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| BEHIND THE
SCENES |
| Berks County Haze Cam employs a
variety of hardware and software applications to take the
pictures, obtain air quality and meteorological measurements and
present the data on one web site for display. Here is a detailed
Behind The Scenes look at
what keeps Haze Cam running. Please note that the mention of
trade names is for informational purposes only and does not
constitute endorsement by Berks County or other sponsoring
Agencies.
INSTRUMENTATION |
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Digital
Camera |
| An Olympus
C-730 Ultra Zoom digital camera is used to capture the high
quality digital photograph. The camera has 10x optical zoom
capability and is set to capture a 1600 x 1200 pixels image.
A software program supplied by
Air Resource
Specialists Inc., controls camera functions such
as zoom, picture quality, exposure, and date/time stamping.
The program also controls the FTP function that sends the
images to the web server. Images are currently obtained every
15 minutes, day and night. |
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| Image
Capture Computer |
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| Camera system
operation is controlled by a Sony Vaio notebook computer
running the Microsoft Windows XP SP2 operating system. The
computer in the Berks County building is connected to the
camera on the roof via a special long-range USB communications
cable. Every 15 minutes the computer configures the camera,
captures and saves an image, collects air quality and
meteorology data, and uploads the image and data to the web
server. Image files are archived to CD-R or DVD media for
permanent storage off-site. Power to the cameras is supplied
by a 24V DC power supply. Power and signal cables connect the
power supply and computer to the camera on the roof. The
equipment is housed in a climate controlled rooms and
protected by uninterruptible power sources. |
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On the
Roof |
| The digital
camera is housed in a weatherproof heated and ventilated
enclosure on a pan and tilt head. The heaters, fan and window
defroster are thermostatically controlled to keep the camera
within a reasonable temperature range. The enclosure is
powered by the 24 volt DC supply inside the building. This low
voltage is preferred for reasons of safety and ease of
installation. In addition to the camera, the enclosure also
contains part of the long-range USB communications system and
a high efficiciency power supply for the camera. |
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| Air
Quality and Meteorology Data |
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| Air quality and
meteorology (weather) information are important in
understanding the current air quality conditions shown in the
picture. The
Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP)
operates air quality monitoring stations around the state,
including sites in Berks County.
The data collected from these
sites is available online at:
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The data are also used by the
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
as part of the AirNow network. The camera system computer extracts
the information from the DEP web site and uploads the data with
the
picture to the Berks County web server for display. In the same
way,
meteorology data are obtained from: |
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http://weather.noaa.gov/weather/current/KRDG.html |
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Berks County Environmental Advisory Council
Berks County Agricultural Center
1238 County Welfare Road
Leesport, PA 19533
The environmental website for Berks County,
Pennsylvania
dealing with the environment and its effects
on the health and welfare of Berks County citizens.
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Contact
Webmaster regarding technical questions and
web site feedback.
Copyright © 2005 County of Berks,
Pennsylvania. All Rights Reserved.
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