Evaluation of the performance characteristics of CGLSS II and U.S. NLDN using ground-truth data from Launch Complex 39B, Kennedy Space Center, Florida

Author

Mata, C.T. ; Mata, A.G. ; Nag, A. ; Rakov, V.A. ; Saul, J.

Author_Institution

ESC, Kennedy Space Center, FL, USA

fYear

2012

fDate

2-7 Sept. 2012

Firstpage

1

Lastpage

10

Abstract

A new comprehensive lightning instrumentation system has been designed for Launch Complex 39B (LC39B) at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC), Florida. This new instrumentation system includes seven synchronized high-speed video cameras, current sensors installed on the nine downconductors of the new LC39B lightning protection system (LPS); four dH/dt, 3-axis measurement stations; and five dE/dt stations composed of two sensors each. The LPS received 8 direct lightning strikes (a total of 19 strokes) from March 31 through December 31 2011. The measured peak currents and locations are compared to those reported by the Cloud-to-Ground Lightning Surveillance System (CGLSS II) and the National Lightning Detection Network (NLDN). Results of comparison are presented and analyzed in this paper.

Keywords

electric current measurement; electric sensing devices; lightning protection; video cameras; 3-axis measurement stations; CGLSS II; Florida; KSC; Kennedy space center; LC39B lightning protection system; US NLDN; cloud-to-ground lightning surveillance system; current sensors; direct lightning strikes; downconductors; ground-truth data; lightning instrumentation system; national lightning detection network; peak current measurement; performance characteristics; sensors; synchronized high-speed video cameras; Instruments; CGLSS; ICLRT; KSC; Lightning protection; NASA; NLDN; lightning instrumentation;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Lightning Protection (ICLP), 2012 International Conference on

Conference_Location

Vienna

Print_ISBN

978-1-4673-1898-3

Electronic_ISBN

978-1-4673-1896-9

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/ICLP.2012.6344322

Filename

6344322