Complete Systems

A complete lightning detection system is available for tender. A lightning detection network consists of an appropriate number of sensors as deemed necessary to satisfy the specific requirements for lightning detection efficiency and location accuracy over a given region. TOA Systems Inc. has more than 20 years of experience in designing, manufacturing, installing and supporting lightning location systems.

We want to work with you to provide you with a complete lightning detection network that you can control. A Complete System can be used in a closed network for private use. We provide you with a variety of software and technology to process raw lightning data and manage your network.

Sensors Provide Reliable Lightning Detection & Discrimination The advanced lightning sensors automatically detect and analyze the radio wave produced by each lightning stroke (cloud-to-ground and inter-/intra-cloud). The sensors record the precise time of the detection, as well as important characteristics such as rise time, fall time, amplitude, and a digitized output of the lightning waveform.

Lightning Sensor Management This program is a very valuable sensor performance analysis tool that should be used only by factory-trained technicians, under management supervision. An authorized user can access and communicate directly with any of the active sensors. It can download new software and firmware, monitor oscillator frequency, power supply levels, read the temperature in the sensor unit, as well as scores of sensitive receiver parameters.

CAP™ Provides Lightning Analysis & Location Processing The raw lightning data from the sensors is passed over communication lines to the Central Analyzer Processor (CAP™).  The CAP™ is pre-programmed to contain information related to the particular sensor sites and many other mathematical and physical coefficients. With this information, the CAP™ performs many functions but will ultimately compute a position for that lighting strike or reject the information as noise. The solution information can be accessed from CAP™ in binary or ASCII text format.

Lightning Database Functions After the CAP™ calculates the location of the stroke, it then transfers the solution data to the SQL Database subsystem known as the lightning archive. This database will archive the lightning detection network data, with online storage for over one year of storms, plus allow automatic offline archiving to CD-ROM, or other storage media. The sub-system also provides system-manager access for monitoring the system using a network-monitoring tool.

Lightning Real-Time Display System The display system software is designed to be user-friendly. The different programs provide real-time plotting of cloud-to-ground and cloud lightning on various map bases, with flexible zooming capability. Besides the graphical presentation, text format messages are also available for display or printing.

Performance Monitoring and Maintenance The lightning detection network central data processing and management system is delivered with a comprehensive set of system performance monitoring and maintenance tools. This system collects and displays real-time performance and status information on the all the network’s lightning sensors. The information provided includes such important data as the number of times each sensor reports activity, the number of times the sensor takes part in the solution, and a broad range of other network performance data. The software included can also access the database server to support historical performance analysis.