Windsond was used during the Australian National Balloon Championships on April 22-27. The organizer released at least one sonde before each morning and evening flight to get the most up-to-date data to plan fun and challenging tasks for the pilots. In total 15 soundings were made, up to 9700 ft AGL. All sondes were recovered – with one exception closer than 10 m from the reported GPS landing co-ordinates. Testimonial The people operating Windsond during the competition reports the...

The Windsond software has matured a lot over the winter. For example, the software can now generate a range of different file formats for the weather data. The settings dialog of this is pictured below. All generated files can be viewed within the application, even while the sounding is still progressing. Here's a quick breakdown of the major changes: Better curve smoothing algorithm that preserves air layer transitions Altitude axes start at the current ground altitude Support...

In Abu Dhabi, I visited the International Exhibition for Security and National Resilience (ISNR) on April 1. (No, it's not an April fool.) This is a big trade show held every two years at the grand National Convention Centre in Abu Dhabi, UAE. The 400 exhibitors cover topics such as security, surveillance, terror prevention and counter-measures, emergency services like ambulance and fire-fighting, etc. At the show I met with several interesting companies where Windsond would serve a valuable...

I'm happy to announce that Kiwi Embedded has sold a Windsond system to Burkan Munitions Systems LLC, based in the United Arab Emirates. Burkan develops various types of ammunition and will use Windsond for gathering wind data during field tests. The company also uses a traditional weather sounding system and find Windsond to be a perfect complement for the lower atmospheric conditions. Advantages include portability, convenience, cost of operation and control over flight path. A few days ago...