Blog

Array 1 dimensions

Chenning and Tom finished measuring the array dimensions this morning, July 1,  from around 9:30 until 10:20 am.

 Downwind sonic heights

Position*

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

reference mark height  (m agl)

1.50

1.495

1.51

1.58

1.55

1.55

1.57

1.51

1.51

1.53

1.525

1.54

1.52

top of lower sonic boom (m above ref)

1.67

1.67

1.665

1.655

1.655

1.66

1.67

1.66

1.67

1.66

1.66

1.66

1.67

top of upper sonic boom (m above ref)

 

 

2.675

2.67

2.665

2.66

2.66

2.66

2.67

2.66

2.66

 

 

 *Note positions are numbered from NE to SW

mean downwind reference height = 1.53 m,  mean lower sonic height above reference = 1.663+0.053  m (total mean height = 3.25 m)

mean upper sonic height =  2.664+0.053 m (total mean height = 4.25 m)

3/17/09, TWH: Why did I use 5.5 cm rather than 5 cm as the height of the sonic above its boom?

12/14/09, TWH answer: To account for thickness of saddle on sonic boom; perhaps 5.3 cm would be better

Upwind sonic heights

Position

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

reference mark height  (m agl)

1.48

1.55

1.53

1.52

1.55

1.54

1.575

1.57

1.49

top of sonic boom (m above ref)

2.17

2.17

2.165

2.17

2.17

2.17

2.17

2.17

2.17

mean upwind reference height = 1.534 m; mean sonic height above ref= 2.169+0.053 m (total mean height = 3.76 m)

From 12:17 until 12:55, July 1, Gordon and Tom lowered the upwind sonics by 0.5 m to match the height of the lower downwind array.

Sonic spacing

Position

1-2

2-3

3-4

4-5

5-6

6-7

7-8

8-9

9-10

10-11

11-12

12-13

Downwind (m)

4.04

3.97

4.00

3.99

3.99

4.00

3.98

4.01

3.97

4.02

4.01

3.98

Upwind (m)

 

 

3.98

4.00

4.02

3.99

3.96 

4.01

4.01

3.99

 

 

Mean downwind sonic spacing = 3.997 m

Mean upwind sonic spacing = 3.995 m

Array spacing

Position

3

7

11

Separation (m)

16.07

16.07

16.09

Upwind check dam

The sonic 7u (upwind array) is 40m downwind of the check dam along azimuth 131 deg magnetic.

The check dam is parallel to azimuth 258.1 deg magnetic.

The sonics on the profile tower are 35m downwind of the check dam.

Profile tower

 Reference height agl = 1.52 m

Sonics are 5.3 cm above top of boom; SHT inlets are 37 cm below top of boom

Note that often we could not  place sonic and SHT boom mounts at the ideal heights

nominal height

1.5

3

4

5.5

7

8

top of sonic boom above ref (m)

-0.02

1.725

2.665

3.955

5.505

6.475

sonic height agl (+ 1.573 m)

1.55

3.30

4.24

5.53

7.08

8.05

top of SHT boom above ref (m)

0.355

2.105

3.08

4.315

5.855

6.855

TRH height agl (+1.15 m)

1.505

3.255

4.23

5.465

7.005

8.005

No data was being sent from pressure2, and local storage was not being written to.  System was up, could log in over the network, and the dsm process was running.

 data quit at 12:26 UTC, Jul 1.  Restarted it with adn/aup at 13:26 UTC.

6/30 7:00 pm PDT

Due to the low voltage at the profile tower, we cobbled together a power system for it.

Prior to adding the supply, the voltage at the inside of the power interface panel on profile was 9.9V.

Charging system consists of a 12VDC power supply (white rectangular cube), PAM charge controller (didn't note which kind) and a battery, all in a white cooler.  A second separate battery is also connected.  Strung a new AC extension cord to this system.  Left the cooler lid propped open. Will have to watch that this doesn't overheat.

Voltage a the profile power interface panel after adding the charger was 12.1 V.

The hope is that this will also increase the voltage levels at downwind1. 

Checked voltages at downwind1 charge controller:

J3 (DC in): 12.8V

J2 (to battery): 12.2V

J1 (load): 12.1V

At unused output from charger:  13.5 V.

Inside downwind1 interface panel: 11.1 V (still seems low) 

Daily status June 30

AHATS daily status 6/30/08

Staff: Maclean, Horst, Tong, Khoung, Brown

Summary: Chenning and Khung working on completion of pressure sensor
deployment.  They may not finish until Tuesday since they are waiting
for delivery of tubing connectors, but the lower 9 sonics are now connected.
Chenning is burying the reference cylinder this morning.

