South Africa is renowned for its disruptive summer lightning and thunderstorms. Severe injuries and even loss of life have occurred as a result of lightning strikes during these storms. UK-based Biral, now part of the Senseca Group, is a specialist in environmental and meteorological measurement instrumentation, and has launched its BTD-200 lightning warning system, which is a complete detection and warning system.
Jan Grobler, managing director of Senseca South Africa explained that the BTD-200 delivers where many other systems fail due to its professional aviation grade lightning technology. The proven BRD-200 system is compact and easy to install, and ultimately does not rely on secondary measurements in order to activate the warning system. Its highly specialised technology delivers the warning as soon as lightning is detected.
The BTD-200 offers proven detection technology that reliably detects the presence of all forms of lightning in a range of 35 km. The quick and easy-to-install sensor comes complete with a universal mains voltage power supply and the essential PC server application, Lightning Works, for the monitoring, warning and data logging of approaching thunderstorms.
For lightning detection requirements of over 35 km, Biral also supplies the BTD-300 Series, which can reliably detect and range cloud-to-cloud lightning over a detection range of 83 km, exceeding US FAA requirements. The BTD-300 operates on an electrostatic principle that enables the sensor to alert users of the risk of overhead lightning before the first discharge occurs. “Cloud-to-cloud strikes are typically more common than cloud-to-ground strikes,” adds Grobler.
When lightning discharge occurs, there is a significant transfer of electric charge which causes a disturbance in the atmospheric electric field, detectable to a distance of more than 100 km. This low frequency disturbance is detected by the BTD-200 antenna and the signal is processed to both detect and range these discharges. Most importantly, the BTD-200 is able to issue warning of potential overhead lightning even before the first strike. This is not possible when using radio-based detection systems.
“The BTD-200 has been designed for most outdoor activities as well as for industrial and professional meteorological applications. The system filters out the higher frequency electromagnetic radio waves, often the cause of sensor confusion and false alarms on standard systems. The BTD-200 instrumentation has practically a zero false alarm rate” concludes Grobler.
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