Consistent arrival time measurement and determination of discharge polarity

A lightning detection sensor comprising:

• an antenna configured to receive a radio wave emitted by a lightning discharge;
• an analog-to-digital converter (ADC) operatively coupled to the antenna, the antenna and the ADC together configured to generate a waveform signal that represents the radio wave, the waveform signal including a plurality of peaks;
• a processor device operatively coupled to the ADC;
• and
• a computer storage medium operatively coupled to the processor device, the computer storage medium having computer-readable instructions stored thereon that are executable by the processor device to perform or control performance of operations comprising:
• determining a plurality of peak magnitudes for the plurality of peaks, including determining a corresponding peak magnitude for each of the plurality of peaks;
• determining at least two arrival times for at least two of the plurality of peaks, including determining a corresponding arrival time for each of the at least two of the plurality of peaks;
• and
• determining an average arrival time of the radio wave at the lightning detection sensor based on at least two of the plurality of peak magnitudes and based on the at least two of the plurality of arrival times.

A method, comprising:

• a processor receiving, from a lightning detection sensor, waveform features extracted from a waveform signal that represents a radio wave emitted by a lightning discharge, the waveform signal including a plurality of peaks, the waveform features including at least a first peak magnitude and a first arrival time of a first peak of the waveform signal;
• the processor determining a polarity of the first peak;
• the processor determining an estimated propagation distance of the radio wave from the lightning discharge to the lightning detection sensor;
• the processor determining a propagation path profile of the radio wave from the lightning discharge to the lightning detection sensor;
• the processor determining whether the first peak represents a ground wave from the lightning discharge or an nth ionospheric reflection of the ground wave based on the estimated propagation distance, the propagation path profile, and at least some of the waveform features, wherein n comprises a positive integer;
• and
• the processor determining a sensor-specific polarity of the lightning discharge for the lightning detection sensor based on the determined polarity of the first peak and the determination of whether the first peak represents the ground wave or the nth ionospheric reflection.