Positioning of Lightning Electromagnetic Radiation Sources With Satellite Constellations: Simulation and Preliminary Validation

Abstract Satellites, equipped with electromagnetic sensors, can detect and locate the lightning electromagnetic radiation sources (LERS) in the thunderstorm over the globe surface of the Earth, delivering data regarding occurrence time, geolocation, and intensity. This paper presents the study on the three‐dimensional (3D) positioning of LERS utilizing a low‐Earth‐orbit (LEO) satellite constellation. A positioning algorithm was constructed, and a Monte Carlo approach was utilized to simulate positioning capabilities in a LEO satellite configuration, emphasizing the effect of time error on positioning precision. The findings demonstrate that the effective coverage and positional inaccuracies of the LERS, together with their distribution, are significantly associated with constellation configuration, satellite orbital height, and time synchronization precision. Furthermore, we verified the detecting and positioning capabilities based on the data from transmitting‐and‐receiving tests utilizing a terrestrial LERS simulator and the on‐orbit satellite SY‐15, and the positioning error is less 3 km under a certain virtual multi‐satellite constellation when accounting for ionospheric delay.