Options for the Micro Rain Radar

Optional items to enhance the performance of the MRR include:

• heating for the parabolic antenna dish
• a device server for connecting the MRR over Ethernet rather than the standard serial port

The optional heating provides strong heating of the antenna dish to ensure error free operation during snow and icing conditions.

The heating is only required when there is a risk of falling snow accumulating on the dish which could cause issues with the focusing of the transmitted and received signals.

Includes heater element covered by a protective shield with 500 Watt heating power, a 25 m cable and the non-removable heating elements which are located on the reverse side of the antenna. There is also a regulating thermostat dial in a weatherproof housing on the reverse side of the dish which is user adjustable (the connector and thermostat are visible in the left-hand photo just underneath the dish.)

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Optional device server for networking ability with RS232/RS422 to 10/100 Mbps

The basic MRR unit data output is RS232 serial data. With the device server it is possible to connect the MRR data output to existing local Ethernet networks via the network port of the data acquisition system (see recommended PC specifications on the MRR details page). This permits data transfer across a local  network as well as remote maintenance capability.

Please note that a RS232 to USB adapter often cannot provide sufficient performance for the data conversion for several reasons and therefore we can only recommend the conversion to Ethernet protocol.  The Ethernet converter specifications are:

Connector type:  9 way D type (female) to RJ45

Protocols: TCP/IP, UDP, Telnet, DHCP, ICMP, HTTP, SNMP, DNS

Power: 9 to 30 VDC, 200mA @ 12V (internal) / External: 100 - 240 VAC

Dimensions: 73 x 121 x 27 mm, the housing is not suitable for use outdoors therefore must be located indoors or in an appropriate enclosure.

Operating Temperature: 0°C to 60°C

Weight: 0,2 kg

 

The Optional data conversion device is only required if you want to convert the output from RS232 to Ethernet but do not have a serial 9 way DB-9 port available on your PC or notebook.

It is important to note that the MRR cannot be used with notebooks or PC's using NON native serial ports (such as PCMIA or USB  converters) as these have been tried but proven to be unreliable or  have slight timing issues over time with the MRR communications.

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We hope this information has been useful - for further information please check out the links at the bottom of the MRR main page.

E.&O.E.  ©