A review on basic principle of lightning location in multi-station system and the ability of single-station measurement

Abstract

This paper study the principle of lightning location systems of how the multi-station techniques can be used to locate the sources of VHF radio emissions from lightning phenomenon. The lightning sensor used to measure electromagnetic field comprise of the magnetic direction finding (MDF) systems, time of arrival (TOA) systems and interferometry systems. These detection systems can point the place of the lightning strike or as other word the detailed geometry of latitude and longitude of lightning channel can be obtain. The single-station presented in this paper clarifies the slow field changes generated by preliminary breakdown pulse (PBP) and verifies the ability in determining the starting time of the slow field changes (pre-starting time) and further allow one to differentiate between intra-cloud (IC's) activities and the preceding processes of ground flashes.