Chapter 5 ______________________________________________________ Functional Description
VAISALA _______________________________________________________________________ 73
CHAPTER 5
FUNCTIONAL DESCRIPTION
This chapter describes the functionality of the product.
Theory of Operation
Basic Principle of Operation
The operating principle of Ceilometer CL31 is based on the
measurement of the time needed for a short pulse of light to traverse
the atmosphere from the transmitter of the ceilometer to a
backscattering cloud base and back to the receiver of the ceilometer.
With the speed of light being:
c = 2.99 x 10
8
m/s (= 186 000 miles per second)
A reflection from 25000 ft will be seen by the receiver after
t = 50.9
µ
s
The general expression connecting time delay (t) and backscattering
height (h) is
h = ct/2
where c is the speed of light.