An Improved TDOA Lightning Location Approach Considering L-M Algorithm and Acoustics

Abstract

In the conventional lightning location system (LLS) based on time difference of arrival (TDOA), the nonlinear equations in lightning location calculation easily get to be divergent when the time information acquired from electromagnetic sensors is redundant. The LLS setup in lightning-sensitive regions in China usually experiences a development from detecting the thunderclap signal to the electromagnetic signal, such as the LLSs in oil tank farms. Therefore, an improved TDOA lightning location approach was proposed considering the acoustic and electromagnetic information emitted from lightning discharges. The targeted lightning monitoring region was divided into 16 sub-regions according to the location of the existing detection stations. The lightning location was calculated based on the Levenberg-Marquardt (L-M) iterative algorithm, which improves the lightning location accuracy and the resistance ability to measuring errors. The results show that the average error of the traditional lightning location method is 203.2 m. In contrast, the proposed approach can reduce the lightning location error to 108.4 m by considering the acoustic information and L-M iteration algorithm. The location accuracy at the edge of the targeted area is improved by 51.2%. This research can be potentially counseled in the improvement of existing LLSs and making an effective use of acoustic information.

Keywords

• lightning location
• time difference of arrival (tdoa)
• levenberg-marquardt (l-m) algorithm
• acoustic signal