A
Revolution In Lightning
Detection And Warning Technology
TOA Systems, Inc. (TOA) is a
uniquely capable manufacturer of
integrated lightning location and lightning hazard warning systems. Our
time-of-arrival based Lightning Location System (LLS) technology has
been proven in operational networks in the U.S.A., Canada, Brazil,
Columbia, South Africa, Israel, Spain, Germany, Austria, Switzerland,
Holland, Sweden, Japan, Indonesia, Korea, and Australia. This
technology, with the latest enhancements, forms the basis for ALPS™,
the Advanced Lightning Positioning System. The power, flexibility and
expandability of ALPS™ are unprecedented, and TOA are now
revolutionizing the complex thunderstorm monitoring and forecasting
tasks faced by government and industry worldwide.
The senior staff members of TOA are
the very same individuals, who in
1983 developed, patented and marketed the first time-of-arrival
technology Lightning Location Systems. TOA’s founder and CEO is Dr.
Rodney B. Bent. He and TOA’s Chief Engineer, Mr. Thomas A. Rodby,
are recognized as the men who pioneered the development of
Time-of-Arrival technology for use in lightning location applications.
Their equipment was the first to be installed across the USA in order
to establish a national lightning detection network. The U.S. National
Weather Service (NWS) subsequently awarded a contract to acquire the
data from this network. That lightning location system, became known
locally as LPATS, for Lightning Position & Tracking System.
The company also manufactures an
Advanced Lightning Warning System
(ALWS™) which is based on a proprietary Electric Field Mill (EFM)
technology, again pioneered by TOA’s founders. In fact, lightning
warning systems, using this basic design, are currently installed and
operational at the airports in Miami, Orlando, Phoenix, Jacksonville,
Tampa, Pittsburgh, Denver, Charlotte, Indianapolis, Dallas and a number
of military facilities. An updated version of this field mill sensor is
used to forecast lightning risk at several International Airports.
TOA Systems, Inc. carries this
technological mission
forward—proprietary time-of-arrival techniques are being applied to the
development of the Advanced Lightning Positioning System (ALPS™) next
generation precision lightning location system, a system that takes
fullest advantage of the current state-of-the-art in signal and data
processing and GPS timing techniques. We are focused on bringing higher
performance, lower cost LLS solutions to the market, and to radically
reducing Life Cycle Costs by utilizing Off-the-Shelf (OTS) technologies
wherever possible. Integration of a planned series of modular sensing
and processing enhancements will assure that ALPS™ performance will
define the state-of-the-art in LLS technology for the years to come.