We continue to have intermittent problems with the wireless data transmission
from the array to the base.

Good wind direction: For the period 6/25 17:00 through 6/30 10:00, we have
41.75 hours of data periods of length 20 minutes or longer with
wind directions from 195-355 degrees.  This includes 12 periods of length
greater than one hour and equates to good periods 37%(!) of the time.

Note that the daytime periods may be compromised by work on the array,
e.g. installing the pressure sensors.

Profiles:
---------
missing all but 1.5 and 3 m sonic data after 15:00 june 30

spd: ok
dir: ok
u*: ok
w'tc': ok
diag: ok up until 12:00, June 30
T: ok
RH: 4m may be low by less than 1% RH
P: okay

(+/- = ~1 std deviation)
Upwind (hts=3.5):
----------------
some missing data June 29, 06:00 - 16:00

spd: ok, +/- 15 cm/s
dir: ok, +/- 5 deg
tc:  ok, +/- 0.2 deg
w'w': ok, +/- 0.01 m^2/s^2  (30 min avg for second moments)
sigma_w/u*: ok (1.3 at night)
tc'tc': ok, +/- 0.1 degC^2
u*: ok,  +/- 0.04 m/s
w'tc': ok, +/- 0.02 m/s degC
diag: ok, mostly << 1 but some spikes prior to 6/29 16:00 that are likely
caused by samples lost during rf transmission; local data storage
should be okay.

Lower (hts=3):
-------------
missing sonic 2b after 6/29 18:50 6/29; restarted 6/30 16:50
missing data from 7b-13b (downwind-2) 6/29 05:45 - 15:10

spd: ok, +/- 20 cm/s
dir: ok, +/- 5 deg
tc:  ok, +/- 0.25 deg
w'w': ok, +/- 0.015 m^2/s^2  (30 min avg for second moments)
sigma_w/u*: ok (1.3 at night)
tc'tc': ok, +/- 0.1 degC ^2
u*: ok,  +/- 0.04 m/s
w'tc': ok, +/- 0.02 m/s degC
diag: ok, mostly << 1 but spikes after 12:00 6/30 on downwind-1.

Upper (hts=4):
-------------
missing sonics from downwind-2 adam 05:45 - 15:10, 6/29: 7t--11t

spd: ok, +/- 20 cm/s
dir: ok, +/- 5 deg; 6t is about 6.5 degrees off from profile sonic
tc:  ok, +/- 0.2 deg
w'w': ok, +/- 0.02 m^2/s^2  (30 min avg for second moments)
sigma_w/u*: ok (1.3 at night)
tc'tc': ok, +/- 0.1 degC ^2
u*: ok,  +/- 0.05 m/s
w'tc': ok, +/- 0.025 m/s degC
diag: ok, mostly << 1 but spikes after 12:00 6/30 on downwind-1.

Restarted sonic 2b

Sonic 2b stopped around 18:50 on 6/29; restarted around 16:50 6/30.

pressure1 down again

pressure1 died again. pc104 stack dead.

Rearranged the power wiring at downwind1, so that power to  all 3 adams are Y'd from the fused load at the charging system battery box.  pressure1's power is now direct from the charging sytem instead of from the aux2 power port of downwind1. 

Voltage at the battery of the profile tower was 11.2V (it is at the end of a 30 ft cable from the charger at downwind1).  Moved that battery over to downwind1.  Voltage of the 3 batteries at downwind1 is  12.0, 11.8 and 11.6 V starting at the one nearest the charger.

See a typical value of 10.2 V at the inside interface panels of these adams.  Seems low, but things boot.  Will watch pressure1.


pressure1 died. No lights on the PC104 stack. It appeared that the  fuse was blown on the aux2 power port of downwind1.  Replaced it with a 1.5 A.  Next day determined that the fuse was OK.  This system seems to have a power problem.

Also replaced the aux1 fuse on the downwind1 box. Had to break it to remove it - it was frozen in its bed. aux1 port still doesn't work.

upwind's usbdisk was not mounting.  Replaced it.  Last data on pocketec was Jan 29 16:41 UTC.  Restarted at Jun 30 01:42 UTC

Daily status, June 29

AHATS daily status 6/29/08

Staff: Maclean, Horst, Tong, Khoung

Summary: Chenning and Khoung working on completion of pressure sensor
deployment. They may not finish until Tuesday since they are waiting
for delivery of tubing connectors. Currently no data from downwind-2
and upwind adams; radio down but should have local data storage.

Good wind direction: For the period 6/25 17:00 through 6/29 08:42, we have
30 hours 10 minutes of data periods of length 20 minutes or longer
with wind directions from 195-355 degrees. This includes 10 periods of
length greater than one hour and equates to good periods 34% (warning) of the
time. Note that the daytime periods may be compromised by work on the array,
e.g. installing the pressure sensors.

