Potential of GPU-based grid traverse algorithm for lightning geolocation

Differing from the traditional Time Difference of Arrival (TDOA) lightning location technique, Grid Traverse Algorithm (GTA) is to build up a series of grid points based on numerical discretion of lightning locations in a network region concerned and then to find the lightning location solution by traversing the grid points. Although GTA has advantages over traditional TOA method in many aspects, it is computationally ineffectiveness. To accelerate the GTA processing speed, we have recently proposed a Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) based GTA parallel computing technique, which is proven to be much faster than the existing CPU based GTA technique. In this paper, we give firstly a briefing of the GPU-GTA technique and then the results of performance test of the technique. The performance test is done by applying the GPU-GTA to a specific lightning location network (LLN) with the Monte Carlo simulation approach. The test results show that GPU-GTA can take about 4.3 seconds, 3.6 seconds and 3.2 seconds to locate 1000 points in 3D at the accuracy of 25 m, 50 m and 100 m respectively. The high performance of the GPU-GTA makes it feasible for a real-time LLN with high accuracy.