Lightning Protection Design for Radar Antennae: Musings from a Case Study

The digital advancements in terms of advanced electronic and electrical appliances call for enhanced safety practices and precautionary measures. Regardless of the availability of protection devices against voltage surges and fluctuations, the possibility of natural implications such as lightning and electrostatic discharge can never be ruled out. The conventional solutions implemented for lightning protection are deemed adequate for routine household appliances but require enhanced measures in case of bigger structures such as windmills and radar antennae. In this work, we gauge the legacy lightning arrester for radar antenna against the international lightning standard IEC 62305. Additionally, we propose the blueprint of a meshed lightning arrester for protection against lightning in line with IEC 62305 guidelines. We validate our proposal with the help of mathematical analysis and present our recommendations for serving as guideline in designing an appropriate meshed lightning arrester.