Advanced Stroke Processor (ASP™) Overview
The ASP (Advanced Stroke Processor) is the heart and brain of the lightning location system.  The system processes sensor data to calculate where lightning has occurred.  After the data is processed, the results are sent to various communication ports which users can connect to, in order to retrieve and display solution and housekeeping data.  The ASP allows a user to modify or add additional sensors.  Furthermore, earlier designed sensors such as some LPATS receivers can also be connected to the ASP.


ASP™ Characteristics and Performance
The Advanced Stroke Processor connects to the external Precision Lightning Sensors (PLS™) via direct connect, serial or TCP/IP communication lines. When three or more PLS sensors notify ASP™ that a transmission has occurred, ASP™ attempts to mathematically determine the transmission origin using an oblate spheroid hyperbolic Time Difference of Arrival (TDOA) algorithm.  If the TDOA algorithm produces a solution, the solution and other pertinent stroke information is transmitted to the SQL Data Server. ASP was expressly developed to run on PC platforms, using the Linux operating system. It can also be compiled to run under UNIX.


Data Distribution & Display
After the ASP™ calculations, resulting data is distributed in ASCII and binary format through various ASP™ ports in real time.  That data includes latitude and longitude, the time of the event, the peak current for cloud to ground strokes, the stroke polarity and the type of stroke (cloud or ground).  The latitude and longitude is calculated to the fourth decimal place (approximately 10 m) and the time is displayed down to microsecond accuracy. Other data is also made available for distribution such as housekeeping data, communication line issues and statistical information.