UNIDEF   23986
UNIDAD DE INVESTIGACION Y DESARROLLO ESTRATEGICO PARA LA DEFENSA
Unidad Ejecutora - UE
congresos y reuniones científicas
Título:
AKUNU: OPEN LIGHTNING DETECTION AND ATMOSPHERIC DATA COLLECTION SYSTEM
Autor/es:
NICORA, MG; M. RUBINSTEIN
Reunión:
Conferencia; CEAA 18 International Conference on ELECTROMAGNETICS IN ADVANCED APPLICATIONS; 2018
Resumen:
Modern atmospheric data collection systems, including multiple-station lightning detection and location systems are currently in use in every continent. These systems provide data for research, engineering, warning, insurance, forensics and other applications (e.g., [1]). It is often very difficult for research institutions (especially in developing countries) with limited resources to carry the financial burden associated with the acquisition and operation of commercially available systems. For that reason, and due to the invaluable importance afforded by the type of data they provide, it is of interest to develop more inexpensive atmospheric and lightning detection networks, even if their performance is somewhat reduced compared to their currently available commercial counterparts. In this paper, an ongoing project to develop such a system is described. The name of the project as well as of the system being developed is AKUNU, which is the word for ?lightning? in Singhalese, the native language of one of the authors and initiators of the project. The development of the AKUNU system is guided by the following criteria: 1) very low production and maintenance cost, 2) low power consumption, reliability, 3) self-healing capability, 4) modularity, and 5) evolution-readiness with respect to data transport, measured atmospheric parameters, and response time. The system is being developed to use off-the-shelf components whenever these satisfy cost and performance constraints, and also, when required, bespoke components, sensors and techniques that include lowfrequency and wideband electric field sensors and the use of Electromagnetic Time Reversal for location of electromagnetic sources [2]. The use of the Time Reversal method is being considered since it can improve the accuracy of the lightning location for research purposes. However, since its real-time utilization is costly in terms of computer resources, processing time and specialized hardware [3], the AKUNU system will apply it only in post-processing. 1