How are the lightning screens made?

lightningscreens_LD350.html
version 1.0
previous version here

updated 23 Dec 2021 (new system )

The Boltek LD-350 stormtracker is a USB device, which is connected to a vintage HP t610 thin client (a fanless and flash-memory computer without any moving parts). The antenna is mounted on a steel tube, with the 15m long signal cable running inside that tube.

The antenna captures the longwave impulses given by the lightning flashes and feeds them to the LD-350 box; the software (Astrogenic Nexstorm)  takes the raw data to find distance, direction, type of lightning etc. The resulting radar screen is sent to our website every minute.

The original map extends to about 300km; a central part extending to approx. 75km has been choosen so to give a reasonable magnitude of the contours of Luxembourg  and the neighbouring regions.

As this device uses a single antenna, you should not expect the same accuracy as that delivered by professional systems that use 3 antennas spaced many km apart.

The radar screen displayed in your browser is refreshed every minute, so there is no need to constantly reload the picture.