Atlantic Scientific Corp.

Scientific Development Inc.

Rodney B Bent

Paul W Casper

The present invention includes both a system and a method for locating a source of a randomly modulated signals. In one form of the invention at least three receiving stations receive and process the randomly modulated signal. A common reference level is selected at each of the receiving stations. The times of arrival at each receiving station of the selected transitions of the signal with reference to the common reference level are determined. Each of the receiving stations provides an indication of the selected transitions to a center facility for processing to provide an indication of the location of the signal.

Locating system and method

The present invention includes both a system and a method for locating a source of a randomly modulated radio signal. In one form of the invention, at least three receiving stations at known locations receive and process the randomly modulated radio signal. A common reference level is selected for the radio signal at each of the receiving stations. The times of arrival at each receiving station of selected transitions of the radio signal with reference to the common reference level are determined. Each receiving station provides an indication of the times of arrival of the selected transitions to a central facility for processing to provide an indication of the location of the signal source.

A method for detecting lightning as an electrical atmospheric disturbance and for providing an indication of the geographic position of that disturbance includes the stationing of at least three receivers at known geographic locations in spaced relationship to each other. Signals are encoded at each of the receivers representative of the time of arrival of an electrical indication of an emission from the lightning strike, in relation to a common timing source. All of the encoded signals are transmitted to a central facility and thereafter processed for deriving the position of the lightning strike irrespective of whether the position of the lightning occurred within or outside the perimeter bounded by the three receivers. The system is synchronized with the U.S. Coast Guard LORAN navigation network, and includes various features which permit a more accurate analysis of lightning position.

Lightning position and tracking method

A lightning ground stroke location system employs a time-of-arrival discrimination scheme which uses, as its time synchronization base, the U.S. Coast Guard LORAN-C navigation network. The system comprises a plurality (at least three and preferably four) of geographically separated lightning stroke monitoring stations. Each station contains a lightning stroke detector and a timing signal generator that is synchronized with the timing signal generator at each other respective detection location. The timing signal generation equipment at each receiver is comprised of a LORAN-C signalling responsive receiver which monitors the same encoded signal group emitted from a common LORAN-C reverence source. Each of the ground stroke detection stations is further connected via a respective communication link to a central processing facility. When a ground stroke occurs, the electromagnetic pulse emitted is detected by each listening station, which records the time of detection of the ground stroke by sampling an internal synchronized clock at that particular station so as to record the time that the stroke was detected relative to the standard timing cycle is emitted by the reference Coast Guard station source. This time data is then transmitted to the central processing station, which after compensating for relative LORAN time signal propagation delay calculates the stroke location.

Growing community of inventors

Indialantic, FL, United States of America

Rodney B Bent