Frequently asked questions

1. What a sonic anti-hail cannon is?

A sonic anti-hail cannon is a system which primary use is to prevent the formation of the ice crystals inside a hail cloud, thus reducing the risk of hail falling over the area it protects. As its name indicates, it generates a shockwave, by the means of an explosion, which is directed to the clouds that might produce hail.

2. What are the use cases for a sonic anti-hail cannon?

A. Main usage: It prevents hail formation in the clouds from the above the area it protects, thus avoiding the potential damages yielded by the fallen hail upon the crops, parking lots, greenhouses, solar farms, etc
B. Some farmers, are using it as an anti-frosting solution during some periods of the years. For e.g., during the springtime, when the plants have just sprouted or blossomed, there is a risk in some areas that colder air layer to descend over the crops. The cannon can be used to mix the layers of air having different temperatures.
C. The cannon can be used to make the wild animals flee from the property. The same goes for the flocks of birds that are compromising the crops during the harvest time.
D. It can be used to protect an area on which there is a event scheduled to take place, on the seaside, etc and there is a risk to be compromised by hail.

3. How can a user control a Sonovortex anti-hail cannon?

The user can start/ stop the cannon by pushing a button on the control unit or by sending SMS commands to the phone number associated to the SIM card inserted in the cannon's control module.

4. How big is the area the Sonovortex anti-hail cannon protects?

The current model protects a circular area having a radius a bit over 500 meters. It's about 80 hectares, aproximatively, in a circular layout.

5. How can we protect an area larger than 80 ha by using this technology?

In order to protect a larger area more than one cannon should be used. They should be placed in a such way that any portion of the area one tries to proctet to be in the range of, at least, one cannon. On the diagram/ map of the terain one should place symbolic circles, each having a radius of 500 m, represented at scale, in a such way that any portion of it should be covered by, at least, one circle. This way, one can check the optimal layout and the minimum number of required cannons, according to the specific shape of the land and its landforms. (One should pay attention to not block the shockwave propagation by the landforms.)

6. Is there any chance that a Sonovortex cannon could be hacked and someone else could take over it remotely?

No, in theory! Avoiding a such vulnerability was taken into account since the designing phase. Even if an attacker knows the phone number associated with the SIM card inserted into the control unit or the commands format, this is not enough to take over the system. The remote control is performed by using SMS commands, but they are implemented by taking some security measures that are preventing the take over by a malicious attacker. Likewise, the access to the physical control panel is restricted by placing it inside the container. The access inside the container is the responsability of the beneficiary. The access inside it is restricted by a locked door, access on the premises, etc

7. What's the difference between a sonic anti-hail cannon and the anti-hail missiles?

Indeed, there is a confusion induced in the mass-media and between people, regarding the two methods. There are some articles, like this one, that are producing confusion, by mixing the two concepts. In this case they are confusing the missles launchers with the cannons.
The anti-hail missiles are launched toward the clouds, where they dissipate an active substance (usually, Ag I), which plays the role of condensing nuclei which prevent the hail's formation. Then, the missile is self-destructing itself. These are requiring special permits (they should not interfere with flying vehicles, etc). Usually, they are launched by a governmental authority or agency.
On the other hand, a sonic anti-hail cannon, like the one produced by our company, doesn't launch any missle or projectile, but it generates a shockwave in an explosion chamber, which is then redirected toward the sky in order to disturb the flow of the electrical charges inside the hail clouds, thus preventing its formation.
The missiles are used to cover a much larger area of tens-hundreds or even, maybe, thousands of square kilometers. A sonic anti-hail cannon has a limited range of 80 ha. Thus, the potentional complaints of some farmers that the missles are preventing the rain, also, can not be applied to the sonic cannons, because their range is considerable smaller.

8. Does a sonic anti-hail cannon pollute? Is it eco-friendly?

The Sonovortex sonic anti-hail cannons are not using projectiles, nor do they dissipate any chemical substance in the atmosphere. They only generate a shockwave by burning a stoechiometric mix of hydrogen and oxygen. Thus, the only result are water vapours. The hydrogen and the oxygen stored in the gas tanks are produced by an industrial process called fractional distillation of atmospheric air.
Other cannon manufacturers might use other gaseous mixes, like butane or acetylene. Their burning might produce, non-green waste, indeed. But that's not the case of our products.

9. Why one would choose a sonic anti-hail cannon over other protection methods?

Each protection method has its own avantages and disavantages:
- The anti-hail missiles can do the job, but their launching depends on governmental agencies or authorities. It also depends on facts like if the program is implemented in your geographical area, on the allocated budgets for the operations, if there are complaints from other citizens regarding potential side-effects that might freeze the program for certains periods of time. The potential beneficiaries have no control over its operations.
- The anti-hail nets might be a solution in some situations: if the area we intend to protect is very small and the acquisitions cost of an anti-hail cannon are greater than buying these nets, if there is no anti-hail missile program in that area, etc. If the area is bigger the costs with the nets might increase considerably, also. Most of these nets don't hold to hail falling in great quantities and with great iceballs. There were situations when these nets broke due to great quantities of ice they had to hold to.

10. What's the success rate in preventing the hail by using a sonic anti-hail canon?

If the cannon is operated according to the specifications provided by the manufacturer (operating intervals, starting the cannon at least 30 mins before the hail, etc) the success rate is around 90%. The same values goes for anti-hail missiles usage. There are no magical solutions that work 100% everytime. Depending on the budget, the beneficiary can choose to use one or more prevention methods, in order to minimize the risks.