1. Case of Urban Meteorological Monitoring and Early Warning
(I) Project Background
In meteorological monitoring in a large Australian city, traditional meteorological observation equipment has certain limitations in monitoring cloud system changes, precipitation areas and intensity, and it is difficult to meet the city’s refined meteorological service needs. Especially in the event of sudden severe convective weather, it is impossible to issue early warnings in a timely and accurate manner, which poses a great risk to the lives of urban residents, transportation and public safety. In order to improve the ability of meteorological monitoring and early warning, relevant departments introduced sky imagers.
(II) Solution
In different areas of the city, such as meteorological observation stations, rooftops of high-rise buildings and other open locations, multiple sky imagers are installed. These imagers use wide-angle lenses to capture sky images in real time, use image recognition and processing technology to analyze the thickness, movement speed, development trend of clouds, etc., and combine them with data such as meteorological radar and satellite cloud images. The data is connected to the urban meteorological monitoring and early warning system to achieve 24-hour uninterrupted monitoring. Once signs of abnormal weather are found, the system automatically issues early warning information to relevant departments and the public.
(III) Implementation effect
After the sky imager was put into use, the timeliness and accuracy of urban meteorological monitoring and early warning were greatly improved. During a severe convective weather event, the cloud development and movement path were accurately monitored 2 hours in advance, which gave the city flood control, traffic diversion and other departments sufficient response time. Compared with the past, the accuracy of meteorological warnings has increased by 30%, and the public’s satisfaction with meteorological services has increased from 70% to 85%, effectively reducing the economic losses and casualties caused by meteorological disasters.
2. Airport Aviation Safety Assurance Case
(I) Project Background
During the takeoff and landing of flights at an airport in the eastern United States, the low-altitude clouds, visibility and other meteorological conditions have a great impact. The original meteorological monitoring equipment is not precise enough to monitor the meteorological changes in a small area around the airport. In low cloud, fog and other weather conditions, it is difficult to accurately judge the runway visibility, which increases the risk of flight delays, cancellations and even safety accidents, affecting the airport’s operating efficiency and aviation safety. To improve this situation, the airport deployed a sky imager.
(II) Solution
High-precision sky imagers are installed at both ends of the airport runway and key locations around it to monitor and analyze meteorological elements such as clouds, visibility, and precipitation above and around the airport in real time. The images taken by the imager are transmitted to the airport meteorological center through a dedicated network, and combined with data from other meteorological equipment to generate a meteorological situation map of the airport area. When the meteorological conditions are close to or reach the critical value of the flight take-off and landing standards, the system will promptly issue warning information to the air traffic control department, airlines, etc., providing a decision-making basis for air traffic control command and flight scheduling.
(III) Implementation effect
After installing the sky imager, the airport’s monitoring ability for complex meteorological conditions has been significantly enhanced. In low cloud and foggy weather, the runway visual range can be judged more accurately, making flight take-off and landing decisions more scientific and reasonable. The flight delay rate has been reduced by 25%, and the number of flight cancellations due to meteorological reasons has been reduced by 20%. At the same time, the level of aviation safety has been effectively improved, ensuring the travel safety of passengers and the normal operation order of the airport.
3. Astronomical Observation Auxiliary Research Case
(I) Project Background
When conducting astronomical observations at an astronomical observatory in Iceland, it is greatly affected by weather factors, especially cloud cover, which will seriously interfere with the observation plan. Traditional weather forecasts are difficult to accurately predict short-term weather changes at the observation point, resulting in observation equipment often being idle and waiting, reducing observation efficiency and affecting the progress of scientific research work. In order to improve the effectiveness of astronomical observation, the observatory uses a sky imager to assist observation.
(II) Solution
The sky imager is installed in an open area of the astronomical observatory to capture sky images in real time and analyze cloud coverage. By linking with astronomical observation equipment, when the sky imager detects that there are fewer clouds in the observation area and the weather conditions are suitable, the astronomical observation equipment is automatically started for observation; if the cloud layer increases or other adverse weather conditions occur, the observation is suspended in time and an early warning is issued. At the same time, the long-term sky image data is stored and analyzed, and the weather change patterns of the observation points are summarized to provide a reference for the formulation of observation plans.
(III) Implementation effect
After the sky imager was put into use, the effective observation time of the astronomical observatory increased by 35%, and the utilization rate of the observation equipment was significantly improved. Researchers can capture suitable observation opportunities more timely, obtain more high-quality astronomical observation data, and have achieved new scientific research results in the fields of stellar evolution and galaxy research, which has effectively promoted the development of astronomical research.
The sky imager realizes its function by collecting, processing and analyzing sky images. I will disassemble in detail how to obtain images, analyze meteorological elements and output results from the two aspects of hardware composition and software algorithm, and explain the working principle to you.
The sky imager mainly monitors the sky conditions and meteorological elements through optical imaging, image recognition and data analysis technology. Its working principle is as follows:
Image acquisition: The sky imager is equipped with a wide-angle lens or a fisheye lens, which can capture panoramic images of the sky with a larger viewing angle. The shooting range of some equipment can reach 360° ring shooting, so as to fully capture information such as clouds and glow in the sky. The lens converges light onto the image sensor (such as CCD or CMOS sensor), and the sensor converts the light signal into an electrical signal or a digital signal to complete the initial acquisition of the image.
Image preprocessing: The collected original image may have problems such as noise and uneven light, and preprocessing is required. Image noise is removed by filtering algorithm, and image contrast and brightness are adjusted by histogram equalization and other methods to enhance the clarity of targets such as clouds in the image for subsequent analysis.
Cloud detection and identification: Use image recognition algorithms to analyze preprocessed images and identify cloud areas. Common methods include threshold segmentation-based algorithms, which set appropriate thresholds to separate clouds from the background based on the differences in grayscale, color and other features between clouds and sky background; machine learning-based algorithms, which train a large amount of labeled sky image data to allow the model to learn the characteristic patterns of clouds, thereby accurately identifying clouds.
Meteorological element analysis:
Cloud parameter calculation: After identifying clouds, analyze parameters such as cloud thickness, area, moving speed and direction. By comparing images taken at different times, calculate the change in cloud position, and then derive the moving speed and direction; estimate cloud thickness based on the grayscale or color information of clouds in the image, combined with the atmospheric radiation transmission model.
Visibility assessment: Estimate atmospheric visibility by analyzing the clarity, contrast and other features of distant scenes in the image, combined with the atmospheric scattering model. If the distant scenes in the image are blurred and the contrast is low, it means that visibility is poor.
Weather phenomenon judgment: In addition to clouds, sky imagers can also identify other weather phenomena. For example, by analyzing whether there are raindrops, snowflakes and other reflected light features in the image, it is possible to determine whether there is precipitation weather; according to the color of the sky and the changes in light, it is possible to assist in determining whether there are weather phenomena such as thunderstorms and fog.
Data processing and output: The analyzed meteorological element data such as clouds and visibility are integrated and output in the form of visual charts, data reports, etc. Some sky imagers also support data fusion with other meteorological monitoring equipment (such as weather radars and weather stations) to provide comprehensive meteorological information services for application scenarios such as weather forecasting, aviation safety, and astronomical observation.
If you want to know more about the details of the principles of a certain part of the sky imager, or the differences in the principles of different types of equipment, please feel free to tell me.
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Post time: Jun-19-2025