How to integrate the Vaisala WXT510/520/530 and the Septentrio PolaRx5 (Web User Interface)

Configuring the Vaisala WXT510/520/530 Weather Transmitter

There are two ways to configure the Vaisala WXT510/520 Weather Transmitter:

1. Use the Vaisala configuration software and service cable; load the UNAVCO configuration file located at:
   /questions/306/Vaisala+WTX-510%7B47%7D520+config+file+ .

OR

1. Use hyper terminal (or any other terminal emulation program) to configure the Vaisala WXT510/520 manually.

To configure the Vaisala using a terminal emulation program:

1. Connect to the Vaisala using the following settings:

   • Baud: 19200

   • Parity: None

   • Flow Control: None

   • Edit the hyper terminal ASCII settings:

     • check box for "send line ends for line feed"

     • check box for "Echo typed characters locally"

     • check box for "Append line feed to incoming line ends"

2. With the terminal connection established, power up the Vaisala. You should get a "0X0, start" message.

3. Use the following commands to configure the WXT510/520:

   • 0XU,M=Q,C=2   (This should set the WXT510 to NMEA polled, RS232 communication)

   • 0TU,R=&11010000,I=180,P=B,T=C   (This should set the pressure units to bar and temperature to Celsius)

   • 0RU,R=&10000000U=M,Z=A   (This sets the precipitation units to mm/hr and counter reset)

   • 0WU,R=&01001000 (These next two commands  sets wind averaging, units, and output values)

   • 0WU, I=180,A=180,U=M,F=1 

   • 0SU,R=&00000000   (This removes the system status elements from the output values)

   • 0XU,M=P (to change the communication protocol back to ASCII)

1. Verify the Vaisala is enabled:

   • Issue a "0R0" command.

   • The met pack is set to output the following string:

     0R0,Dm=076D,Sm=0.1M,Ta=24.4C,Ua=20.9P,Pa=0.8429B,Rc=0.00M,Hc=0.0M

     where:

     0R0 - the command that is sent
     Dm - wind direction, degrees
     Sm - wind speed, m/s
     Ta - temperature, degree C
     Ua - humidity, percent
     Pa - barometric pressure, Bar
     Rc - rainfall, mm/sampling period (reset at each measurement)
     Hc - hail, hits/sampling period (reset at each measurement)

Configuring the Septentrio PolaRx5

Note: If using a WXT530, you must update the receiver firmware to 5.4.0

Configuring the PolaRx5 using a telnet connection

• Connect to the receivers Web User Interface with a browser (Firefox works best)
• Login to the receiver with your username and password
  • 

• Navigate to Communication -> Serial Port. Here we choose to configure the serial port COM2 to communicate with the met device. 

• Select a baud rate of 19200, 8 bits, no parity, 1 stop bit, and no flow control. Make sure to click OK when finished with your selection.

  • 

• Navigate to Corrections -> Input.

  • 
  • In the dropdown menu select ASCIIIN. This allows the COM2 serial port to accept ASCII strings as input. Make sure to click OK when finished with your selection.

• Navigate to Station -> External Sensor. 

  • 

  • Enable ASCII Input for the serial port where the met device will be connected (COM2 in the example). 
  • Add the ASCII message that will be sent to the receiver (A:0R0%%CR%%LF).
    • The ’A:’ tells the receiver that you will be sending an ASCII string from COM2
    • The ’0R0’ is the command that will tell the met device to make a measurement.
    • The ’%%CR%%LF’ correctly terminate the ’0R0’ command.
  • Select the desired interval for your measurement (usually something like 5min). 
  • Make sure to click OK when finished to save your selection. 
  • If the me device is connected and functioning, you should start seeing the response in the ASCII Input window.
  • If you selected a 5min interval you may have to wait a little while to see the first response.

     

• Navigate to Logging -> Log Sessions. 

  
  
  • 
  • Click the edit button for the logging session that you would like to add met logging to.
  • Click SBF Logging
  • Click to edit the stream for that session.
  • 
  • Scroll down and select ASCIIIN. 
  • 
  • Select Apply 
  • Important Note: ASCIIIN is a special record that ignores the logging interval. ASCIIIN messages will log to the file when the receiver receives a response from the met device. 
• Now save your new settings to Boot!  (if you forget, your receiver will revert to it’s previous state the next time it reboots)

   

  • 

Using teqc to extract met records

Use the following command to create a met file:

teqc +met <filename>.met -M.obs pr+td+hr+ws+wd+ri+hi <filename>.sbf  >  <filename>.obs

where <filename>.sbf is the binary file that you pulled from the receiver,

and 

<filename>.met is the ASCII file that contains the extracted met data,

and 

<filename>.obs is the RINEX observation file extracted from the SBF file.

Article ID: 847
Created: April 19, 2016
Last Updated: April 1, 2021
Author: Henry Berglund

Online URL: https://kb.unavco.org/article/how-to-integrate-the-vaisala-wxt510-520-530-and-the-septentrio-polarx5-web-user-interface-847.html