JP2007010460A - Weather measuring device and method, and program - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a weather measuring device capable of locally measuring the presence of a cloud. <P>SOLUTION: The weather measuring device includes a GPS signal receiving section 10 that receives GPS signals including transmission time information and transmission location information from four or more GPS satellites respectively, a location information calculating section 12 that calculates location information indicating the signal receiving section 10 by arithmetically processing four or more types of GPS signals received, a reference time calculating section 13 that calculates referential delay time from transmission of a first GPS signal to receipt of the signal by employing the location information, the transmission time information included in the first GPS signal, and reference propagation speed of a radio wave, a delay time calculating section 14 that calculates actual delay time of the difference between receipt time of the first GPS signal and the transmission time information, and a water vapor content calculating section 15 that calculates water vapor content that exists between the GPS satellite that has transmitted the first GPS signal and the GPS signal receiving section by employing the difference between the referential delay time and the actual delay time. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a weather measurement device, a weather measurement method, and a program. In particular, the present invention relates to a meteorological measurement apparatus, a meteorological measurement method, and a program that can locally measure the presence or absence of surrounding clouds.

  Conventional weather forecasts are provided as forecasts in a relatively long time unit (for example, 3 hours unit) in a certain wide area (for example, a prefecture unit or a municipality unit) by analyzing information from a weather satellite or the like. That is, the conventional weather forecast forecasts the weather averaged to some extent in each region and time.

For example, in the mountains, the weather is often quite different by leaving a small distance. For this reason, it may be important to obtain local weather information (for example, the presence or absence of clouds) around the user.
The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object thereof is to provide a meteorological measurement apparatus, a meteorological measurement method, and a program capable of locally measuring the presence or absence of surrounding clouds. It is in.

In order to solve the above problems, a weather measurement device according to the present invention includes a GPS signal receiving unit that receives a GPS signal including transmission time information and transmission point information from each of four or more GPS satellites,
A position information calculating unit that calculates position information indicating the position of the GPS signal receiving unit by performing arithmetic processing on the four or more types of GPS signals received by the GPS signal receiving unit;
A reference delay time from when the first GPS signal is transmitted to when it is received is calculated by using the position information, the transmission point information included in the first GPS signal, and a reference propagation speed of radio waves. A reference time calculation unit to
A delay time calculation unit for calculating an actual delay time which is a difference between the time when the first GPS signal is received and the transmission time information;
Using the difference between the reference delay time and the actual delay time, a water vapor amount calculating unit that calculates a water vapor amount existing between the GPS satellite that has transmitted the first GPS signal and the GPS signal receiving unit;
It comprises.

  The propagation speed of radio waves varies depending on the amount of water vapor present in the space in which it propagates. For this reason, as in this weather measurement device, by using the difference between the reference delay time and the actual delay time, the water vapor present between the GPS satellite that has transmitted the first GPS signal and the GPS signal receiving unit. The amount can be calculated. This amount of water vapor changes mainly depending on the presence or absence of clouds. For this reason, according to this weather measuring apparatus, the presence or absence of the surrounding clouds can be measured locally.

  The weather measuring device is particularly effective when it is a mobile terminal. It is preferable that the meteorological measurement device calculates an amount of water vapor existing between each of the four or more GPS satellites and the GPS signal receiving unit using each of the four or more types of GPS signals.

  A history recording unit that records the calculated water vapor amount in association with the time at which the GPS signal receiving unit receives the GPS signal, the position information, and the direction of the GPS satellite that has transmitted the GPS signal; May be. In this case, the history recording unit may record the water vapor amount in association with the time, the position information, and the direction when the water vapor amount is greater than or equal to a reference value. This is because there is a high possibility that rain clouds are present when the amount of water vapor is greater than or equal to a reference value.

  You may further comprise the display control part which calculates the point estimated that a cloud exists from the data stored in the said history recording part, and displays this calculated point on a display apparatus. In this case, for example, the display control unit draws a straight line extending in the direction corresponding to the position information from the position indicated by the position information associated with the water vapor amount equal to or greater than a reference value, and the straight line is It is estimated that a cloud exists at a point that passes the reference height.

