System and method for synchronizing lightning detectors

A synchronization system for a lightning detection system comprising:

• first and second lightning detecting means, each for detecting the occurrence of a plurality of lightning events, each detecting means having an associated clock for identifying the time of occurrence of each lightning event;
• means responsive to each of said detecting means for correlating lightning events detected by said first and second detecting means by comparing the time intervals between lightning events detected by said first detecting means with the time intervals between lightning events detected by said second detecting means;
• and
• means responsive to said correlating means for calculating a correction factor used to synchronize said first and second detecting means.

A lightning detection system comprising:

• first and second lightning detecting means, each for detecting the occurrence of a common lightning event, each detecting means having an associated clock for identifying the time of occurrence of said lightning event;
• means responsive to each of said detecting means for synchronizing the times of occurrence measured by the clocks associated with said first and second detecting means including:
• means for subtracting the time of occurrence identified by the clock of the second detecting means for a lightning event from the time of occurrence identified by the clock of the first detecting means for the same lightning event to provide a time difference;
• and
• means for adding the time difference to each time of occurrence of a lightning event detected by the second detecting means to synchronize the first detecting means to the second detecting means.

A lightning detecting system utilizing detected lightning as a reference comprising:

• a plurality of lightning detecting means, each for detecting the occurrence of a predetermined lightning event, each detecting means having an associated clock for identifying the time of occurrence of a detected lightning event and means for providing data representing said time of occurrence;
• means responsive to data from each of said lightning detecting means for determining the location of a lightning event detected by at least two of said detecting means, said location determining means including a clock for identifying the time of arrival of data at the location determining means from each of said lightning detecting means;
• means responsive to the times of occurrence of at least one lightning event detected by two of said detecting means, for synchronizing the clocks of said two detecting means;
• and
• means responsive to the time of arrival of data from one of said two detecting means and to the time of occurrence of one or more lightning events detected by said one detecting means for synchronizing the clocks of said two detecting means with the clock of said location determining means.

A system utilizing detected lightning as a reference for synchronizing two remote clocks comprising:

• first lightning detecting means for detecting the occurrence of a predetermined lightning event, said detecting means identifying the time of occurrence of said lightning event according to a first clock;
• second lightning detecting means for detecting the occurrence of lightning event, said detecting means identifying the time of occurrence of said lightning event according to a second clock;
• and
• means responsive to the times of occurrence of at least one lightning event detected by the first and second detecting means for synchronizing said first and second clocks.

A method of synchronizing first and second lightning detecting means each for detecting the occurrence of a predetermined lightning event and each detecting means including a clock for identifying the time of occurrence of a detected lightning event comprising:

• calculating the time difference between each pair of lightning events detected by said first detecting means;
• calculating the time difference between each pair of lightning events detected by said second detecting means;
• correlating lightning events detected by said first detecting means with the lightning events detected by the second detecting means to determine corresponding lightning events detected by said first and second detecting means based upon the calculated time difference between lightning events detected by said first and second detecting means;
• and
• calculating the difference between the time of occurrence of a lightning event detected by the first detecting means and the time of occurrence of the corresponding lightning event detected by the second detecting means to provide a correction factor, said correction factor being used for synchronizing said first and second detecting means.

A method of synchronizing a plurality of lightning detecting means each for detecting the occurrence of a predetermined lightning event and a lightning location determining means in communication with and responsive to each of said detecting means for determining the location of a lightning event detected by at least two detecting means, each of said detecting means and said location determining means including a clock, the clocks of the detecting means identifying the time of occurrence of lightning events detected by said detecting means and the clock of the location determining means identifying the time of arrival of data representing a lightning event at the location determining means for each of said detecting means comprising:

• correlating lightning events detected by a first one of said detecting means with lightning events detected by a second one of said detecting means by comparing the time interval between two lightning events detected by the first detecting means with the time interval between two lightning events detected by the second detecting means to thereby identify corresponding lightning events detected by said first and second detecting means when said time intervals between said lightning events are substantially equal;
• calculating a first time correction factor to be applied to one of said detectors to synchronize the detectors, said first time correction factor being determined by the difference between the time of occurrence of a lightning event detected by the first detecting means and the time of occurrence of the corresponding lightning event detected by the second detecting means;
• and
• calculating a second time correction factor to be applied to said detectors to synchronize the detectors with said location determining means, said second time correction factor being determined by the minimum difference between the time of occurrence of a lightning event detected by one of said synchronized detectors and the time of arrival of data representing said lightning event at the location determining means.