibration scheduling intervals, reminders and turnaround
Separable sensors, one station, one record
The measurements in an automated report do not belong at the same height. Wind is reported at ten metres because that is the height the standard defines, temperature and humidity at screen height because that is where they are comparable, and pressure at a known elevation because the whole QNH calculation depends on it.
A station built from separable sensors lets each measurement sit where it should and still arrive as one output string. That is a different architecture from a compact all-in-one unit, and it is the one WMO-compliant siting points towards.
The instruments themselves have to keep reporting without attention. An airfield sensor is reached across a movement area, under escort, in a slot that operations has to agree to, so the maintenance interval is an operational cost rather than an engineering detail.
Ultrasonic wind measurement removes the failure that matters most in this context. A cup and vane anemometer that has iced or seized does not stop reporting, it reports calm, and a calm wind report on an airfield is acted on.
Height is part of the measurement
Separating the sensors is what lets a station meet siting guidance rather than approximate it. MetConnect One and MetConnect THP mount wind, temperature, humidity and pressure at the heights each measurement requires, and return them as a single station output.
That architecture also carries the elevation and exposure decisions that a report depends on. Getting them right at installation is considerably cheaper than explaining them afterwards.
Each sensor where the standard puts it
View MetConnectThe sensors already on the field
Very few airfields start with a blank sheet. Existing visibility, cloud base and runway instruments were bought under earlier programmes and still have to feed the same automated report.
MetConnect accepts third-party, analogue and Pt100 inputs, which brings those instruments into the same station rather than into a parallel system that someone has to reconcile.
Third-party instruments, one output string
Compare weather stationsAn airfield report is an operational record
Automated reports are archived, reviewed after occurrences and quoted in investigations. The questions asked are always the same: which instrument, sited where, calibrated when, and traceable to what.
That is a specification decision rather than a paperwork one. Choosing instruments that can be supplied with traceable calibration, and keeping them on an interval, is what turns a report into evidence months after the day it described.
Labcal is an independent UKAS-accredited laboratory operating to ISO/IEC 17025:2017, calibrating equipment from any manufacturer, which matters on a field where the wind sensors, the pressure instruments and the probes arrived from three suppliers.
What an automated airport station carries
Separable and compact stations for the reported parameters, with the wind measurement the report leads on and the accredited calibration behind all of it.
Station architecture
MetConnect
Separable sensors for WMO-compliant siting
The architecture an automated report wants: sensors separated by height, third-party instruments brought into the same station, one output string out.
MaxiMet
All-in-one weather station, no moving parts
Where a supplementary position needs a complete meteorological record from one unit and one cable rather than a full separable station.
TruMet PW100
Infrared optical rain gauge
Rainfall rate and accumulation for the report, using optical measurement rather than a tipping mechanism that needs clearing.
Wind measurement
WindObserver
Heated 316 stainless open-head 2-axis anemometer
The precision choice for reported surface wind, in heated 316 stainless for a mast that stands through every winter the airfield operates in.
WindSonic
Lightweight 2-axis ultrasonic anemometer
Lightweight measurement for supplementary positions, threshold masts and locations where a structural conversation is not wanted.
WindMaster
3-axis ultrasonic anemometer
Three-axis measurement where turbulence and flow inclination around structures form part of the assessment rather than the routine report.
Where automated airport measurement does the work
Single AWOS position
One station carrying the reported parameters, sited to guidance and integrated into the operational system.
Multiple positions
Threshold, mid-point and stop-end measurement feeding one report and one archive.
Mixed requirements
Fields where the reporting requirement and the instrument estate both arrived from more than one programme.
Compact reporting
Sites that need the parameters without the footprint of a full separable installation.
Existing instruments
Replacing the station while keeping visibility, cloud base and runway sensors already installed.
Low intervention
Locations where every maintenance visit is a flight and a day.
UKAS-accredited calibration for six measurement parameters
Labcal is an independent UKAS-accredited calibration laboratory, Lab 0625, operating to ISO/IEC 17025:2017. It provides calibration across gas and air flow, air velocity, liquid flow, pressure, temperature and humidity.
For an airfield carrying anemometers, Pitot tubes, thermal probes, pressure instruments, thermometers, temperature and humidity probes and data loggers, one accredited laboratory keeps the whole estate on a single traceable schedule.
Gas meters · Mass flow controllers · Dispensing systems
Anemometers · Pitot tubes · Thermal probes
Flow meters and sensors · Process control equipment
Gauges · Transducers · Manometers · Transmitters
Thermometers · Probes · Thermocouples · Data loggers
Hygrometers · Probes · Transmitters
Getting the report into the systems that publish it
An airfield weather station has to reach the systems that already exist: the reporting chain, the tower display, the archive and often a supplier platform that was specified years ago.
Gill supports environmental monitoring, industrial sensing, embedded electronics and systems integration, so airport operators, systems integrators and suppliers can bring measurement into existing reporting architecture.
Whether the requirement is a serial string into a reporting system, Modbus into a site network, or analogue into an existing channel, Gill engineers can support integration from specification through commissioning.
Outputs and options
- Modbus RTU : Site systems and SCADA
- SDI-12 & serial : Loggers and remote telemetry
- 4-20 mA & 0-10 V : Existing analogue channels
- Traceable calibration : So the record holds up on review
What the specification looks like in practice
Sited the way the standard expects
Separable sensors mounted at the heights each measurement requires, rather than stacked into one housing at one height.
The instruments already on the field
Third-party, analogue and Pt100 inputs bring existing visibility, cloud base and runway sensors into the same station.
Nothing rotates, so nothing seizes
Ultrasonic wind measurement removes the failure mode where a stopped anemometer reports calm rather than reporting a fault.
Built for a mast nobody can reach
Heated 316 stainless on the WindObserver range, IP66, icing tested to MIL-STD-810F, for positions inside a movement area.
One output string
The reported parameters arrive as one record rather than as several systems somebody has to reconcile.
Evidence after an occurrence
Independent UKAS-accredited calibration across six parameters, for equipment from any manufacturer, so a mixed field sits on one schedule.
Questions about AWOS and airport weather systems
Because the measurements are defined at different heights. Wind is reported at ten metres, temperature and humidity at screen height, and pressure at a known elevation. A station that stacks them into one housing is measuring at one height and reporting as though it were several.
Yes. MetConnect accepts third-party, analogue and Pt100 inputs, so visibility, cloud base and runway instruments bought under earlier programmes can appear in the same report rather than in a parallel system.
Because a cup and vane anemometer that has iced or seized reports calm rather than reporting a fault, and a calm wind report on an airfield is acted on. Ultrasonic sensors have no rotating sensing element to ice, foul, wear or seize.
MetConnect uses separable sensors so each measurement sits at its own height, and it accepts third-party inputs. MaxiMet is a compact all-in-one station that brings the parameters into a single unit on one cable.
For reported airfield measurement the separable architecture is usually the relevant one. MaxiMet suits supplementary positions.
That is set by the operator and the reporting requirement rather than by the instrument. What matters at specification is choosing instruments that can be supplied with traceable calibration and keeping the whole estate on one schedule.
Yes. Labcal is an independent UKAS-accredited calibration laboratory, Lab 0625, operating to ISO/IEC 17025:2017, calibrating equipment from any manufacturer across gas and air flow, air velocity, liquid flow, pressure, temperature and humidity.
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