Compact Five-Element Weather Station

WindSpeed and direction

Air temperatureAmbient air

HumidityRelative humidity, %RH

PressureBarometric, hPa

RainTipping-bucket total

Product overview and where it fits

The SimtoLink compact five-element weather station puts wind speed and direction, air temperature, relative humidity, barometric pressure, and tipping-bucket rain in one small housing. It fits grid weather, dust control, and transport or energy sites. An FPGA keeps the sample beat, the timestamps, and the quality flags in step, so the probes do not have to be aligned after they report on their own. The reading stays predictable across a wide temperature, a wide pressure, and a noisy electromagnetic site.

The uplink can be a gigabit SFP fiber backbone, a low-power LoRa link for open country, or RS485 Modbus RTU into an RTU or gateway already on site. Power is PoE and DC 12 V, each backing the other up. The housing is IP65, for a pole, a tower, or an outdoor cabinet. SimtoLink can supply a southbound point list and northbound MQTT or HTTP push examples, plus order notes on rain resolution, ultrasonic or mechanical wind sensing, and the pressure-correction method.

Reliability on site

For electrical safety and EMC, the station has passed the relevant CE and FCC items. Ports include surge and reverse-polarity protection. Reinforced grounding and a partitioned layout reduce ground loops and common-mode noise. Outdoor or coastal sites can take a higher ingress rating and a corrosion-resistant coating.

Parameters can be loaded in batches, thresholds can be set, and the unit can keep event video or waveform records, depending on the model. Configuration and firmware go out by OTA. On site, close acceptance in three steps: a power-on self-test, clock sync on the link, and a spot check of samples. For metering or safety duty, SimtoLink helps submit the unit to a third-party metrology institute and supplies the type-test file.

Key hardware parameters

The figures below are the typical build of this station, for selection and for the technical clauses in a bid. A wider range, redundant power, or an intrinsically safe variant is available from SimtoLink with the Hardware Specification and the Installation and Commissioning Guide. Order codes in the family can differ slightly; the nameplate and the papers shipped with the unit govern.

Parameter	Specification	Notes
Wind speed	Typically 0–60 m/s (wider on order)	Ultrasonic time-of-flight or a cup anemometer
Wind direction	0–360°	From the same probe, or a mechanical vane
Air temperature	Typically −40 to 60 ℃	PT1000 or a digital probe; IEC 60751 traceability optional
Relative humidity	0–100 %RH	Non-condensing; probe matched to the radiation shield
Barometric pressure	Typically 500–1100 hPa	Absolute; sea-level correction can be set in software
Rain	Tipping bucket, typically 0.1 mm per tip	Hydrology or meteorology variants can be ordered
Supply	PoE (IEEE 802.3af/at) and DC 12 V	The two feeds back each other up; isolation recommended
Uplink	Gigabit SFP, LoRa, RS485 Modbus RTU	Combined by order code; can meet an external 4G/5G gateway
Ingress	IP65	Salt-spray / coastal coating optional
Sync and quality	FPGA time base and sample schedule	Quality codes, store-and-forward, and an edge cache, depending on firmware

Typical deployments

Three layouts that show up often enough to use in a scheme review and a payback check:

Municipal and utilities

Scattered points and outdoor cabinets. Wide temperature and lightning protection suit water, gas, and street lighting, where the link is long and the delay has to stay short.

Campuses and buildings

The station feeds campus energy management or building controls for sub-metering, alarms, and linked actions, so manual reads and inspection rounds cost less.

Plant and energy sites

On a line or in a power room it can meet MES or EMS and send key process values or energy data from the edge.

Installation, grounding, and upkeep

Before applying power, confirm the supply range and polarity. If there is any doubt, measure bus voltage and breaker capacity with a multimeter.
Run the communications cable as shielded twisted pair, grounded at one end only, and do not lash it to high-power cables over a long route.
For the first go-live, prove read and write in both directions and the threshold triggers against the platform in the lab, then move the station to site.
Outdoors, give drainage and ventilation first priority, inspect the sealing faces on a regular round, and keep the lightning earth resistance inside the local code.
In continuous service, spot-check samples and archive logs every 12 months.

Ordering, documents, and support

SimtoLink provides the hardware specification, an outline drawing, a wiring table, and a sample project. Volume orders can include a sample review and inspection at the factory. Warranty and calibration follow the contract and the documents that ship with the station.

Where the five elements are used

The compact station mounts on a pole, a tower, or a vehicle for a fast setup. It is the usual form for grid environmental monitoring and mobile inspection. The cases below differ in power, communications, and calibration.

City-grid micro-stations

Hung on a street-light pole, a camera pole, or a multi-use pole, next to an air-quality micro-station, noise, and video. A 4G or 5G backhaul, an edge cache, and store-and-forward keep minute data flowing through a typhoon or a convective burst, for the city's operating index.

Sites and temporary hoardings

Dust control gets temperature, humidity, pressure, wind, and rain, with thresholds that start sprinklers, fog cannons, and cover for bare soil. Solar plus a gel battery lets the station be taken down, reused, and inventoried when the job ends, so the spend is not a one-off.

Beside a power-line drone nest

A small station at the nest gives local wind, gusts, and humidity for the takeoff window, battery temperature, and the video link. The offset from the provincial forecast is reconciled so routes and no-fly rules can be tightened.

Islands and offshore microgrids

A corrosion-resistant coating, lightning protection, and surge design stand up to salt spray and high humidity. The data goes to a marine ranch, a navigation mark, or an offshore-wind maintenance platform, and it helps set windows for vessels and dive work.