SIAP HISTORY

SIAP was founded in 1925. Initial activity involved the construction of instruments for meteorological and hydrometric measurement and in a short time SIAP became the exclusive supplier of flight assistance equipment to the Italian Air Force. Thus its name came to be associated with the historical events in which the Air Force took a leading role, such as the Nobile expedition (1928) on the North Pole and Balbo's non-stop flight (1933) across the Atlantic Ocean.

As its position as leader in the meteorology sector in Italy was reinforced, in additional to classical instruments such as anemometers and anemographs, hygrothermographs and barometers, psychrometers, pluviographs, sunshine recorders, hydrometrographs, etc.,by 1938 SIAP could also number meteorolographs for aeroplanes of the "Bosch-Linderberg" type among its catalogues, all used by the Air Force Meteorological Service.

It was one of the first companies in the world to be equipped with its own wind tunnel, as well as baric, thermometric and hydrometeric chambers to test and calibrate its products. The experience accumulated in this type of instrumentation led to the development by SIAP of the first Italian radiosonde, one of the first in the world, in co-operation with DUCATI of Bologna. During this period the auto generator propeller anemograph was developed. It was the founder of a whole generation of analogous instruments imitated and constructed throughout the world.
During the Sixties, the first electronic instruments were added to the series of classical instruments: in 1965 the first radiohydrometrograph was produced to measure and trasmit by radio level of watercourses; in 1967 an automatic meteorological station was supplied to the Italian Air Force; in 1971 SIAP supplied the Ministry of Public Works a first experimental system, controlled by microprocessor, for flood forecasting by means of rain measurement and use of mathematical model of hydrological basins. In 1969 the company patented and produced the first ceilometer, in 1973 the first RVR system. Both were installed in the most part of the Italian airports, and are still working with very good reliability characteristics. In 1982 the production of 9 automatic meteorological stations (Data Collection Platform), linked to the satellite METEOSAT, allowed the company to maintain its key position in technological development.
In 1987, SIAP acquired a very important order for the supply and installation of advanced automatic meteorological systems for 25 main Italian airports, from Italian Civil Aviation Agency for Air Traffic Control and Aeronautical Services. During the Nineties SIAP has achieved an important experience in the field of environmental informatics, with the development of a new generation of meteorological central units based on Personal computer IBM compatible: - CM 4000, based on IBM OS/2 Operating System; - CMX 5000, based on SCO/UNIX Operating System. The characteristcs of power, flexibility and "user-friendliness" of its central units and automatic weather stations allowed SIAP to acquire numerous contracts all over the world. In 1989÷1992, were supplied to the People's Republic of China, and installed in the Yellow river basin, 85 Automatic Hydrometerological Stations, 25 of which connected to the meteorological satellite GMS, and in the Fu-Chun river basin 25 Automatic Weather Stations managed by 4 CM 4000 Central Units, integrated with a flood forecast expert system.

The high technological level achieved by SIAP in the field of development of environmental monitoring complex systems was confirmed in 1990 by the acquisition, in International Tender, of a contract for the turn-key supply of 50 Data Collection Platforms to the Italian Meteorological Service. The stations are connected to the European DCP network by means of Meteosat satellite. 73 simplified stations of the same kind (operating with solar panel) were Cooperation Program and installed in the main Sahel Countries (Niger, Mauritania etc.). The SM3830 meteorological station, developed by SIAP for this program, represents a reference standard for its characteristics of software speed and flexibility, reliability and low consumption.

Recently, the SM3840 meteorological station has been developed, which subsequently improves the performance of the previous one and provides for a complete compatibility with the main standard instruments in the market, i.e.: analogical sensors (PT100, voltages, 4-20mA output, etc.), memory modules and interfaces (BUS PC104, PCMCIA).

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