# Storm monitoring system



## BradG (Jun 7, 2013)

Recently i finished designing A camera trigger for photographing lightning, though wanted to make a companion to accompany it. with this LCD display version, rather than it just detecting the flash of light like the trigger, this one picks up the RF signal out of the airwaves from the lightning strike and analyses it, and is able to calculate the distance to the edge of the storm, if it is moving away from you or coming towards, keep count of how many lightning strikes there has been during the storm, all alerting you to these states on the LCD screen. It can differentiate between cloud to cloud, or cloud to ground strikes. 

This version will be designed into a tabletop unit for keeping in your living room for instance. it will pick up a storm from over 40 miles away and will then monitor it, alerting you to get your camera out your bag etc..

As a future addition i intend on creating an IP rated camera mounted on Pan & tilt servos, which wirelessly links back to the monitoring system, which will automatically turn the camera to the direction of the storm, and photograph each strike completely automatically.

other sensors such as temps, barometer,anemometer, and cloud charge monitoring for measuring the charge of the clouds before each strike, in a bid to calculate the storms severity


Future detection system versions will utilise a nokia mobile screen, and will be pocket size so you can monitor the storms while out in the field. Early warning systems for hikers and outdoor event modules will be made available too.

Ive messed with various designs for years, though this is the first time i have been satisfied with the accuracy and level of sophistication from the built in algorithms of the sensing IC


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## Paul in OKC (Jun 7, 2013)

Sweet. Been a good time to have something like that the last couple of weeks around here!


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## Dalecamino (Jun 7, 2013)

Cool Brad! LOTS of lightning in Florida. Big & Loud too. This is amazing. Thanks


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## BRobbins629 (Jun 7, 2013)

You are one weird guy. Wish I lived closer.


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## dogcatcher (Jun 7, 2013)

Can you put that in simple single syllable words?  LOL


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## Fibonacci (Jun 8, 2013)

How do you like the newer version of the Arduino?  I keep threatening to pick up one or two, but I have enough stock of the older ones I have not gotten to it yet.


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## bluwolf (Jun 8, 2013)

I'm still working on getting a decent picture of something sitting still...

Mike


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## vanngo5d (Jun 8, 2013)

That's a neat device, Lightning pictures are one of my favorites.

SkyNet --- That's from Terminator that took over the World with robots.


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## mikespenturningz (Jun 8, 2013)

It would be really cool to have something like that you could plug into your iPad. Then feed all the data back to one spot!


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## BradG (Jun 8, 2013)

BRobbins629 said:


> You are one weird guy. Wish I lived closer.


 
Lol thanks i think Bruce :biggrin:



dogcatcher said:


> Can you put that in simple single syllable words? LOL


 
I did! .. i didn't start rambling on about C++ sub routines



Fibonacci said:


> How do you like the newer version of the Arduino? I keep threatening to pick up one or two, but I have enough stock of the older ones I have not gotten to it yet.


 
I couldnt tell you the differences between the two, though some libraries designed for the older model are no longer compatible leaving you having to tweak the h and cpp files.



mikespenturningz said:


> It would be really cool to have something like that you could plug into your iPad. Then feed all the data back to one spot!


 
I like the idea of the data being fed back to the main unit and it handling the information. easy to connect it to ipads laptops etc,  I guess developing a html server and hosting the info on a webpage over the local area network could be accomplished using wifi, or port and socket connection to an app or software client.. I may look into all that when ive done everything on the list i want to get working 

one thought was having the systems talk with other systems over the internet. If there was multiple of them scattered in familys homes around the city etc, they would all act as nodes, taking measurments of the storm from different locations to draw a bigger picture of data, which of course every unit would be able to access.


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## mikespenturningz (Jun 8, 2013)

Don't think too small Brad you could have them globally and that would be so cool. I would love to give something like that a try. It wouldn't be any more work to have them all over the place than to have them around a single city that is for sure. You could see weather in almost real time world wide. Probably be better than what the national weather services have!


