Topic: Temporary Lightning detection system Queensland

[phix]

Hello,

after an extended break I'm posting here again, this time with a query and an offer. In order to get data for my PhD i want to set up and run a 3D professional lightning detection system for the convective season 2009/2010 in Southeastern Queensland. I already got 6 antennas ready to be shipped from Europe. Currently I'm negotiating with the BOM in order to set up the sensors at their AWS, but I'm afraid things might go ill..(technical issues)

The system uses time of arrival and triangulation, detects type (cloud-cloud, cloud-ground,) intensity, polarity, time and 3D position. Standard deviation of detection, depending on the setup is 200-500m. The requirements is that the sensors are not more then 250km away from two other sensors. The antennas come with a gps antenna and a standard PC, so they need a permanent power and internet connection. The antennas can be mounted on a small tripod outside, on a roof or a terrace / balcony.

If there are some in the community willing to support my project by offering a place where the antennas can be mounted, you are most welcome to contact me

[email protected]

or

mobile/txt 0450 454 413 and I'll provide you with more detailed information. There is not much I can offer to return the favour but a little money for power and internet consumption and realtime access to the collected online data. Power consumption is about 50Watts, bandwidth consumption is up to 4KB/s.

Thank you for your kind help,

Regards

Manfred

[Lithium]

Is the internet access continual? I would be certainly willing to help from Caboolture. I only have one concern and that is peak period internet access. Could you estimate internet access requirements for a month long period.
regards
Michael Kelly

[phix]

Is the internet access continual? I would be certainly willing to help from Caboolture. I only have one concern and that is peak period internet access. Could you estimate internet access requirements for a month long period.
regards
Michael Kelly

Hi Michael,

thank you very much. Actually, the Internet access is continual. If there is no lightning, the antenna calls its *mother* every few minutes with a *ping*.  If there is lightning, the system transmits each processed strike of lightning in real time. So, lets say if the antenna detects 1000 strikes per minute (which is quite a lot of lightning in the area), there would be a transfer rate of 4 KB per second, which is considerably low. If the connection is broken, the system will wait until the connection is available again and it will try to transmit the collected data at once. The PC would just connect to a switch/router via ethernet.

Regards


Manfred

[Lithium]

Thanks for the reply, I am only concerned with total internet usage per month because we are on a monthly quota of 40 gig which we always seem to reach prior to being throttled and i did not want to chew through a significant amount. If you can give me an idea of monthly usage i can reassure the missus of the viability. Power usage is not a problem.
cheers
Michael

[phix]

Here is some sample data collected with the system in central Europe (23.7.2009)

total lightning



cloud-cloud strikes



cloud-ground strikes



total lightning + hail probability (experimental)



total lighning + cell tracks (experimental)



regards

manfred

[phix]

Thanks for the reply, I am only concerned with total internet usage per month because we are on a monthly quota of 40 gig which we always seem to reach prior to being throttled and i did not want to chew through a significant amount. If you can give me an idea of monthly usage i can reassure the missus of the viability. Power usage is not a problem.
cheers
Michael

Hi,

on a monthly base i would say, no more than 200MB per antenna !

cheers

Manfred

[Lithium]

Happy if you are. Let me know. Can mount to the house or an external shed. ALso have a large pergola. Power can be arranged to all.

[phix]

Happy if you are. Let me know. Can mount to the house or an external shed. ALso have a large pergola. Power can be arranged to all.

Thank you very much for your offer ! We'll keep in touch, first of all i have to find 5 other places, i'll keep my fingers crossed. Mounting would probably take place early november !

cheers

manfred

[Michael Bath]

I've got a great location despite it being a little south of the QLD border. Check here for more info:
http://australiasevereweather.com/video/webcam.htm

If it only uses about 200mb/month then you can set one up here if it suits.

regards, Michael

[email protected]

[phix]

I've got a great location despite it being a little south of the QLD border. Check here for more info:
http://australiasevereweather.com/video/webcam.htm

If it only uses about 200mb/month then you can set one up here if it suits.

regards, Michael

[email protected]

Thank you very much !!
McLeans Ridges is about 180km away from Caboolture, which makes a perfect southern baseline. I'll keep you informed how it goes,

kind regards

Manfred