Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University's (ERAU) Daytona Beach Applied Meteorology Program and WSI Corporation have partnered to enable the distribution of the United States Precision Lightning Network (USPLN) date in real-time for education and academic research applications. The USPLN is a partnership of WSI Corporation and TOA Systems, a manufacturer of integrated lightning detection and warning systems. The introduction of this data set is being coordinated with the Unidata Program Center at UCAR. Working with Unidata staff, decoders are currently available for use with the McIDAS, GEMPAK and IDV software packages.

The data are exchanged using the Unidata LDM software and are available as a point-to-point service as is done by a number of restricted access or proprietary data sets that are shared with the academic community. Consistent with other proprietary data that are shared with academic users, there are restrictions that prohibit the posting of real-time data on publicly accessible web servers or the commercial use of the data without additional agreements.

Provided are instructions for how to register your institution to receive the data feed. The registration process is maintained by ERAU. Details for the configuration of the LDM software are provided for both the reception of the data as well as the use of the Unidata decoders for use with their supported analysis and display software. Sample images of the USPLN data, both alone and in conjunction with other data types are presented.