Profiles:
---------

spd: ok
dir: ok
u*: ok
w'tc': ok
T: ok
RH: 4m may be low by less than 1% RH
P: okay

Upwind (hts=3.5):
----------------
(+/- = ~1 std deviation)

missing sonics from upwind adam after 05:43 6/29

spd: ok, +/- 15 cm/s
dir: ok, +/- 5 deg
tc: ok, +/- 0.25 deg
w'w': ok, +/- 0.015 m^2/s^2 (30 min avg for second moments)
tc'tc': ok, +/- 0.1 degC^2
u*: ok, +/- 0.03 m/s
w'tc': ok, +/- 0.02 m/s degC
diag: ok, mostly << 1 but some spikes that are likely caused by samples
lost during rf transmission; local data storage should be okay.

Lower (hts=3):
-------------

missing sonics from downwind-2 adam after 05:43 6/29: 7b--13b

spd: ok, +/- 20 cm/s
dir: ok, +/- 5 deg
tc: ok, +/- 0.25 deg
w'w': ok, +/- 0.015 m^2/s^2 (30 min avg for second moments)
tc'tc': ok, +/- 0.1 degC ^2
u*: ok, +/- 0.04 m/s
w'tc': ok, +/- 0.02 m/s degC
diag: ok, mostly << 1 but some spikes that are likely caused by samples
lost during rf transmission; local data storage should be okay.

Upper (hts=4):
-------------

missing sonics from downwind-2 adam after 05:43 6/29: 7t--11t

spd: ok, +/- 20 cm/s
dir: ok, +/- 5 deg
tc: ok, +/- 0.2 deg
w'w': ok, +/- 0.015 m^2/s^2 (30 min avg for second moments)
tc'tc': ok, +/- 0.1 degC ^2
u*: ok, +/- 0.04 m/s
w'tc': ok, +/- 0.02 m/s degC
diag: ok, mostly << 1 but some spikes that are likely caused by samples
lost during rf transmission; local data storage should be okay.

Chenning and Khuong working on the pressure measurement system at these times:

June 27, 2008: 

      Morning. Hung the horizontal pressure reference line.
      4:45-5:15 PM. Working on the 1/4 in tubing, connecting them to the pressure transducers.

 June 28, 2008

    9:00-11:00am. Put 1/16 in couplers to the transducers on the lower array. The tubing on the transducer is hard and the coupler cannot be inserted directly, a heat gun was used to melt the tubing in order to insert the coupler.

    1:30-3:00 pm. Connected 1/4 tubing to the pressure ports 

June 29, 2008

   8:30-9:15 am. Connected 1/4 tubing to the pressure ports 
   8:30-9:30 am. Dug a hole for the reference cylinder

    4:00-5:00 pm. Finished connecting the reference lines for the pressure transducers on the lower array. Sealed the reference cylinder. Ready to test the pressure measurement system. 

June 30, 2008

    9:00-10:10 AM. Buried the reference cylinder. Covered it with a thermal blanket. Ready to test and take data.

July 1 

   12:00 - 1:00 PM. The straight and T couplers came in. Finished the reference sides of the transducers on the upper array.

EantH, serving upwind,downwind2 and pressure2, died 12:43 UTC, 5:43 PDT, June 29.

12:43:50 wireless,info 00:20:F6:05:24:85@wlan2-Ext-Ant: disconnected, extensive data loss

I rebooted it, and changed it (and all others) to a static IP address. It just died again:

16:49:42 wireless,info 00:20:F6:05:24:85@wlan2-Ext-Ant: disconnected, extensive data loss
Status, June 28

AHATS daily status 6/28/08

Staff: Maclean, Horst, Tong, Khoung

Summary: Replaced 3m profile sonic yesterday. Chenning and Khung working
on completion of pressure sensor deployment. Currently no data from
downwind 1 and profile adams; radio down but should have local data storage.

Gordon recycled power on the transmitter, but we later discovered that the
downwind-1 and pressure-1 adams are not transmitting. Gordon found that
the adams were not getting their internet addresses due to outages of
the wireless network.

Good wind direction: For the period 6/25 17:00 through 6/28 11:45, we have
24 hours 35 minutes of data periods of length 20 minutes or longer
with wind directions from 195-355 degrees. This includes 8 periods of
length greater than one hour. Note that the daytime periods may be
compromised by work on the array, e.g. installing the pressure sensors.

