Lightning multi-band signal acquisition system based on software defined radio

Based on the software defined radio, a flexible data acquisition system is designed to receive wideband radiation produced by lightning discharges. USRP (Universal Software Radio Peripheral) N210 is used to collect lightning signals in three different frequency bands by different front daughter boards. The lightning signal is first converted to digital intermediate frequency signals and then reconverted to the original one. The data recording can be triggered once the lightning signal power reaches a certain threshold, and the absolute time of trigger can be obtained according to the GPS clock and NMEA (National Marine Electronics Association) code. All control modules are designed and programmed in the GNU Radio. Preliminary simulations and laboratory experiments were performed, and it can be verified that the system is feasible for lightning signal acquisition.