University of Florida postdoctoral researcher Ziqin Ding, Ph.D., and his team are working on a project to protect cell towers and other tall objects from lightning strikes. Using a novel combination of antennas, sensors, and algorithms, Ding’s system is able to detect if a particular lightning strike has impacted a given structure or not.
How is this possible? It’s all a matter of having the right data, said Ding, who has been studying lightning in the Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering for eight years.
As a postdoctoral researcher working with ECE distinguished professor and director of the International Center for Lightning Research & Testing Vladimir Rakov, Ding spent years amassing lightning strike data at the Lightning Observatory in Gainesville, or LOG, a facility that includes the glass cupola on top of the New Engineering Building.