Evaluation of Lightning Current From Magnetic Field Based on Deconvolution Method

This article proposes the deconvolution method to evaluate the lightning channel-base current from the lightning magnetic field. We have verified the method using the magnetic field with/without noises. The deconvolution results are both in good agreement with the simulated current. Also, we have discussed the deconvolution results when the condition number of the deconvolution matrix, U
₀
, is different, and found that the deconvolution results will oscillate if the condition number of U
₀
is very large. Note that the deconvolution method presented in this paper also works when using other engineering current models, such as transmission line (TL) model, and the modified TL model with exponential current decaying with height model, and so on. The deconvolution method is an efficient method to evaluate the lightning channel-base current from the electromagnetic field. This approach is also useful in research related to lightning characteristics and lightning protection.