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Primary Quantities Measured with System Typical |
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While the majority of the Day/Night WSI instruments are in the configuration described in detail in the Day/Night WSI section of the web page, more recent versions of the D/N WSI have additional features.
One of the units, shown below, was designed with a stronger solar/lunar occultor, as well as a better handling of power and cable input. This was also the first system designed to run in the Windows environment. In addition, it has a second computer running in parallel, processing the data in near-real time to yield cloud fraction. The computer can also accept input from a sponsor’s computer. In this way, the user can request information regarding specific regions of the sky which are of interest. Thus, if the sponsor desires to know cloud cover along a moving position (perhaps a satellite track), the position coordinates can be fed to the WSI, which will return the cloud parameters for the moving region of interest.
Another similar version of the WSI has been designed and built to integrate the computer and electronic control into the sensor housing. Its only inputs and outputs are a power cable, and an Ethernet line which connects with the processing computer. This removes the requirement for a control computer within 250’ of the WSI, since the computer is integrated into the package. The WSI is thus a stand-alone system that can be remotely situated away from the user, who can continue to receive cloud and sky information in near-real time.
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by the Marine Physical Laboratory, SIO.
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