Advanced lightning location interferometer. Final report

In January, 1994, New Mexico Institute for Mining and Technology (NM Tech) was commissioned by Los Alamos National Laboratories (LANL) to develop a three-axis interferometric lightning mapping system to be used in determining the source of certain frequency-dispersed pulse pairs which had been detected by spaceborne sensors. The existing NM Tech VHF Lightning Interferometer was a two axis system operating at 274 MHz with 6 MHz bandwidth. The third axis was to be added to refine estimates of the elevation angle to distant RF sources in that band. The system was to be initially deployed in support of an Air Force Technical Applications Center (AFTAC) effort planned for the Kennedy Space Center/Cape Canaveral AFS area in June-July of 1994. The project was, however, postponed until September of 1994. The interferometer was set up and operated at KSC near the Lightning Detection and Ranging (LDAR) central station. The initial setup was in two-axis configuration, and the third (vertical) axis was added at about mid-project. Though the storms were reduced in frequency and severity over what one would expect in mid-summer, several good data sets were obtained and delivered to AFTAC