On the estimation of the charge of positive streamers propagating in air

Streamer discharges are an important breakdown mechanism in air-based electrical insulation systems. This paper introduces a method to estimate the spatial distribution of the charge density of positive streamers in air, based on the solution of a Poisson inverse problem by optimization. In contrast to other methods, it does not require tuning parameters and can also be used in configurations including dielectric interfaces or preexisting space charge. Three different experimental datasets reported in the literature are used to validate the method. Good agreement between the measurements and the predictions of the method is found.