Design of an optical fiber cable link for lightning instrumentationA lightning instrumentation system was designed to record current magnitudes of lightning strikes that hit a launch pad service structure at NASA's Kennedy Space Center. The instrumentation system consists of a lightning ground rod with a current sensor coil, an optical transmitter, an optical fiber cable link, a detector receiver, and a recording system. The transmitter is a wideband pulse transformer driving an IR LED emitter. The transmitter operates linearly as a transducer. A low loss fiber bundle provides isolation of the recorder system from the electromagnetic field of the lightning strike. The output of an optical detector receiver module is sampled and recorded in digital format. The significant factors considered in the design were dynamic range, linearity, mechanical configuration, electromagnetic isolation, and temperature compensation.
Document ID
19760043099
Acquisition Source
Legacy CDMS
Document Type
Conference Proceedings
Authors
Grove, C. H. (Federal Electric Corp. Cape Canaveral, Fla., United States)
Phillips, R. L. (Florida Technological University Orlando, Fla., United States)
Wojtasinski, R. J. (NASA Kennedy Space Center Cape Canaveral, Fla., United States)