Single station system and method of locating lightning strikes

An embodiment of the present invention uses a single detection system to approximate a location of lightning strikes. This system is triggered by a broadband RF detector and measures a time until the arrival of a leading edge of the thunder acoustic pulse. This time difference is used to determine a...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors MEDELIUS PEDRO J, STARR STANLEY O
Format Patent
LanguageEnglish
Published 22.04.2003
Edition7
Subjects
ANALOGOUS ARRANGEMENTS USING OTHER WAVES
DETERMINING DISTANCE OR VELOCITY BY USE OF RADIO WAVES
LOCATING OR PRESENCE-DETECTING BY USE OF THE REFLECTION ORRERADIATION OF RADIO WAVES
MEASURING
METEOROLOGY
PHYSICS
RADIO DIRECTION-FINDING
RADIO NAVIGATION
TESTING
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Summary:An embodiment of the present invention uses a single detection system to approximate a location of lightning strikes. This system is triggered by a broadband RF detector and measures a time until the arrival of a leading edge of the thunder acoustic pulse. This time difference is used to determine a slant range R from the detector to the closest approach of the lightning. The azimuth and elevation are determined by an array of acoustic sensors. The leading edge of the thunder waveform is cross-correlated between the various acoustic sensors in the array to determine the difference in time of arrival, DELTAT. A set of DELTAT's is used to determine the direction of arrival, AZ and EL. The three estimated variables (R, AZ, EL) are used to locate a probable point of the lightning strike.
Bibliography:Application Number: US20010906014