The Norwegian Air Ambulance Foundation is the largest ideal membership organization with nearly 700,000 members. The goal is to save lives by strengthening air ambulance service throughout Norway. This is done through thorough research, development and cooperation with other emergency services. One of the main challenges are the weather patterns in secluded areas. In the past air ambulance crews had no other meteorological data or information than given by the Norwegian meteorological service. Often, they had to turn back when the weather suddenly changed or had to fly around mountains, losing precious, lifesaving time.
“I wished we could have more accurate and real-time information about the weather conditions along our route”, thought one of the pilots. This bright guy came up with the idea of weather stations which should be installed in “the middle of nowhere”.
A climate-controlled small weather station (locker) was developed, with two to three high-end cameras, computers, various measurement tools / sensors and electronics. All data could now be sent over the mobile network via a robust mobile broadband router from Advantech/B+B SmartWorx. Since the weather stations are spread around in the mountains and rural areas of Norway with demanding coverage situations, there was need for robust and reliable antennas that withstand the rough climate. Thus, no surprise that antennas from Poynting Antennas were recommended and chosen.