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## BradG (Jun 8, 2013)

I am all familiar with the possibilities of these concepts, though in the 15 years ive been developing i came to learn in the end that any peripheral addon, or bolt on shouldnt even be thought about, and simply noted down in a book of things to visit in the future. 100% of your focus and thought processes should evolve around the foundations of the product until its polished. once youve given all and its finished, then you start playing with all the fun bits  im not thinking too small, Ive always seen the larger picture, just its more productive to focus on smaller partsof the picture rather than tackle it as a whole all in one go.


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## jyreene (Jun 8, 2013)

Awesome concept and design. I for one would likely be the first to thank the creator of our robot overlords and request he hardware a fail safe word into his designs.


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## terryf (Jun 8, 2013)

so, more importantly, where can we buy or order one?


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## BradG (Jun 8, 2013)

As it stands Terry im working my way towards marketable products, though for now still some steps to take until its ready for the consumer market. 
Though when that time comes il pay my way like other vendors have done so on the site, and il list adverts in the classifieds section. I wouldn't want to raise any eyebrows by talking sales or money on this thread :redface: 

Jyreene il put a big red emergency stop button on the back :wink:


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## LagniappeRob (Jun 8, 2013)

Once you start getting tcp/ip involved, it's probably worth thinking about switching to a Raspberry Pi instead.  A Mega 2560 R3 (real one not HK clone) is almost $50 from the 1st tier sources, plus $30 or so for the ethernet shield or you have to have it hooked to a PC all the time.   A RPi would be $35 plus an old SD card... Of course you could do a Netduino, but that's another story...


I've all but stopped my Arduino development. Unless you have to have near real-time then the RPi is hard to beat. About the only thing I'd go back to the 'duinos for is motion control. And then probably only as a secondary processor to offload the motion controls themselves, leaving the rest of the logic back at the RPi.

Edit - by the way, they work REALLY well together!  IIRC, this was the 1st book I got my hands on about connecting the 2:http://www.amazon.com/Raspberry-Home-Automation-Arduino-ebook/dp/B00BBQHAPK/ (Edit2 - I'm beginning to 2nd think that... might need to go look at my Kindle orders. I think this one was about using the RPi instead of Arduino - which still might interest you...  I'm thinking I buy too many books. But thanks to the Kindle at least it's not going to be as back breaking to move next time. Having dozens fewer 50lb book boxes to move is worth the price alone!)

And I'm waiting for this one:
http://www.amazon.com/Beginning-Sensor-Networks-Arduino-Raspberry/dp/1430258241


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## BradG (Jun 8, 2013)

Thanks for the links ive just ordered the first one so il take a read .

 Ive been meaning to start using the pi's as theres not enough grunt behind the arduinos for handling streaming video or audio processing


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## mikespenturningz (Jun 8, 2013)

Are you a Linux person Brad? Mint 13 here... Been using Linux here at home and work for 13 years now. Goodbye MS....


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## BradG (Jun 8, 2013)

not so much Mike. a couple of servers in my server room are linux boxes which just host sql databases. the other servers and 50 clients are windows.


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## LagniappeRob (Jun 8, 2013)

I remember compiling (or more often than not ATTEMPTING to compile kernels as early as 0.99 pl13 - that  version # will be stuck in my head for the rest of my life!).  I came from Mark Williams' Coherent,  OS-9 and SysV R3 systems. Still admin HP-UX, AIX and Linux boxes today.


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## ChrisN (Jun 8, 2013)

Getting kind of off topic here. :biggrin: We ought to start a Linux club here. I run Lubuntu on my netbook, and will soon have Kubuntu on my desktop - when my SSD gets here... :biggrin:


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## hard hat (Jun 10, 2013)

another great project. how do you have enough time to complete anything with all the projects you have going on?


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## LL Woodworks (Jun 10, 2013)

I bet he finds a way to put it in a pen before he is finished


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## Fibonacci (Jun 10, 2013)

BradG said:


> Thanks for the links ive just ordered the first one so il take a read .
> 
> Ive been meaning to start using the pi's as theres not enough grunt behind the arduinos for handling streaming video or audio processing



Another good option to look at is the Netduino.

The dev environment is very similar to the Arduino, but it have a lot more oomph and a built-in ethernet stack.


