Austria Microsystems AS3935 Franklin Lightning Sensor IC

[miraculon]

I came across an interesting IC dedicated to lightning detection. I am not much of a programmer, but this could be a cool project for someone who is so inclined. Or maybe, one of the weather equipment suppliers like Davis or AcuRite could integrate it into one of their designs.

It has both SPI and I2C interfaces. Hardware wise, it looks like it requires minimal external circuitry.

http://www.ams.com/eng/Products/RF-Products/Lightning-Sensor/AS3935

I found the datasheet at Future Electronics: http://www1.futureelectronics.com/doc/AUSTRIAMICROSYSTEMS/AS3935.pdf

I also found an Evaluation kit, completely assembled that also includes a "Lightning Emulator" to test it. I found the eval kit manual at:
http://media.digikey.com/pdf/Data%20Sheets/Austriamicrosystems%20PDFs/AS3935_EvalManual_AN.pdf

[rdsman]

I've ordered a couple of these to play with:

http://embeddedadventures.com/as3935_lightning_sensor_module_mod-1016.html

Maybe I can emulate the Boltek!

[miraculon]

That is a nice project board. Keep us posted on your progress. What are you going to control it with?

Greg

[rdsman]

I don't really have a plan for them.  I will probably just write some code and see if they work well enough to pursue a "real project" using one.

[kd7eir]

I have a couple AS3935 Franklin Demo Board kits coming in the mail from Future Electronics.  I will be evaluating these for making a realistically priced lightning detector for hobby use.  There is really no reason for a lightning detector to cost hundred of dollars, it's just not that complicated to implement.  My plan is to link the AS3935 with an ATMega microprocessor for display and analysis purposes.  I believe that this could be produced for well under $100 USD for a basic system, and well under $200 USD for a multi-sensor system to allow for triangulation of the strikes.

[Bushman]

I have a couple AS3935 Franklin Demo Board kits coming in the mail from Future Electronics.  I will be evaluating these for making a realistically priced lightning detector for hobby use.  There is really no reason for a lightning detector to cost hundred of dollars, it's just not that complicated to implement.  My plan is to link the AS3935 with an ATMega microprocessor for display and analysis purposes.  I believe that this could be produced for well under $100 USD for a basic system, and well under $200 USD for a multi-sensor system to allow for triangulation of the strikes.

I'd be in for one of those!  Keep us posted.

[rdsman]

My plan is to link the AS3935 with an ATMega microprocessor for display and analysis purposes.

I2C or SPI?  While the chip supports both, my BOB only does I2C, so I guess that I am leaning in that direction.

[kd7eir]

I definitely plan to use I2C for the interface.

[rdsman]

I am leaning towards a stand alone lightning detector, with a USB interface.  It would plot time /distance.  The vertical line colors could change based on distance, intensity, etc.  It could look something like the picture below:

[kd7eir]

I finally got the  AS3935 demonstration kits in, so now I can start working on the code and getting some testing done.

[miraculon]

Any further progress on these projects? Just wondering.

Greg H

[rdsman]

Any further progress on these projects? Just wondering.

I did get some code written that would do the calibration/sensitivity functions correctly.  It can detect a grill starter and clasify it as a "Disturber".  One big problem - No Lightning has been around since!

So it's going about the same as my Si4707 Weather Band receiver project - I only get to test it on Wednesdays during the Required Weekly Test (RWT).

[rdsman]

A line of thunderstorms came through yesterday and early this morning.  They lasted just long enough for me to tweak my code.  The screenshot below shows the results.  I plan to let it run for a while, clean up the code, then I will post it for anyone interested.