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Federal Highway Administration Research and Technology
Coordinating, Developing, and Delivering Highway Transportation Innovations

Report
This report is an archived publication and may contain dated technical, contact, and link information
Publication Number: FHWA-RD-06-067
Date: March 2006

Guidelines for The Collection of Long-Term Pavement Performance Data

Chapter 2. Automated Weather Stations

2.1 Introduction to AWS

Beginning in 1994, AWS were installed near almost all SPS–1, SPS–2, and SPS–8 projects to collect data on onsite weather conditions at each location. Data collected by the stations include air temperature, relative humidity, windspeed and direction, solar radiation, and precipitation. These data are recorded at intervals of 15 minutes and stored. The accumulated data are downloaded at a frequency not to exceed 6 months.

The short interval data are accumulated into hourly statistics of mean, minimum, and maximum temperature and windspeed, minimum and maximum humidity, and total amount of precipitation and solar radiation. These hourly statistics are then accumulated into a set of daily statistics, and at the highest level, monthly values are available for each of these parameters. These monthly statistics are directly comparable to those contained in the climatic data module.

2.2 References for AWS

2.2.1 Installation of AWS Instrumentation

The following document provides a description of the installation process and the first installation of an AWS for LTPP.

A directive that governs the installation and collection of data from the AWS instruments was prepared and submitted to the RSCs.

A second directive submitted to the RSCs required the installation of modems at each of the AWS locations to allow for remote data collection.

2.2.2 AWS Software

The following document describes the use of the software program that performs the initial quality control checks on the AWS data. This program was created to detect anomalies and other equipment-related issues in the collected data while in the field, allowing onsite corrective actions to be performed.

In February 1996, the AWSScan software and the user's guide were updated, and a revised version of the 1995 document (referenced below) was submitted to the RSCs.

The AWSCheck program was written to automate quality checks and process weather station data collected as part of the LTPP program. This software program performs the basic quality control checks on the data before its upload into the LTPP database, data backup and archiving, and creation of data files that are filtered into the database.

In November 1996, the AWSCheck software and the user's guide were revised and submitted to the RSCs for all future use.

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