Time-to-thunder method of lightning distance determination

Abstract

The lightning strike hazards may be properly managed by using a lightning detector system. In this paper, a system to determine the lightning strike distance from the measuring point was developed and tested. The time-tothunder method was used to determine the strike distance. The technique was implemented using two kinds of sensors, namely, a broadband antenna to detect the electric field, and a microphone to detect the acoustic signal produced when lightning strike to the ground. A simple procedure to find the strike distance (d) was explained. A broadband parallel plate antenna was used to detect the electric field signal. The acoustic signal was detected by a microphone. The arrival time-delay between both signals was used to calculate the strike distance. The LabVIEW 8.5 software was used as a data logger to calculate the distance and to save the data. The lightning distance data were recorded for duration from January 2010 until March 2010 using the developed system. The range of the lightning detection is up to 10 km in radius.

Lightning monitoring system for sustainable energy supply: A review

“…Some of the channels used to transmit data include coaxial cable [35,[60][61][62], fibre-optic cable [63][64][65][66] and wireless communication [67][68][69][70]. Coaxial cable has a good bandwidth, low error rate and relatively low resistance.…”

“…The arrival time difference (time delay) between the electric field and acoustic signals was calculated. Meanwhile, the noise in the captured signals was eliminated digitally by using a high pass filter (HPF) in LabVIEW [60,90].…”

Azimuth and elevation factors correction for single station lightning electromagnetic field sensor

“…One method of estimating the distance of lightning is based on the amplitude lightning signal from the sferic waveforms which assumes that all lightning is the same and its amplitude decrease with distance (Ramachandran et al, 2007). Other than that, the time-to-thunder method could also be used to determine the lightning strike distance which requires the use of a broadband VHF antenna and microphone from a single station (Ibrahim & Malek, 2010). Based on the time difference between the detected electric signals by the broadband antenna and the acoustic signals, the lightning strike could be calculated.…”

Modeling of Time of Arrival Method for Lightning Locating Systems

“…Time of arrival (TOA) technique, or time of flight, as it is sometimes referred to, is a technique used to determine the location of a lightning radiation source based on the corresponding arrival times at the measuring sensors. Variations of this technique include the time difference of arrival (TDOA) [21], time of group arrival (TOGA) [22], and other methods [23][24][25][26]. Each method is suitable to be implemented for a certain application under a specific condition.…”