Another weather measurement device according to the present invention includes a GPS signal receiving unit that receives a GPS signal including transmission time information and transmission point information from a GPS satellite,
A position information holding unit for holding position information indicating the position of the GPS signal receiving unit;
A reference time calculation unit that calculates a reference delay time from when the GPS signal is transmitted to when it is received by using the position information, the transmission point information included in the GPS signal, and a reference propagation speed of radio waves; ,
A delay time calculating section that calculates an actual delay time that is a difference between the time at which the GPS signal receiving section actually receives the GPS signal and the transmission time information;
A water vapor amount calculating unit that calculates a water vapor amount existing between the GPS satellite and the GPS signal receiving unit using a difference between the reference delay time and the actual delay time;

The meteorological measurement method according to the present invention receives GPS signals including transmission time information and transmission point information from each of four or more GPS satellites, and performs arithmetic processing on the received four or more types of GPS signals. Calculate location information indicating the location where the GPS signal was received,
A reference delay time from when the first GPS signal is transmitted to when it is received is calculated by using the position information, the transmission point information included in the first GPS signal, and a reference propagation speed of radio waves. And
An actual delay time that is a difference between the time when the first GPS signal is actually received and the transmission time information is calculated,
The difference between the reference delay time and the actual delay time is used to calculate the amount of water vapor existing between the GPS satellite that transmitted the first GPS signal and the position that received the GPS signal.

Another weather measurement method according to the present invention receives a GPS signal including transmission time information and transmission point information from a GPS satellite,
Holds position information indicating the position to receive the GPS signal,
By using the position information, the transmission point information included in the GPS signal, and a reference propagation speed of radio waves, a reference delay time from when the GPS signal is transmitted until it is received is calculated,
The actual delay time, which is the difference between the time when the GPS signal receiver actually receives the GPS signal and the transmission time information,
Using the difference between the reference delay time and the actual delay time, the amount of water vapor existing between the GPS satellite and the position where the GPS signal is received is calculated.

The program according to the present invention is a computer-executable program,
A function of receiving GPS signals including transmission time information and transmission point information from each of four or more GPS satellites;
A function of calculating position information indicating a position where the GPS signal is received by performing arithmetic processing on the received four or more types of GPS signals;
A reference delay time from when the first GPS signal is transmitted to when it is received is calculated by using the position information, the transmission point information included in the first GPS signal, and a reference propagation speed of radio waves. Function to
A function of calculating an actual delay time which is a difference between the time when the first GPS signal is actually received and the transmission time information;
Using the difference between the reference delay time and the actual delay time, the function of calculating the amount of water vapor existing between the GPS satellite that transmitted the first GPS signal and the position that received the GPS signal;
Is realized.

Another program according to the present invention is a program executable by a computer,
A function of receiving a GPS signal including transmission time information and transmission point information from a GPS satellite;
A function of holding position information indicating a position to receive the GPS signal;
A function of calculating a reference delay time from when the GPS signal is transmitted to when it is received by using the position information, the transmission point information included in the GPS signal, and a reference propagation velocity of radio waves;
A function of calculating an actual delay time that is a difference between the time at which the GPS signal receiver actually receives the GPS signal and the transmission time information;
A function of calculating an amount of water vapor existing between the GPS satellite and the position where the GPS signal is received, using a difference between the reference delay time and the actual delay time;
Is realized.

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a conceptual diagram for explaining the outline of a weather measurement apparatus 1 according to the first embodiment of the present invention. The weather measurement device 1 is a portable device (including a portable communication terminal and a vehicle-mounted device), and receives GPS signals from each of four or more GPS satellites 50. Each GPS signal includes transmission time information indicating the time when the GPS satellite 50 transmits the GPS signal, and transmission point information indicating the point where the GPS satellite 50 transmits the GPS signal.

  The weather measurement device 1 analyzes the received four or more types of GPS signals and calculates position information (for example, latitude / longitude information) indicating the current position of the weather measurement device 1. In addition, the weather measurement device 1 calculates an actual delay time that is a time from when a GPS signal is transmitted until it is received. This actual delay time varies depending on the amount of water vapor (for example, clouds) contained in the space between the GPS satellite 50 and the weather measurement device 1.

  For this reason, the meteorological measurement apparatus 1 can measure locally the cloud located around the meteorological measurement apparatus 1 by measuring the actual delay time. Moreover, since the meteorological measurement apparatus 1 displays the change of the measured cloud position, the owner of the meteorological measurement apparatus 1 can recognize the moving direction of the cloud.

  FIG. 2 is a block diagram for explaining the configuration of the weather measurement apparatus 1. The weather measurement device 1 includes a GPS signal receiving unit 10, a clock 11, a position information calculating unit 12, a reference time calculating unit 13, a delay time calculating unit 14, a water vapor amount calculating unit 15, a history storage unit 20, a display control unit 30, and A display device 40 is included. Hereinafter, the operation of the weather measurement apparatus 1 will be described.

  First, the GPS signal receiving unit 10 receives GPS signals from each of the four or more GPS satellites 50 and associates them with reception time information indicating the time at which the GPS signals are received. The GPS signal receiving unit 10 acquires reception time information from the clock 11.

