Real time data acquisition techniques in meteorological applications

An introduction to the use of real time data acquisition and analysis in meteorological applications is given, with examples of areas in which such techniques are becoming important. A detailed description is given of a readout system being constructed for a disdrometer (raindrop measuring gauge) using a VLSI neural network chip. Tests on simulated data give promising results down to droplet diameters of 0.05 mm, about a factor of 10 lower than what has been possible with previous methods.