SkyVue 8

The SkyVue™8 LIDAR Ceilometer is ideal for measuring cloud base heights and vertical visibility at airports, helipads (onshore or offshore), and other meteorological applications. The SkyVue 8 measures the atmosphere with high stability and repeatibility, providing you with information on cloud base heights, sky condition (up to five layers), vertical visibility, and raw backscatter profiles. Notably, the ceilometer meets or exceeds all the necessary International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), and World Meteorological Organization (WMO) requirements and recommendations.

Because of its robust construction, the SkyVue 8 only requires minimal maintenance and can be continuously used in either static or mobile applications in harsh environments. Its compact design and low weight of 18 kg make it easy to transport and deploy.

With an operational reporting range of 8 km, the SkyVue 8 has one of the highest in its class. It is easy to use yet features advanced signal processing and unique optics to provide superior resolution and performance.

The SkyVue 8 has many standard features—from a tilting base and two-axis inclinometer for automatic correction of cloud base heights to heaters, blowers, and a sun filter for operation under all conditions—making deployments possible around the world.

Unique standard features include an easy-to-operate stratocumulus calibration, long-life back-up battery, and twin clocks to augment its many continuous diagnostic self-checks and provide assurance of continuous, reliable, and accurate performance.

Learn more about our CampbellAero™ Automated Weather Observing System (AWOS) Solution and our CampbellAero Software.

The SkyVue 8 LIDAR ceilometer measures cloud base heights and vertical visibility for meteorological and aviation applications. Using LIDAR (LIght Detection And Ranging) technology, the ceilometer transmits fast, low-power laser pulses (not harmful to eyes) into the atmosphere and detects backscattered returns from clouds and aerosols above the instrument. 

A unique, efficient, single-lens design increases optical signal-to-noise ratio and allows for larger optics in a compact package, improving accuracy and measurement performance.

This approach, along with state-of-the-art electronics, provides a powerful and stable platform from which to measure cloud base heights and vertical visibility to high accuracy. The SkyVue 8 measures the atmosphere with high stability and repeatability, delivering excellent performance in even the harshest of conditions.

The SkyVue 8 provides information on cloud base heights, sky condition (up to five layers), vertical visibility, and raw backscatter profiles to a range of 8 km.

The unique stratocumulus calibration capability, which allows users to calibrate measurements of scatter coefficients, uses a simple and user-friendly field method, giving complete confidence in the scatter profiles reported and removes the requirement to have the unit sent back for calibration. 

Reliable range measurement is further assured by cross-checking two separate internal quartz clocks, eliminating the possibility of unidentified errors due to clock drift.

The SkyVue 8 can be tilted at various angles up to 24 degrees. Tilting the SkyVue 8 by even a few degrees can be important, as it allows the ceilometer to resist high levels of reflection from large raindrops and frozen particles that can impair vertical-type sensors. The tilt also improves rain run-off on the ceilometer window, resulting in a much higher performance compared with vertical ceilometers.

Tilting to 24 degrees also means that it can be operated anywhere in the world without the sun shining into the lens and resulting in missing data. An internal two-axis inclinometer provides automatic correction of cloud base heights at all angles, ensuring ease of installation and confidence that cloud base heights are automatically corrected throughout the lifetime of the installation.

The SkyVue 8 complies with ICAO, CAA, and WMO guidance and meets or exceeds all recommendations and specifications. (This includes ICAO 9837, ICAO Annex 3, CAP 437, and CAP 746.)