Assessing the time difference of arrival and optimization techniques to determine strike location of lightning events occurring in the metropolitan area of Belo Horizonte

This work aims to define the optimal placement of a finite number of sensors to maximize the coverage area and lightning location performance in the Belo Horizonte region. The analysis evaluates the Least Squares (LS) approach to solve the non-linear Time Difference of Arrival (TDoA) equations, using different sensor configurations and the Monte Carlo method. The impact of removing individual stations from the base case was evaluated, as well as the performance of network expansion. The results show that expanding from 5 to 7 sensors provides similar performance to expanding to 8 sensors, considering the available site options. Overall, the document presents a robust approach to determine the optimal sensor network configuration to improve the accuracy of lightning location in the Belo Horizonte area.