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And the Weather Station Predicts...

Derrick Oswald and David McKay, the EIR and the primary contact teacher at Lisgar Collegiate Institute in Ottawa, are working with a gifted Grade 10 science class to create The Lisgar Weather Station. The project involves seven student built instruments (anemometers for speed and direction, barometer, thermometer, ombrometer, hygrometer and photometer) mounted on an instrument frame on the roof of the school. Data will be collected by a microcontroller unit once a minute using the on-board analog to digital converter and digital I/O. A low power FM radio link will communicate the sensor readings to a laptop basestation in the classroom where the data will be collected, calibrated and analyzed. The project is a Grade 10 science summative for the fall semester. Derrick and Dave hope the station has a one to two year lifespan and can be accomplished for under $1000. Plans are afoot to create a dynamic web site to display the station's data, and also hook it up to the schools electronic bulletin board next semester.