[comp.protocols.tcp-ip] Temperature Quote Protocol

Makey@Logicon.COM (Jeff Makey) (07/25/90)

Rather than require the TQP server to ignore any data received, it
would be nice to allow some specification of which temperature(s)
(e.g., CPU box, disk drive, outside, operator) is desired.  This would
make it possible to have more than 1 temperature sensor per IP
address.

Similarly, the temperature quote returned should identify the
temperature(s) reported.

                           :: Jeff Makey

Department of Tautological Pleonasms and Superfluous Redundancies Department
    Disclaimer: All opinions are strictly those of the author.
    Internet: Makey@Logicon.COM    UUCP: {nosc,ucsd}!logicon.com!Makey

brian@ucsd.Edu (Brian Kantor) (07/25/90)

      SIO Pier Weather:   Tue Jul 24 21:00:00 1990

        Air Temperature:  18.2 DegC  (64.8 DegF)

        Wind:   004.9 Mi/Hr   From 179.9 Degrees

        Barometer:                  29.89 Inches

        Water Temperature:
               Surface =  22.4 DegC  (72.3 DegF)
               Bottom  =  22.3 DegC  (72.1 DegF)

        Tide Gauge:                    05.58 Ft.

        Last Wave Data Record:  Tue Jul 24 19:14
               Sig Ht:  54.8 Cm   Period:  7 Sec

Mills@udel.edu (07/25/90)

jon Postel,

If you will assign a port number, I will assign a thermocouple.

Dave

sma@smokey.rocksanne.uucp (Susie Armstrong) (07/27/90)

Here at WRC we've built a networked weather service which has been extremely
popular.  It consists of a weather station on the roof with a thermometer,
windcups, tipping bucket for rainfall, etc.  The station continuously feeds
information down a coax cable to a PC which exports the "weather service".
We have a couple of clients tools for various platforms (Xerox workstations
and Suns), which use a simple datagram-based protocol to periodically query
the PC "weather server".

Turns out there are lots of interesting things you can do with a packet worth
of snapshot data from such a weather server.  Client tools report obvious
things like current temperature, windspeed, etc and can also be smart enough
to manipulate the data to draw conclusions like how hard it is raining, wind
gusts, etc. (especially important to lunchtime runners in Rochester).

We have weather stations (and their corresponding PC servers) currently in
Webster and Tarrytown NY, Pasadena, Toronto, Dallas, and Atlanta, with El
Segundo and Cambridge, England in the process of installing one.  The project
originally started primarily because of one (JWright.wbst128@xerox.com)
person's interest in weather and remote instrumentation - it is now so popular
within Xerox that we've had to work hard with backoff algorithms and ways
of limiting the traffic.  Monitoring the traffic indicates the weather service
has at least 1000 users (most continuously polling the server).

There's a lot of weather junkies out there!

Cheers,
    Susie Armstrong
    System Sciences Lab
    Xerox Webster Research Center
    armstrong.wbst128@xerox.com