  When the GPS signal receiving unit 10 receives the GPS signal, the position information calculating unit 12 calculates the actual delay time as a difference between the transmission time information and the reception time information included in the GPS signal. Then, the distance from the GPS satellite 50 to the weather measurement device 1 is calculated as the product of the actual delay time and the reference propagation speed of radio waves. The position information calculation unit 12 calculates this distance for each of the four or more GPS satellites 50. Then, the current position of the meteorological measurement device 1 is calculated by combining the calculated four or more distances with the transmission point information of each GPS satellite 50.

  The above-described calculation of the current position can be performed by using GPS signals from the three GPS satellites 50 in principle. However, since the propagation speed of the radio wave is slowed by water vapor contained in the space between the GPS satellite 50 and the weather measurement device 1, an error due to this delay occurs in the distance calculated by the position information calculation unit 12. The position information calculation unit 12 uses a GPS signal from another GPS satellite 50 in order to eliminate this error.

Thereafter, the reference time calculation unit 13 determines the actual distance from the GPS satellite 50 to the weather measurement device 1 based on the location information of the weather measurement device 1 calculated by the location information calculation unit 12 and the transmission point information included in the GPS signal. Is calculated. Next, a reference delay time, which is a reference time from when a GPS signal is transmitted to when it is received, is calculated by dividing this distance by the reference propagation speed of radio waves. The reference time calculation unit 13 calculates a reference delay time for each of four or more types of GPS signals.
On the other hand, the delay time calculation unit 14 calculates an actual delay time for each of four or more types of GPS signals.

  Thereafter, the water vapor amount calculation unit 15 calculates the difference between the actual delay time and the reference delay time, and calculates the amount of water vapor contained in the space between the GPS satellite 50 and the weather measurement device 1 using this difference. The water vapor amount calculation unit 15 calculates the water vapor amount for each of four or more types of GPS signals, and calculates the amount of water vapor present in the space between each of the four or more GPS satellites 50 and the weather measurement device 1. .

  FIG. 3 is a graph for conceptually explaining a method by which the water vapor amount calculation unit 15 calculates the water vapor amount. The propagation speed of radio waves becomes slower as the amount of water vapor contained in the space increases. For this reason, the water vapor amount calculation part 15 is included in the space between the GPS satellite 50 and the weather measurement device 1 by introducing the difference between the actual delay time and the reference delay time into a predetermined function possessed in advance. The amount of water vapor generated can be calculated. The predetermined function used here is obtained, for example, by measuring the correlation between the difference between the actual delay time and the reference delay time and the water vapor amount in advance and approximating the actual measurement result with a function.

  Note that the water vapor amount calculation unit 15 may calculate the above-described water vapor amount by introducing a value obtained by dividing the actual delay time by the reference delay time (that is, the delay rate) into another function. The function used in this case is also obtained by measuring the correlation between the delay rate and the water vapor amount in advance and approximating the actual measurement result with the function.

Thereafter, as illustrated in FIG. 2, the history storage unit 20 stores the calculation result of the water vapor amount calculation unit 15.
FIG. 4 is a diagram showing the configuration of data stored in the history storage unit 20 in a table format. In the example shown in the figure, the history storage unit 20 indicates the direction of the GPS satellite 50 based on the position of the weather measurement device 1 when the water vapor amount calculated by the water vapor amount calculation unit 15 is equal to or greater than a certain value. Stored together with position information and reception time information of the measuring device 1. This is because when the calculated water vapor amount is a certain level or more, there is a high possibility that rain clouds exist in the space between the GPS satellite 50 and the weather measurement device 1.
The history storage unit 20 may store all the calculated water vapor amounts in association with the direction of the GPS satellite 50, the position information of the weather measurement device 1, and the reception time information.

  After that, as shown in FIG. 2, the display control unit 30 reads data (a combination of reception time information, position information, and GPS satellite direction) stored in the history storage unit 20. Next, the latest position information of the meteorological measurement device 1 is displayed on the display device 40, a point where a rain cloud is present is estimated, and this estimated point is displayed together with a past estimated point so that the reception time can be known. .

  The point where the rain cloud is assumed to be present is calculated as follows, for example. First, a straight line extending in the direction associated with the position information is drawn from the position indicated by the read position information. Next, a point where this straight line passes a predetermined height (for example, 3000 m) is calculated, and the calculated point is set as a point where a rain cloud is assumed to exist.