Profiles:
---------

spd: ok
dir:
u*: ok
w'tc': ok
T: ok
RH: 4m may be low by less than 1% RH
P: okay

Upwind (hts=3.5):
------

spd: ok, +/- 20 cm/s
dir: ok, +/- 5 deg
tc: ok, +/- 0.5 deg
w'w': ok, +/- 0.02 m^2/s^2 (30 min avg for second moments)
tc'tc': ok, +/- 0.2 degC ^2
u*: ok, +/- 0.1 m/s
w'tc': ok, +/- 0.05 m/s degC
diag: ok, mostly << 1 but some spikes after 0400 this morning

Lower (hts=3):
------

missing sonics from downwind-1 adam after 22:20 6/27: 1b,2b,3b,4b,5b,6b

spd: ok, +/- 20 cm/s
dir: ok, +/- 5 deg
tc: ok, +/- 0.5 deg
w'w': ok, +/- 0.02 m^2/s^2 (30 min avg for second moments)tc'tc': ok, +/- 0.2 degC ^2
u*: ok, +/- 0.1 m/s
w'tc': ok, +/- 0.03 m/s degC
diag: ok, mostly << 1 but some spikes after 0500 this morning

Upper (hts=4):
------

missing sonics from downwind-1 adam after 22:20 6/27: 3t,4t,5t,6t

spd: ok, +/- 20 cm/s
dir: ok, +/- 5 deg
tc: ok, +/- 0.5 deg
w'w': ok, +/- 0.02 m^2/s^2 (30 min avg for second moments)
tc'tc': ok, +/- 0.2 degC ^2
u*: ok, +/- 0.1 m/s
w'tc': ok, +/- 0.04 m/s degC
diag: ok, mostly << 1 but some spikes after 0500 this morning

EantG went down at 05:21:59 UTC. Log file on the ap24eth again mentions "extensive data loss".  EantH  and EantI (sodar) stayed up.

We power cycled the antenna which brought it back.  We also fetched the pocketecs and usb stick from profile, downwind1 and pressure1.

I'm not sure that changing the frequency, as was done earlier, changes anything. After changing the frequency, the Etherants still indicated that they are using channel #1.

Will now try setting the  disconnect-timeout parameter to 15 seconds (the maximum allowed value). The default is 3 seconds.  Will also increase the on-fail-retry-time to 1/2 second

interface wireless set 1 disconnect-timeouot=15s
interface wireless set 1 on-fail-retry-time=500ms

Here are the current wireless interface settings:

1  R name="wlan2-Ext-Ant" mtu=1500 mac-address=00:15:6D:10:3C:BC arp=enabled
      disable-running-check=no interface-type=Atheros AR5213 radio-name="AP24-ExtAnt"
      mode=ap-bridge ssid="ISFF14" area="" frequency-mode=manual-txpower country=united states
      antenna-gain=0 frequency=2462 band=2.4ghz-b/g scan-list=default rate-set=default
      supported-rates-b=1Mbps,2Mbps,5.5Mbps,11Mbps
      supported-rates-a/g=6Mbps,9Mbps,12Mbps,18Mbps,24Mbps,36Mbps,48Mbps,54Mbps
      basic-rates-b=1Mbps basic-rates-a/g=6Mbps max-station-count=50 ack-timeout=dynamic
      tx-power=25 tx-power-mode=all-rates-fixed noise-floor-threshold=default
      periodic-calibration=default periodic-calibration-interval=60 burst-time=disabled
      dfs-mode=radar-detect antenna-mode=ant-a wds-mode=disabled wds-default-bridge=none
      wds-default-cost=100 wds-cost-range=50-150 wds-ignore-ssid=no
      update-stats-interval=disabled default-authentication=no default-forwarding=yes
      default-ap-tx-limit=0 default-client-tx-limit=0 proprietary-extensions=post-2.9.25
      hide-ssid=yes security-profile=isffwep disconnect-timeout=15s on-fail-retry-time=500ms
      preamble-mode=both compression=no allow-sharedkey=no
magnetic declination

I find that the declination for the ahats site (36 deg 1' 15" N, 119 deg 53' 45" W from hats logbook) is 13 deg 40' E.  The datascope is set at 13.4 deg E.

Changed 3m profile sonic

When we raised the 3m sonic, we pinched the cable from the head at the connector (bent it back on itself).  This appears to have damaged the cable (high diag and questionable wind direction data), so this morning (June 27) we replaced sonic S/N 0739 with S/N 1124 around 11:30 am.

 10/27/08:  It appears that S/N 1124 was recalibrated on 7/31/08, so it is possible that these serial numbers are reversed, i.e. we replaced 1124 with 0739.

Changed profile heights

Yesterday afternoon, June 26, Kurt and Laura raised 3m and 4m sonics and TRH about a foot to match as-built heights  of horizontal array sensors.  Will measure actual heights soon.