Glossary
original source1)
| Acronym | Explanation |
|---|---|
| 1PPS | One pulse per second. A very accurate pulse from the GPS module which can be used for exact absolute time measurements. That means, all clocks of all world-wide stations show the same time with a deviation of a few dozen nanoseconds. This is essential for the TOA method. ADC or A/D Analog-to-digital converter. Converts a continuous voltage to a digital number. |
| Blitzortung | German for lightning locating |
| DF | Direction-Finding. A method for locating lightning strokes. Not as accurate as the TOA-method. |
| E-field | Electric field. The counterpart of the H-field in an electromagnetic field. |
| GPS | Global Positioning System. A satellite navigation system that provides location and time information anywhere on the Earth. Maintained by the United States government. See 1PPS |
| H-field | Magnetic field. The counterpart of the E-field in an electromagnetic field. Can be detected with magnetic field antennas, like loop or ferrite antennas. |
| MCU | Microcontroller unit. A small computer on an integrated circuit containing a processor core (CPU), memory and peripherals. |
| PCB | Printed Circuit Board |
| SBAS | Satellite-based augmentation system. Improves the navigation system's accuracy through the integration of external information into the calculation process. These external information are broadcasted to the GPS receivers by satellites. |
| TOA | Time-of-arrival. The Blitzortung.org and almost all commercial lightning detection networks uses the TOA method for accurate locating of lightning strokes. |
| UTC | Coordinated Universal Time which is equal to Greenwich Mean Time (GMT). All time stamps used for computing the lightning data use UTC as time base. |
| VLF | Very low frequency. Radio frequencies in the range of 3 kHz to 30 kHz or wavelengths from 10 to 100 kilometres. The most powerful emissions of lightning discharges occur in the VLF range. |
| sferic | An abbreviation for radio atmospheric signal. It is a broadband electromagnetic impulse which occurs as a result of lightning discharges. |
1)
Documentation System RED, chapter Glossary