Co-sponsored by: STARaCom Research Network

Lightning is one of the primary causes of damage and malfunction of telecommunication and power networks and one of the leading causes of weather-related deaths and injuries.
Lightning is composed of numerous physical processes, of which only a few are visible to the naked eye.
This lecture presents various aspects of the lightning phenomenon, its main processes and the technologies that have been developed to assess the parameters that are important for engineering and scientific applications. These parameters include the channel-base current and its associated
electromagnetic fields.
The measurement techniques for these parameters are intrinsically difficult due to the randomness of the phenomenon and to the harsh electromagnetic environment created by the lightning itself. Besides the measurement of the lightning parameters, warning and insurance applications require the real-time detection and location of the lightning strike point. The main classical and emerging lightning detection and location techniques, including those used in currently available commercial lightning location systems will be described in the lecture. The newly proposed Electromagnetic Time Reversal technique, which has the potential to revolutionize lightning location will also be presented.

Speaker(s): Marcos Rubenstein,

Location:
Room: 603
Bldg: McConnell Engineering Building
McGill University
3480 University Street
Montreal, Quebec
H3A0E9