  Note that the display control unit 30 may store information indicating a point where rain clouds are assumed to exist in the history storage unit 20 in association with the reception time information. If it does in this way, the display control part 30 does not need to perform the above-mentioned arithmetic processing, when displaying a past estimated point on a display apparatus.

  FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a display example of the display device 40. In the figure, the latest position information of the weather measurement apparatus 1 is indicated by reference numeral 41. The point where the rain cloud exists is indicated by reference numeral 42. The latest point where the rain cloud is present is indicated by a solid line, and the previous point is indicated by a dotted line. For this reason, the owner of the meteorological measurement apparatus 1 can visually grasp the movement of the rain clouds.

The weather measurement device 1 periodically repeats the above operation.
The weather measurement device 1 is realized by installing a program having the above-described function in a computer system. This program is installed in the computer system via a recording medium, for example. The recording medium for storing the program is a removable disk such as a floppy disk (trademark), CD-ROM, CD-R, CD-R / W, DVD-RAM, MO, and semiconductor memory, or a hard disk. It may be other than. Further, this program may be installed in a computer system by being downloaded through a communication line such as the Internet.

  As described above, according to the first embodiment of the present invention, the weather measurement device 1 can locally measure the presence or absence of rain clouds around the weather measurement device 1. And it can display so that the change of the estimated position of a rain cloud can be grasped | ascertained visually. Therefore, the owner of the meteorological measurement apparatus 1 can grasp the local movement of the rain cloud around him (particularly in the traveling direction). In particular, the greater the number of receivable GPS satellites 50, the more detailed the presence and movement of rain clouds can be grasped.

  The above effect can be obtained at any place (for example, a mountainous area) as long as the GPS signal can be received. In addition, since information is accumulated in the history storage unit 20 with the passage of time, it is possible to grasp in detail the movement of the rain clouds.

  FIG. 6 is a block diagram for explaining a configuration of a weather measurement apparatus according to the second embodiment of the present invention. The meteorological measurement apparatus shown in the figure is a fixed type apparatus, and has the same configuration as the meteorological measurement apparatus according to the first embodiment except that it has a position information holding unit 16 instead of the position information calculation unit 12. It is. The operation of the meteorological measurement apparatus shown in the figure is the same as that of the meteorological measurement apparatus according to the first embodiment except for the operation of the reference time calculation unit 13.

  The position information holding unit 16 holds the position information of the weather measurement device in advance. The reference time calculation unit 13 calculates a reference delay time using the position information held by the position information holding unit 16 and the received GPS signal.

  As in the first embodiment, this weather measurement device is realized by installing a program having the above-described functions in a computer system. In the present embodiment, the timepiece and the GPS signal receiving unit 10 may be separated from other members, and information may be communicated between them.

  Also according to this embodiment, the weather measurement device can locally measure the presence or absence of rain clouds around the weather measurement device. Then, it is possible to cause a person watching the weather measurement device to visually grasp the change in the estimated position of the rain cloud.

  Note that the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and various modifications can be made without departing from the spirit of the present invention. For example, in the first embodiment, since the position information calculation unit 12 calculates the actual delay time in the middle, the delay time calculation unit 14 can be omitted by using the actual delay time.

The conceptual diagram for demonstrating the outline of the weather measuring apparatus 1 which concerns on 1st Embodiment. The block diagram explaining the structure of the weather measurement apparatus 1. FIG. The graph which illustrates notionally the method by which the water vapor amount calculation part 15 calculates the water vapor amount. The figure which shows the structure of the data which the log | history storage part 20 memorize | stores in a table format. FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a display example of the display device 40. The block diagram explaining the structure of the weather measurement apparatus which concerns on 2nd Embodiment.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Weather measuring device, 10 ... GPS signal receiving part, 11 ... Clock, 12 ... Position information calculation part, 13 ... Reference time calculation part, 14 ... Delay time calculation part, 15 ... Water vapor amount calculation part, 16 ... Retention of position information 20 ... History storage unit 30 ... Display control unit 40 ... Display device 50 ... GPS satellite

Claims (12)

