Cirrus Research (UK) have raised the bar on environmental noise measurement with the latest version of their CR:245 portable outdoor monitor. Before the first generation of the Cirrus outdoor monitors
became available, users were reduced to either putting a hand-held sound level meter into their own waterproof case or faced with seriously huge costs for complex and often unusable equipment.
The original CR:245 was the first selfcontained unit that was easy to connect together on site and would operate for extended periods in any weather. The concept has now been brought up-todate, refined and extended.
The new CR:245 has an optional cell phone unit built in using GSM (or the Global System for Mobiles). Using a new high-gain antenna this now has more than three times the range of previous units and can operate just as fast on the cell phone as competing units do on fixed lines. This feature means that around 99 percent of the UK and 90% of Europe is within the coverage of the CR:245, thus environmental noise can be measured virtually anywhere with no installation costs at all. In use, the CR:245 is simply placed in the chosen measurement location and the outdoor microphone is taken out of its tube and connected to the base unit; when it will operate for a normal working week in almost any
weather. All this time, it will have not only the noise time history available but it will also compute internally all the noise metrics the user desires - all under full user control. For example the user might like L10, Leq and L95 every hour and these will be computed and stored internally and at the same time sent via the cell phone to anywhere in the world the data is needed. Of course none of the original direct access links have been removed and the CR:245 will still operate on fixed landlines, or a direct computer connection - it is almost totally flexible in its data collection methods.
All the user needs is the latest Cirrus "Noise`Hub" software that allows data to be copied to - and stored on - a local PC. Noise Hub includes automatic task scheduling as well as full network operation where needed, making it especially useful for large organisations
that have a main environmental database, as well as for a single standalone unit for remote monitoring.
hile the "standard" setup for the CR:245 can give three different noise
groups each with up to about 25 different metrics, specialised setup are
available to automatically recognise noise events, such as aircraft or racing vehicles as well as common industrial noise sources, making the CR:245 among the most versatile units available. The electronics of the CR:245 have full EU Pattern Approval, guaranteeing that measurements are within the permitted tolerances.
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