A Hail Size Distribution Impact Transducer

TL;DR

This paper presents a novel impact transducer designed to differentiate hail from rain using frequency analysis, enabling more robust hail detection near Space Shuttle launch pads.

Contribution

It introduces a new impact transducer that utilizes frequency analysis to distinguish hail impacts from rain, improving robustness over amplitude-based methods.

Findings

Frequency analysis effectively discriminates hail from rain impacts.

The transducer successfully detects hail in controlled tests.

Signal processing enhances robustness of hail monitoring.

Abstract

An active impact transducer has been designed and tested for the purpose of monitoring hail fall in the vicinity of the Space Shuttle launch pads. An important outcome of this design is the opportunity to utilize frequency analysis to discriminate between the audio signal generated from raindrop impacts and that of hailstone impacts. The sound of hail impacting a metal plate is sub-tly but distinctly different than the sound of rain impacts. This useful characteristic permits application of signal processing algorithms that are inherently more robust than techniques relying on amplitude processing alone in the implementation of a hail disdrometer.