Instrumentation Projects

Guest Weather Station Partnership with Andrea Polli and Chuck Varga of Hello, Weather! on the QMA Rooftop

November 2008 – May 2009

In conjunction with the SPWS exhibit at the Queens International 4, SPWS invited artists Andrea Polli and Chuck Varga to install a Professional Weather Station on the QMA rooftop as part of the ongoing Hello, Weather! Project. Readings from the station will be used in the ongoing operations of SPWS and Hello, Weather!

The Davis Vantage Pro 2 weather station on the Queens Museum roof logged data on a local computer and uploaded continuously to online weather communities such as PWS Weather, Weather Underground, and Citizen Weather. Inside the museum, console monitors displayed live camera feed and software showing data acquisition from the QMA rooftop station.

Previous Hello, Weather! stations have been installed at Eyebeam, NYC; the University of Colorado Boulder; and rooftops in Long Island City, Queens.

Components:
2 PC Computers, 3 monitors, various cables, 4 surveillance cameras, webcam, Davis Vantage Pro 2 Personal Weather Station

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The Weather Metabulator

Partnership with Daniel Larson in conjunction with the SPWS exhibit at the Queens International 4, and ‘To Let’ in Ithaca, NY.

2008-ongoing

An adapted 1950s-era medical device known as a ‘Metabulator’ translates real time analogue temperature measurements into a continuous chart readout.

The Weather Metabulator uses an integrated circuit temperature transducer installed on the Queens Museum rooftop which produces an output current proportional to temperature. This analogue electrical signal is relayed along a wire from the QMA roof to a digital circuit inside the Metabulator, which translates the signal into the movement of a servo. The servo powers a motor which moves a pen which creates a real time drawn readout of temperature in the gallery. More technical information including circuit diagrams here.

Components:
Integrated circuit temperature transducer, Wire, Instrument amplifier, Analogue to digital converter, Pulse width modulator, RC Servo and motor, AC synchron motor, Metabulator with existing stylus apparatus.

[Weather Metabulator integrated circuit temperature transducer on the Queens Museum roof]

[Weather Metabulator in the Queens Museum gallery]

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