weathd.conf

The weathd.conf file describes how the system receives its weather information, and what cuts are applied to determine when the weather turns ``bad.'' The Weather Daemon can either run standalone, or as a client or server for more than one collateral telescope. The configuration file begins in the standard way:

# configuration file for weathd

#

# format is "key   value"

# comments start with `#' and go to end of line

# blank lines are okay

# lines cannot be continued

loglevel           0                            # 0,1,2 = terse,verbose,debug

logfile            /rotse/run/log/weathd.log

poll_time          0.1                          # main loop time quantum

init_time          50.0                         # how long wait for children

email_list         "observer@rotse3a.lanl.gov"  # send mail to

sample_time        3                            # sample time, in sec, for rotsed

sample_time_th     30                           # sample time in seconds, for threads

The two important threads are described next:

# Davis Weather Station monitor

#

dweath run         1                            # = 0/1 to run Davis weather

dweath tout        50.0                         # Davis Weather timeout

dweath tpoll       20.0                         # Davis weather station sample time

dweath twait       3600.0                       # time from last detection to okay given

dweath devfile     /dev/ttyC2                   # serial port for weath stat.

# Vaisala Precipitation monitor

#

vprecip run        1                            # = 0/1 to run Vaisala precip

vprecip tout       10.0

vprecip tpoll      1.0                          # Vaisala rain detector sample time

vprecip twait      3600.0

vprecip devfile    /dev/ml16pa-adc4

The Davis Weather Station is controlled via a serial interface, and reads the temperature, barometric pressure, windspeed, humidity, and has a rain gauge. The Vaisala Precipitation Detector is read from a PCI card, and will be coded to run with the CIO-CTR05 card that controls the Akerlof NightSky Monitor. This code has not been written, but better be there pretty damn quick!

In the near future weathd will also control the Nightsky Monitor. The configuration file contains legacy support for the old precipitation monitor, the ``Wren Cloud Monitor,'' and a weather database. These are not implemented for ROTSE-III.

Any precipitation detected sets the weather to ``bad,'' and the clamshell is automatically closed. The limits for weather station data are described at the end of the file:

tempi_min      -20.0                     # Min. Temp. Inside

tempi_max      100.0                     # Max. Temp. Inside

tempo_min      -20.0                     # Min. Temp. Outside

tempo_max      110.0                     # Max. Temp. Outside

dewdiff        5.0                       # max allowed difference between tempo and dewpt

wspd_min       -0.2                      # Min. Windspeed

wspd_max       25.0                      # Max. Windspeed

bar_min        20.0                      # Min. Bar. Pressure: set for 7000 elevation!

bar_max        28.0                      # Max. Bar. Pressure

humi_min       -0.1                      # Min. Humidity Inside

humi_max       200.0                     # Max. Humidity Inside

humo_min       -0.1                      # Min. Humidity Outside

humo_max       85.0                      # Max. Humidity Outside

rain_max       100.00                    # rain thresh. for davis sensor

maxsky         3.0                       # Akerlof sky monitor max. (not implemented yet)

minvprecip     2.5                       # Vaisala precip. detector min. (***)

mincloud       0.0                       # Wren cloud monitor min. (not implemented)

And finally there is the configuration information for the client/server options for weathd.

# Weather Server updater

# ( only sends badweather flag)

#

weathserver run      0                          # = 0/1 to run

weathserver tout     3.0

weathserver tpoll    1.0                        # sample time

weathserver twait    3600.0

weathserver devfile  3902                       # socket port number

# Weather Server2 updater

# (sends weather data: temp, humi, wind, dewpt)

# (disabled if weather station monitor is turned on)

#

weathserver2 run      0                        # = 0/1 to run

weathserver2 tout     50.0

weathserver2 tpoll    20.0                     # sample time

weathserver2 twait    3600.0

weathserver2 devfile  3903                     # socket port number

# Weather Client monitor

#

weathclient run       0                        # = 0/1 to run

weathclient tout      3.0

weathclient tpoll     1.0                      # sample time

weathclient twait     3600.0

weathclient devfile   rotsei.lanl.gov

numserver             0                  # server number (0=none,1=server1,2=server2,3=both)

There are two weather server options. The plain weathserver serves the ``badweather'' flag only, usually from the Vaisala precipitation detector. The client need not know what went bad, only that it is damn important to close the clamshell as soon as possible. The fancier weathserver2 serves Davis Weather Station data every few minutes. This allows the remote machine to use the outside temperature and pressure, which is essential for focusing.

As a weather client, the weathd can connect to one or both weather servers at a nearby location. This is useful if there is only one Vaisala Detector for more than one telescope, while each telescope has its own weather station.

This functionality was created for the early stages of ROTSE-III testing when it was sited next to the working ROTSE-I system. This will probably not be used at the remote ROTSE-III locations, although people at SSO or HESS are welcome to tap into our weather data.