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## BradG (Jun 11, 2013)

hard hat said:


> another great project. how do you have enough time to complete anything with all the projects you have going on?


 
Work quickly before you fall behind lol.



LL Woodworks said:


> I bet he finds a way to put it in a pen before he is finished


 
wouold be fun wouldn't it? .. Can't see it working too well with a metal pen though 



Fibonacci said:


> BradG said:
> 
> 
> > Thanks for the links ive just ordered the first one so il take a read .
> ...


 
Take a look at the Yún which is coming out. still only 400Mhz, though theres some dual cores on the horizon too


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## dogcatcher (Jun 11, 2013)

have read through this several times, and still have only a general idea of what you people are talking about.  Please carry on for the benefit of those of us that will still not know when this thread is finished.


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## walshjp17 (Jun 11, 2013)

Great idea, Brad.  Now, with an ambitious marketing plan, you are spot on for timing for the nascent storm/hurricane season.

Rather than just 'talking' to iPads, an iOS /Android app would allow mobile users (think storm chasers) to take advantage of your invention.  I'm sure you could find a mobile programmer to do some work if you don't already do it yourself.

Like your brilliant pens, this is another example of you being ahead of the curve.  Well done.


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## BradG (Jun 12, 2013)

Thanks John

The issue with mobile devices is that this is hardware dependant. people ut and about would want to be the point of reference for the detection, and in order for that to work with an iphone for example, they would need to plug a piece of hardware into the phone. And if you are doing that, you may as well just rule out the phone and make it a handheld device.


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## Leatherman1998 (Jun 12, 2013)

Is that a raspberry pie? I am about to order one to work with.


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## BradG (Jun 12, 2013)

no its an arduino, which is a micro controller. a raspberry is a micro processor. Think of the raspberry as the brains of the operation and an arduino as its interface for connecting lots of sensors, stepper motors, servos etc to it. 

An arduino can of course be ran without a raspberry, as you can program them with C++ and the code loops allowing you to run boolean logic with if condition routines. logical operators are also availabe which can make some variable calculations much easier ( ! || && < >== for example), you can create sub routines which loop on their own _do/while_ or _for_ condition .Great fun.


 Check out the book links a previous poster was kind enough to share.


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## BradG (Jun 14, 2013)

Advanced lightning detector up and rocking. This will pick storms up from over 40 miles away and display the distance and severity on the LCD display. Blue light flashes in different patterns depending on how close the storm is along with an audio alarm


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## LagniappeRob (Jun 14, 2013)

I've got a couple of woot-off revolving yellow lights (usb powered - but not controlled - each has a switch  ) if you want them...


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## skiprat (Jun 14, 2013)

terryf said:


> so, more importantly, where can we buy or order one?


 
One thing I miss about SA is the wonderful ozone smell of a good Highveld electric storm. 
We used to sit on the stoop ( stoep?) having a braai next to the pool and watch the fireworks.


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## LagniappeRob (Jun 14, 2013)

These...


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## BradG (Jun 14, 2013)

Thanks for the offer Rob, though unfortunately the EMF from the motors would cause interferance (This blue light was a revolving one until i removed the motor from it)


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## Curly (Jun 14, 2013)

Brad your "gizzmo" reminds me of the lightning strike counters that the Forest Service was just starting to use when I was an aircraft mechanic servicing air tankers decades ago. They drew a line out to the location of the ground strikes on a map. In the morning they would send aircraft out to the strike area and look for smokes. There were some storms that had so many lightning strikes that a long narrow pie slice was cut away from the map by the plotter pen. Revenue storms for us. 

Is your storm monitor battery powered or is it plugged into the mains? Have you got a ball park idea, or cricket pitch if you prefer, :wink: of what these would sell for?


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## Dalecamino (Jun 14, 2013)

Great looking rig Brad. Would love to see it in action.:biggrin:


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## BradG (Jun 16, 2013)

Curly an extremely rough idea would be around $200 at a guess. Id need to work out the costs. If theres any woodworkers in the uk who would like to earn some dough making square mdf boxes drop me a message 

Chuck il set my video camera uo on it when a storm comes around


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