Abstract. The usage of data from commercial microwave
link (CML) networks for scientific purposes is becoming
increasingly popular, in particular for rain rate estimation.
However, data acquisition and availability is still a crucial
problem and limits research possibilities. To overcome this
issue, we have developed an open-source data acquisition
system based on the Simple Network Management Protocol
(SNMP). It is able to record transmitted and received signal
levels of a large number of CMLs simultaneously with
a temporal resolution of up to 1 s. We operate this system
at Ericsson Germany, acquiring data from 450 CMLs with
minutely real-time transfer to our database. Our data acquisition
system is not limited to a particular CML hardware
model or manufacturer, though. We demonstrate this by running
the same system for CMLs of a different manufacturer,
operated by an alpine ski resort in Germany. There, the data
acquisition is running simultaneously for four CMLs with a
temporal resolution of 1 s. We present an overview of our
system, describe the details of the necessary SNMP requests
and show results from its operational application.