Generation of an analogue lightning impulse simulated by a virtual impulse generator

Summary

This paper presents a method for generating an analogue lightning impulse, which is simulated by the Virtual impulse generator (VIG). After generating the signal by the Virtual Impulse Generator, the waveform will be transferred to an arbitrary waveform generator. The computer uses a Dynamic-Link Library (DLL) provided by National Instruments® in order to communicate with the arbitrary waveform generator. The initialization of the arbitrary waveform generator and the communication commands with the arbitrary waveform generator are integrated to the program package of Portunus®. In addition, the waveforms need to be converted into the specific format of the arbitrary waveform generator in order to receive the simulated waveforms. In most cases, the specific format is characterized by the time step, frequency, number of sample points, and voltage level. In case of time step, Portunus usually provides its waveform with different time steps during the simulation. Consequently, the variable time step data need to be converted into fixed time step data, which is accepted by the arbitrary waveform generator. The first iteration of the virtual impulse generator is based on a web-interface, which needs to be connected online to get the results. Henceforth, the virtual impulse generator is implemented into Portunus, which can be used offline.

Additional informations

Keywords

arbitrary waveform generator, Dynamic-Link Library, Portunus, reference signal, Simulation, Standard Commands for Programmable Instruments, virtual impulse generator