A computer method for automatic acquisition of wind speed data

Pulse generating anemometers have been incorporated into a computer-controlled data acquisition system for taking meteorological measurements. A computer accepts data in digital form, and pulses from 16 anemometers can be fed into the computer via a single general purpose interface card. The interrupt system is used directly to record and count the pulses, and the necessary programmes use only 222 locations of memory. The final on-line output consists of five-minute and hourly averages of wind speed from each of the sensors and a plot of wind profiles. The system has been used successfully for three years and has now collected over 3000 hours of data.