Computer Aided Thunderstorm Surveillance (CATS)

• Network management: run the network in an operational and efficient condition. Specific tools ease the task of monitoring the network, tuning its elements and interconnecting various networks together.
• Lightning data processing: archive all network related data and provide extraction and analysis tools. CATS makes all the flash data easily accessible for statistical and case studies.
• Lightning services distribution: elaborate specific services, make them accessible to end-users in a controlled manner. Many services are available to meet the needs of the customers, specific applications can be developed when required.

CATS is a highly flexible platform that offers a single entry point for all network and customer related operations. It is based on existing standards that allow it to evolve and to be integrated with other systems.

Build on an industrial data processing architecture, CATS can be as small as a single user analysis tool hosted on the location machine, or as big as a multi-workstation system serving many hundreds of clients.

From conception to implementation and pricing, the CATS software product is modular in nature, as is the service offer by Météorage. Startup packages can be installed for a minimum cost, thus allowing to leverage the investment required by a lightning detection network with the initial sales it can produce. Additional modules or capabilities can later be added when the market demand is confirmed.

CATS provides a simple and complete interface to the lightning detection network.

Lightning Data Acquisition
The Telecom module manages the communication with the sensor. Incoming data is made available for one or various position analyzer(s), either remotely or locally. This module provides a flexible and low cost solution to share sensor data in distributed or secured architectures.

Network Monitoring
The network monitor module displays the sensor network status in real time and raises an alarm in case of problem. All the sensor’s state changes are logged into a database.

An administrator’s interface allows to establish reports about the quality of operation of the network. Various indicators are produced automatically to follow the system behavior.

Quality Management
The quality management module contains a program to compute the sensor detection efficiency and a graphical analysis utility to study each single flash location. A site error correction tool produces the parameters used by the location algorithm to compensate for angular site errors.

Network Simulation
The network simulation module establishes the performance of a network for a given sensor organization. Detection efficiency and location accuracy are computed and plotted. This is a decision-making tool when planning to move or add a sensor to the network.

CATS stores all the data required to produce services.
A set of dedicated Databases allows to have one single and efficient source of information that is accessible through standard mechanism. Specific tools allow to access this data through customized user interfaces. Application Programs Interfaces (APIs) are available to develop products that extract, analyze, correlate and format this data set.

Lightning and Network Data Processing
Sensor data (angle, time, field, ...) and the corresponding located data (position, time, amplitude,…) is stored in the Lightning Database. The Lightning Query Language, an extended SQL syntax, allows to extract data from the Lightning Database. A request can specify time and geographic boundaries, as well as geometric functions to select flashes inside a given area. Statistics and distribution can be performed within a query. Included in the Lightning Query Language is a set of formatting options that allows to prepare the result of a request. Outputs can be tailored to generate a WEB page, a paper listing, a histogram, a formatted stream to be ingested by an application program,…

The network configuration and sensor status information is stored in a Network Database. A reporting tool allows to study the network behavior (downtime, outages) over any time period. The integration of this database with the network analysis tools allows to study the network performance under any of its successive configurations.

Geographic Data Handling
The Geographic Database stores all the geographical information used to draw maps and locate cities. A map generator allows to select a region and define the elements to be included in a map, objects can be organized in various layers, and user-defined data can be added to the initial base. Maps can be produced interactively, or automatically within an application program. The Geographic Data Base is an efficient and cost effective solutions to manage generic or custom geographic information needed for the various services.

Customer Management
The Customer Database controls the access of the remote users and the capabilities of the product they use. Reporting tools allow to study the usage history of a given customer, trace any particular event such as a customer connection or the processing of a given alarm message. The system administrator can monitor the customer’s activity, and adjust the system capabilities according to the actual requirement of each service.

The CATS server can host various services dedicated to remote end-users:
The Observation terminal is a high-end remote display that obtains archived and real-time lightning data from the CATS server. It includes all the functionalities required to store, display and process flashes. Custom areas are defined to produce early threat warning messages and compute lightning density. Observation can be used as an interface between the CATS server and a remote user’s environment (to feed a host database, start a power generator, …). The Observation terminal, a Java-based application, can run on different platforms (Windows 9x, NT, Unix) connected to the server by an intranet or the Internet.

The Observation WEB is a simpler HTML application that displays real-time flashes on the user’s browser. Zoom and Locate functions are accessible to adjust the display. This product is delivered as a working application that can be fully customized.

The Expertise is a WEB-based application that allows to check archived lightning data for a given area and time period. For any situation a map showing the background geography and the actual flashes is produced, a detailed listing can be obtained. Access to the service and payment policy can be defined by the administrator.

The Alarm product is a full feature, server-based, early threat-warning message generator that processes the real-time lightning activity over the end-user’s area. Messages are automatically sent by phone, fax, pager, E-mail, SMS to the user. Various media can be combined in parallel or as backups. Specific diaries can be defined for each subscriber to control the call emission. A set of utilities allows to simulate an alarm, test and optimize a given area configuration and audit the system activity.

A downstream version of the Alarm product provides a WEB-based front end that gives the end-user the possibility to set, control and modify the behavior of its application. This product allows to setup a low-administration and low-cost service.

The System Administration
The CATS administrator’s interface allows to manage the server for each product at the process level and at the customer’s level. Specific applications give access to the elements of the Customer Database required to setup users’ subscriptions to a given product. Many of the product’s functional parameters are accessible on line and can be modified by the end-user. This customer based management ensures a low overhead for the server administration.