Design and operation of the ceilometer computer
Paul Meissner · 1960
The ceilometer computer has been developed to provide a display and electrical readout of cloud-height information for use with an automatic weather station.The computer receives an analog signal from the detector of a rotating-beam ceilometer, and determines the height at which cloud indications occur.A small magnetic storage drum contains ten minutes of cloud- height information which is continuously updated, and these data are analyzed for the following factors:1)Predominant cloud height over the past ten minutes,2)Maximum and minimum height at which significant cloud occurences were observed, 3)Number of cloud observations up to a selected critical altitude.The computer is a wired-program machine constructed of transistorized plug-in packages.Several modes of manual operation have been incorporated for testing and maintenance purposes.