ITB Develops Storm Detector with Accuracy up to 85%

January 16, 2019 - ( update : 21-01-2019 )

By Adi Permana

Editor Adi Permana

*Dr. Armi Susandi explaining his research to attendees of Festival Janadriyah in Saudi Arabia. (Photo: Doc. Dr. Armi)

BANDUNG, itb.ac.id – Institut Teknologi Bandung was given the opportunity to participate in the 33rd Janadriyah Festival in Saudi Arabia. In the festival, an ITB lecturer, Dr. Armi Susandi displayed an application named Hidrometeorological Hazard Early Warning System (H-HEWS) that can detect storms in Saudi Arabia.

Storms often hit Saudi Arabia lately and have caused considerable material losses and casualties. The system will give prediction on sandstorm, heat waves, heavy rain and other extreme weather conditions with accuracy up to 85 percent. That prediction capability makes the application interesting for attendees and Saudi government. “The system can predict the next three days every three hours,” Armi said.

The application is created by Armi and team. Currently, it operates only on website, but further improvement will see it operates on android and iOS. Through the application, ITB opens opportunity for cooperation with Saudi Arabia in the implementation of the application.

The application is in the process of applying its patent rights. During the exhibition, only the prototype was displayed, but Armi said that it is 80% functional and tested.

*The interface of Hidrometeorological Hazard Early Warning System (H-HEWS) by ITB. (Photo: Doc. Humas ITB)

“The system is designed to overlay with other data, such as population, hospitals, rivers, houses, roads, etc. This is a product by ITB and we make it only within 2 weeks before the festival.” Armi said.

The system’s main feature is temperature, rainfall, wind direction and speed, humidity, and air pressure, as well as warning notice for disaster potential such as sandstorms, strong winds, heat waves, and heavy rains. The plus point, the system used Arabic which make it easier for Arab people to use it.

“We make it special (in Arabic) in accordance with ITB as entrepreneurial university by distributing our technology to society,” he said.

The application predicts storms using satellite, and will be combined with other on-field data after a cooperation is tied. According to him, the application has high accuracy because Saudi Arabia does not have many mounts and valleys.

“Prediction on desert areas is easier that on archipelago. The device can be developed until per kilometer accuracy. But that will require bigger server. It depends on the request from Saudi Arabia,” he said.