Development of a low cost disdrometer using piezo-buzzer as a sensing device

Abstract

Using approaches ranging from manual rain gauges to rain drop counting to satellite-based precipitation, numerous research investigations have been conducted to better understand rainfall. The work reported here focuses on the construction of a low-cost Disdrometer that uses a piezo-buzzer as the sensing unit to measure and log rain rate in real-time for drop sizes ranging from 0.5 mm to 5.5 mm. The sensor unit, microcontroller, logging section, DS3231 (RTC), display unit, and power supply unit make up the instrument. For calibration of the Disdrometer, two methods were employed namely: an experimental calibration setup and field instruments. To validate the performance of the developed Disdrometer, the Micro Rain Radar (MRR) and Davis weather instruments were used. The developed Disdrometer reproduced very well the rain rate and rain drop sizes measured by Micro Rain Radar (MRR).