Review of New Progresses in the Area of Lightning Detection and Protection Technique

Lightning protection system (LPS) and lightning detection system (LDS) have taken a critical role in minimising lightning-caused disasters. In the past two decades, with the help of new technologies, many experimental studies and tests have been carried out to investigate the performance of various LDS and LPS. In order to catch up with the new developments, a thorough review work in these areas is necessary. This paper provides readers with updated information of new progresses in the areas of LDS and LPS; summarises and outlines the common signatures from these new progresses. For instance, LDS is a kind of active ‘LPS’ which provides early warning of lightning hazards for people to seek protective measures and generating lightning data for the design of LPS. LDS can be grouped into three categories regarding their scales and detecting capabilities. Their functions, merits, demerits, applications and the usage of lightning data were summarised and discussed. With more knowledge on lightning, a variety of new design approaches of LPSs, such as the Early Streamer Emission System and the Collection Volume Method, have been developed. The paper summarised some theoretical arguments against these new approaches. In addition, recommendations on choosing appropriate LDS and LPS are also presented.