Lightning/2000

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LIGHTNING/2000™

Lightning 2000 is a powerful interface for the Boltek™ lightning detector is now more advanced and flexible than ever before.

Lightning/2000™ is a Windows^®application that runs under Windows95/98/ME/NT/2000/XP/Server 2003 (Boltek ISA card - Windows 95/98/ME/2000/XP; Boltek PCI card - Windows 95/98/ME//NT/2000/XP/Server 2003; Boltek LD-250 - Windows 95/98/ME/NT/2000/XP/Server 2003).

FEATURES

	Even an older 486 processor running Windows 95 is completely adequate to detect real-time lightning.
	Dozens of new storm analysis and display features.
	12 customizable audio warnings that YOU define.
	Real-time lightning strength indicator.
	Background maps include counties, parks, federal lands, lakes, interstate highways and more. Or you can use any bitmap image as your map. See a sample.
	Geographic Stroke Plotting: See real-time lightning plot on the background map of your choice.
	Automation to save lightning maps on a web page automatically is easy using an external FTP program or a mapped drive to a web server
	Completely user-configurable colors, fonts, alarm levels, and MORE!

ADVANTAGES

You'll get more out of your Boltek™ lightning detector hardware than you ever thought possible

	Lightning/2000™ allows you to configure it to your tastes
	12 alarm sounds can be any .WAV files on your computer
	Lightning data is analyzed in real-time and can be displayed both textually and graphically
	Complete support for the Windows clipboard
	Automatic-save of images and data is built into the program

FEATURES

This list contains only some of the features of this dynamic product.

8 movable, resizable windows

	Detector Activity
	Counters
	Storm Analysis
	Stroke Rate Graph
	Raw Lightning Data
	Real-time lightning
	Summary
	NOWCast

Colors of all screen objects may be easily changed

	window backgrounds
	alarms
	fonts
	lightning strokes
	fresh lightning strokes

Fonts may be changed easily

	counters
	graph label
	storm analysis information

Each of 6 different alarms has two alert levels, for a total of 12 different sounds that can alert you to potential danger

	Stroke rate
	Strong stroke rate
	Energy ratio
	Storm proximity
	General status
	Low disk space

Multiple independent windows allow you to tailor the look to your needs

User settings (colors, fonts, etc.) may be saved and restored easily

Lightning data is automatically saved to disk

Lightning/2000™ automatically recovers from sudden power failures with no chance that the archive file can become corrupted

Saved lightning data can be played back at any time and at any speed, without interfering with the real-time acquisition of lightning data

The raw lightning data display can be configured to your requirements

Lightning data is analyzed in real-time to determine where storms are located

Storms are evaluated individually for severity

NOWCast information can be viewed at any time, or it can be saved to disk for later use

Daily summaries are saved automatically in a text format

Old NOWCasts and summaries may be viewed from Lightning/2000™, or they may be printed

Complete clipboard support for both graphic and text elements means you may cut and paste to any Windows program

Lightning activity rates are displayed in a graph

The activity graph can be from 15 minutes to 24 hours long

Recent lightning activity can be played back at any time without interfering with the real-time acquisition of lightning data

Each real-time lightning stroke is displayed in two different ways

All real-time lightning data is evaluated to come up with a general alert level

Background maps may be zoomed in and out without loss of resolution

An optional title can be added to the title bar

Strokes may be plotted as single pixels, or they may be plotted as small X's or squares for increased visibility.

Lightning/2000™ v2.0 contains several important features that will enhance your installation and give you added flexibility:

You can now use any bitmap image as a background map.

	You're free to use any .BMP file instead of the supplied map.
	You could (for example) take a screen capture from your favorite mapping program and use it as your map.
	Getting the bitmap aligned and centered is a snap.

You now have the option of seeing the most critical information contained in a single window. The real-time lightning window contains:

	The detector activity (a.k.a. signal strength) meters
	The stroke counter, updated continuously
	Real-time lightning strokes, plotted on the background map
	Improved ranging algorithms were developed for this function.

An expanded built-in help file.

	More topics.
	More keywords to make searches more productive.

You can capture an image of the real-time lightning window periodically.

	Either a compact JPEG or a high-quality BMP image (or both!) may be saved.
	You specify how often the image is saved to a file.
	The file can then be uploaded to a web site using a third-party FTP utility.
	The captured image doesn't include the detector activity meters, and the superimposed stroke rate counter is in the upper-left corner of the captured image.

You can capture both the Summary and NOWCast windows to a file.

A greatly expanded and updated user manual.

	50% more pages
	A vastly improved index

A number of minor improvements and corrections.

	More alarm sounds to choose from
	More shapes to choose from for displaying lightning strokes
	Cosmetic and usability enhancements

The latest Lightning/2000™ version contains some features that could use some explaining.

The new "Reflection rejection" algorithm is now in place.

	During times of heavy lightning activity, sometimes a stroke can be identified as coming from a direction as much as 180 degrees away from where it's actually coming from.
	The reflection rejection logic assumes that the most intense storm is not a reflection. Any storms at azimuthally locations where a reflection from the strongest storm could occur are tagged as possible reflections. Other criteria are then used to determine if any possible reflections are actually reflections. Any storms determined to be reflections are eliminated.
	The new algorithm will hardly ever eliminate a storm that is not a reflection, however it will sometimes leave reflections in place if it isn't sure.
	On the whole, the new algorithm is substantially better than the old one and can be left turned on.
	There are now 5 levels of reflection rejection: Off, Low, Medium, High, and Extreme. The "High" setting is the same as having reflection rejection turned on in previous versions.

The "Range scaling" option allows you to change the way that storms are drawn in the Analysis window.

	"Nearby" storms are those that are drawn in the red alert color; "regional" storms are those yellow alert storms, and "distant" storms are all the others.
	Changes made to the range of the storms in the Analysis window eventually cause the strokes in the Real-time lightning window to be drawn in different locations.
	Changes should show up within 1 minute in the analysis window.
	After you make a change to the range scaling, it could take up to 30 minutes for the changes to be completely incorporated in the Real-time lightning window.
	This means that you should take the time to observe what effect the changes you make have had before making any more changes.
	This option was put in place mainly to allow users with "unusual" antenna placements to have some control over their systems.
	No matter what settings you use for range scaling, a single-detector system will still not be the equal of having your own radar!
	These settings affect both the Real-time lightning window and the Analysis window.

Now there is another option on the range scaling dialog box -- "nearby storms link factor".

	By decreasing this number, you will cause storms that are close to each other in azimuth to be less strongly linked in range.
	The range of a storm is tied to those storms that are in the same general direction. This works well if there is an organized line of storms approaching.
	If the thunderstorm activity is widely scattered however, you may need to cause storms to be less strongly linked together. This way a nearby storm will tend not to cause other storms that are in a similar direction to be "sucked in" towards the center of the display.
	In general, the less organized (i.e. the more scattered) the thunderstorm activity, the lower the "link" factor should be. For typical summer popup thunderstorms, a link factor of 50% or lower is appropriate.
	For well-organized lines of storms, a link factor of 50%-100% should be used.
	This "link" factor affects only the strokes drawn in the Real-time lightning window, NOT the Analysis window.

What do I get when I order?

The full version of Lightning/2000™ on CD Rom

2 background maps for your area

	A full-detail map
	A "sparse" map with only state borders and freeways
	Background maps encompass an area with a radius of 300 miles from your location

A printed manual

THIS IS SPECIAL ORDER SOFTWARE AND IS INELIGIBLE FOR RETURN, PLEASE ALLOW 2 WEEKS FOR DELIVERY