NASA has signed a Space Act Agreement with Global Atmospherics, Inc. (GAI) of Tucson, AZ, to begin joint work on development of an LDAR system that meets both NASA and commercial needs. The technology has commercial application in the electric utility, aviation, atmospheric research, commercial rocket launch, recreation, construction and meteorological industries.
"The 45th Weather Squadron at Cape Canaveral Air Station uses LDAR to accurately inform KSC of any lightning threats in the area," said John Madura, manager of KSC's weather office. Cape Canaveral Air Station and the National Weather Service in Melbourne, Fl are the only organizations currently using this system.
Current two-dimensional commercial systems only locate cloud-to-ground lightning. NASA's three-dimensional LDAR system also pinpoints the location and altitude of in-cloud and cloud-to-cloud lightning by measuring the exact arrival times of electromagnetic pulses.
"When you hear a crackle of lightning over your radio, you are listening to an electromagnetic pulse. Since the speed of light is constant, once we know the time of a pulse we can figure out exactly how far away the lightning is," explained Carl Lennon, KSC Information Systems Division.
The system detects the VHF or very high frequency radiation and maps the volume of the lightning activity. The result is a three-dimensional presentation of the local activity and the threat that it presents.
GAI designs, manufactures and markets commercial lightning detection systems that are used worldwide for collection, analysis, display and dissemination of lightning related information. They bring the expertise and resources to this partnership that are necessary to expedite commercialization.
"This collaboration between GAI and NASA brings together two organizations respected in this field of study and should benefit the public with an extremely solid new product," said GAI President, Pat Zumbusch.
The 2-year agreement does not require an exchange of funds, but does assign responsibilities to both parties. GAI will focus on improving the location accuracy, small signal detection, and flexibility of NASA's existing system. After reducing the cost of transmitting and displaying data, a commercial version of the system will be available.
NASA will operate the LDAR system, allowing GAI to compare their newly developed systems to it. NASA will also assist GAI with the design and evaluation of various system components and allow them to use existing equipment, facilities and weather data.
"This agreement is the perfect example of NASA working together with industry to bring space age technology down to earth," said Bill Sheehan, KSC's Technology Programs and Commercialization Office. "The space program, commercial market and general public will benefit a great deal from this project."