A GPS signal receiving unit that receives GPS signals including transmission time information and transmission point information from each of four or more GPS satellites;
A position information calculating unit that calculates position information indicating the position of the GPS signal receiving unit by performing arithmetic processing on the four or more types of GPS signals received by the GPS signal receiving unit;
A reference delay time from when the first GPS signal is transmitted to when it is received is calculated by using the position information, the transmission point information included in the first GPS signal, and a reference propagation speed of radio waves. A reference time calculation unit to
A delay time calculation unit for calculating an actual delay time which is a difference between the time when the first GPS signal is received and the transmission time information;
Using the difference between the reference delay time and the actual delay time, a water vapor amount calculating unit that calculates a water vapor amount existing between the GPS satellite that has transmitted the first GPS signal and the GPS signal receiving unit;
A meteorological measurement apparatus.   The weather measurement apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the weather measurement apparatus is a mobile terminal.   The said meteorological measurement apparatus calculates the amount of water vapor existing between each of the four or more GPS satellites and the GPS signal receiver using each of the four or more types of GPS signals. Weather measuring device.   A history recording unit that records the calculated water vapor amount in association with the time at which the GPS signal receiving unit receives the GPS signal, the position information, and the direction of the GPS satellite that has transmitted the GPS signal; The meteorological measurement apparatus according to claim 3.   The meteorological measurement apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the history recording unit records the water vapor amount in association with the time, the position information, and the direction when the water vapor amount is equal to or greater than a reference value.   6. The display control unit according to claim 4, further comprising: a display control unit configured to calculate a point where a cloud is estimated to exist using data stored in the history recording unit, and to display the calculated point on a display device. Weather measurement equipment.   The display control unit draws a straight line extending in the direction corresponding to the position information from a position indicated by the position information associated with the water vapor amount equal to or greater than a reference value, and the straight line passes a reference height. The meteorological measurement apparatus according to claim 6, wherein it is estimated that a cloud is present at a point where it is to be performed. A GPS signal receiving unit for receiving a GPS signal including transmission time information and transmission point information from a GPS satellite;
A position information holding unit for holding position information indicating the position of the GPS signal receiving unit;
A reference time calculation unit that calculates a reference delay time from when the GPS signal is transmitted to when it is received by using the position information, the transmission point information included in the GPS signal, and a reference propagation speed of radio waves; ,
A delay time calculating section that calculates an actual delay time that is a difference between the time at which the GPS signal receiving section actually receives the GPS signal and the transmission time information;
Using the difference between the reference delay time and the actual delay time, a water vapor amount calculating unit that calculates the water vapor amount existing between the GPS satellite and the GPS signal receiving unit;
A meteorological measurement apparatus. A position indicating the position where the GPS signal is received by receiving GPS signals including transmission time information and transmission point information from each of four or more GPS satellites, and calculating the received four or more types of GPS signals. Calculate information,
A reference delay time from when the first GPS signal is transmitted to when it is received is calculated by using the position information, the transmission point information included in the first GPS signal, and a reference propagation speed of radio waves. And
An actual delay time that is a difference between the time when the first GPS signal is actually received and the transmission time information is calculated,
A meteorological measurement method for calculating an amount of water vapor existing between a GPS satellite that has transmitted the first GPS signal and a position that has received the GPS signal, using a difference between the reference delay time and the actual delay time. A GPS signal including a transmission time information and a transmission point information is received from a GPS satellite,
Holds position information indicating the position to receive the GPS signal,
By using the position information, the transmission point information included in the GPS signal, and a reference propagation speed of radio waves, a reference delay time from when the GPS signal is transmitted until it is received is calculated,
The actual delay time, which is the difference between the time when the GPS signal receiver actually receives the GPS signal and the transmission time information,
A meteorological measurement method for calculating an amount of water vapor existing between the GPS satellite and a position where the GPS signal is received, using a difference between the reference delay time and the actual delay time. A computer executable program, wherein the computer
A function of receiving GPS signals including transmission time information and transmission point information from each of four or more GPS satellites;
A function of calculating position information indicating a position where the GPS signal is received by performing arithmetic processing on the received four or more types of GPS signals;
A reference delay time from when the first GPS signal is transmitted to when it is received is calculated by using the position information, the transmission point information included in the first GPS signal, and a reference propagation speed of radio waves. Function to
A function of calculating an actual delay time which is a difference between the time when the first GPS signal is actually received and the transmission time information;
Using the difference between the reference delay time and the actual delay time, the function of calculating the amount of water vapor existing between the GPS satellite that transmitted the first GPS signal and the position that received the GPS signal;
A program that realizes A computer executable program, wherein the computer
A function of receiving a GPS signal including transmission time information and transmission point information from a GPS satellite;
A function of holding position information indicating a position to receive the GPS signal;
A function of calculating a reference delay time from when the GPS signal is transmitted to when it is received by using the position information, the transmission point information included in the GPS signal, and a reference propagation velocity of radio waves;
A function of calculating an actual delay time that is a difference between the time at which the GPS signal receiver actually receives the GPS signal and the transmission time information;
A function of calculating an amount of water vapor existing between the GPS satellite and the position where the GPS signal is received, using a difference between the reference delay time and the actual delay time;
A program that realizes

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