Smart umbrellas to collect rainfall data

While conventional rain gauges are widely used by meteorologists and hydrologists to measure precipitation, these instruments are expensive to maintain and are limited by their distribution. Ideally, the smart umbrellas will allow scientist to conveniently crowdsource weather information, leading to more definitive weather predictions.

Devised by “MacGyver scientist” Rolf Hut, he and his team regularly use existing technologies in innovative ways to measure the earth’s weather and climate. By simply gluing a piezo disc to the canvas of an umbrella, the sensor records vibrations created by the falling rain. The disc is connected to a Bluetooth headset, which sends the data to a computer via a mobile phone.

“I have been working on acoustic rain gauges for a while now,” Hut claims. As co-founder of YES!Delft company Disdrometrics, Hut and his team develop acoustic rain gauges that are being used in a pan-European project (WeSenseIt) that allows citizens to measure their surrounding environment. “Acoustic rain gauges work by ‘listening’ to the impact of raindrops,” Hut explains. “It was a logical idea for me to incorporate our ‘listen to the rain’ principle. Furthermore, everyone has a cell phone nowadays. If we could use the processing power available in mobile phones, we do not have to do a lot of electronic development. That is how we came up with the idea to use a Bluetooth headset and have the phone wirelessly connected to do all the calculations.”

Although it may take some time before ordinary umbrellas are fitted with weather-monitoring sensors, Hut is keen on using existing technologies to further meteorological and hydrological research. “I really hope someone will incorporate this idea in an umbrella that is available on the market,” Hut says. “Weather predictions are always based on weather measurements. The more measurements you have, the better you know ‘where you are now’. Thus, the better your predictions will be. The biggest benefit that I see right now is increasing the resolution of measurements and of short-term (hourly) predictions in and around cities.” With hundreds of smart umbrellas operating in urban landscapes worldwide, Hut is convinced that the technology could also improve the ability to predict urban flooding.