Reconfigurable Mobile VHF Lightning Mapping System

A preliminary design of a mobile receiver system for intra-cloud lightning detection, mapping, and tracking was completed and analyzed during the Phase I program. The direction-finding (DF) receiver design is small enough for use on small UAVs and utilizes the full VHF spectrum. The lightning Mapping Unmanned Sensor (LITMUS) design will be finalized, fabricated, assembled, and demonstrated during the Phase II effort. The LITMUS system comprises (a) multiple remote nodes, each equipped with the VHF receiver and communication hardware, and (b) a centralized control station hosting a graphical user interface called the Emitter Localization and Mission Planning Tool, or Empath, communication hardware, and a waveform correlation engine. Although the LITMUS system will be backward compatible with the low-bandwidth legacy lightning mapping arrays currently in existence, it will also include high-bandwith waveform data that will achieve higher signal-to-noise-power ratios and will enable the detection and tracking of lightning flashes from much larger standoff distances and with better resolution. By the completion of the Phase II effort, a deliverable prototype LITMUS system will have been demonstrated in real-time and under realistic conditions and will be capable of mapping the entire flash sequence of intra-cloud lightning from beginning to end.