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For local rain measurement in Lübeck, 50 newly developed, compact precipitation sensors are used, which are distributed over the entire city area to cover as large a region as possible. The precipitation sensors from the company NIVUS require very little electricity, which they generate themselves with a small solar cell. They work with an infrared light sensor and provide real-time rain measurement. The sensor is integrated into a small plexiglass dome and determines the amount of rain using an emitted IR light pulse via the change in refractive index when it rains. When it rains, the measuring devices send the collected data via the LoRaWAN network of the Lübeck public utility company (which is also used for the water meters, for example) to send the precipitation measurements to a central database. Most of the sensors are installed on street lamps, but some are also installed near existing precipitation sensors, for example at the DWD site in Blankensee (pictured here).

The measurements of the rain sensors will be publicly available via the internet portal of the “Smart City Region Lübeck” (geoportal.smart-hl.city).