Sub-Saharan Africa contains the highest number of people affected by droughts.\nAlthough this can easily be mitigated through the provision of timely, reliable and relevant\nweather forecasts, the sparse network of weather stations in most of these countries makes this\ndifficult. Rapid development in wireless sensor networks has resulted in weatherboards capable\nof capturing weather parameters at the micro-level. Although these weatherboards offer a\nviable solution to Africa�s drought, the acceptability of such data by meteorologists is only\npossible if these sensors are calibrated and their field readiness scientifically evaluated. This\nis the contribution of this paper; we present results of a calibration exercise that was carried\nout to: (1) measure and correct lag, random and systematic errors; (2) determine if Perspex\nwas an ideal material for building sensor boards� enclosures; and (3) identify sensor boards�\nbattery charging and depletion rates. The result is a calibration report detailing actual error\nand uncertainty values for atmospheric pressure, humidity and temperature sensors, as well\nas the recharge and discharge curves of the batteries. The results further ruled out the use of\nPerspex for enclosing the sensor boards. These experiments pave the way for the design and\nimplementation of a sensor-based weather monitoring system (SenseWeather) that was piloted\nin two regions in Kenya.
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