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IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INSTRUMENTATION AND MEASUREMENT 1

Portable Grounding Impedance Meter

Based on DSP
Breno Dias Rodrigues and Silvério Visacro, Senior Member, IEEE

Abstract— A new grounding impedance measuring system

based on digital signal processor (DSP) platform was developed.
The low-cost portable device includes a built-in voltage
impulse generator, nonvolatile memory for storage of measured
current and voltage waves and a graphical display for fast data
visualization. General hardware structure overview and software
implementation are discussed. Consistent preliminary field-test
results were provided by the measuring system, consisting of
records of grounding potential rise and impressed current,
impulse impedance, and estimated low-frequency grounding
resistance obtained for different electrode arrangements buried
in low- and high-resistivity soils.
Fig. 1. Frequency diagram of the harmonic grounding impedance in the
Index Terms— Digital signal processors (DSP)-based instru-
typical range of lightning-frequency content [Z G (ω) = VG (ω)/IG (ω)].
mentation, grounding, grounding impedance measurement, Horizontal electrode 50-m long buried in a 2000- · m soil. Adapted from
lightning protection, tower-foot impedance. reference [3].

I. I NTRODUCTION
L IGHTNING strikes to transmission lines are the most fre-
quent cause of transmission-line outages [1]. As reported
in previous studies, the backflashover, which is basically
governed by the tower-footing grounding impedance, largely
prevails as the main mechanism responsible for such
outages [2].
Thus, the measurement of tower-footing impedance is an
issue of major interest in lightning protection. Unfortunately,
measuring this impedance in field conditions is a complex
task, considered unfeasible for regular engineering personnel,
due to the lack of both reliable dedicated instruments and
consolidated measuring methodologies. The grounding resis-
tance is measured instead, using commercial low-frequency
instruments. Due to the existing correlation between such
quantities, valid under certain limited conditions, measuring
the grounding resistance consists of an indirect way to qualify
the tower-footing impedance [2]. However, as this correlation
does not hold in all cases, the availability of specific instru-
ments to allow reliable measurements of this impedance is
greatly welcome.
This scenario motivated developing a compact grounding-
impedance measuring system, described herein. A prototype
of this system was conceived in a stand-alone format, taking
the main concerns involved in this kind of measurement
into account. It consists in a small portable and battery
Manuscript received August 15, 2013; revised December 13, 2013; accepted
December 15, 2013. This work has been supported by the Brazilian
agency CAPES. The Associate Editor coordinating the review process was
Dr. Edoardo Fiorucci.
The authors are with the Lightning Research Center, Graduate Program
in Electrical Engineering, Federal University of Minas Gerais, Minas Gerais
31270-901, Brazil (e-mail: lrc@cpdee.ufmg.br; brenodr@gmail.com).
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/TIM.2014.2303532
0018-9456 © 2014 IEEE. Personal use is permitted, but republication/redistribution requires IEEE permission.
See http://www.ieee.org/publications_standards/publications/rights/index.html for more information.
powered device of low weight and well suited to support field
applications. The device includes an integrated controller that
is able to process the calculations required to yield complete
results, even in absence of PC laptop support. Though the
primary application is focused on the measurement of trans-
mission line tower-footing impedance, it can be extended to
the measurement of any electrode arrangement.
II. F UNDAMENTALS OF G ROUNDING I MPEDANCE
Any electrode buried in the soil presents inductive and
capacitive effects when subjected to time-varying currents,
in addition to the conductive effect. This reactive behavior
along with propagation effects in the soil make the response
of electrodes subjected to fast impulsive current waves or to
high-frequency currents quite different from the response to
low-frequency currents [3]. Two important differences become
evident: the assumption of equipotential electrodes and the
approximation of the grounding system as resistances, which
are consistent at low-frequency range, are no longer valid [3].
In engineering applications, the response of grounding
electrodes subjected to currents is commonly expressed by
means of impedances. In a frequency-domain approach, the
harmonic impedance Z G (ω), given by the ratio of the ground-
ing potential rise (GPR) in relation to the remote earth in
response to the impression of a harmonic current, character-
ize the behavior of the grounding system at any frequency
[Z G (ω) = VG (ω)/IG (ω)]. In particular, at the low-frequency
range (below 1 kHz), the harmonic impedance is a real number
corresponding to the low-frequency resistance, RG . In this
case, there is no displacement between voltage and current
(null impedance angle). Fig. 1 illustrates the typical profile
of the harmonic impedance along the range of representative
lightning-current frequency components and characterizes the
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2 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INSTRUMENTATION AND MEASUREMENT
Fig. 2. Impulse grounding impedance (Z p = V p /I p ) and low-frequency
resistance (RG = v(t)/i(t)). Adapted from reference [3].
wide variation of its magnitude and angle for a specific
arrangement of electrodes.
Note that at the low-frequency range the impedance has a
constant value about 100  and a null angle. In this range,
it corresponds to RG . As frequency increases, the impedance
magnitude decreases due to a capacitive effect, as shown by the
negative impedance angle. At a certain frequency, a magnetic
effect contributes to reduce the impedance further, as shown
by the impedance angle variation. A minimum impedance
magnitude occurs when the magnetic and capacitive effects
are balanced, as indicated by the null angle. For frequencies
above this point, the magnetic effect prevails, increasing the
impedance magnitude and leading it to a value larger than RG .
In the time domain, when lightning currents are impressed
on the electrodes, their response is commonly expressed by
the impulse impedance Z P , defined as the ratio of the peak
values of the GPR and impressed current, Z P = V P /I P [3].
Fig. 2 illustrates the concept of the impulse impedance. This
figure shows an impulsive current wave impressed on the
electrodes along with the resulting GPR, whose waveform is
relatively similar to that of the current, though in most cases
the peaks are not simultaneous due to reactive and propagation
effects in the soil. Fig. 2 also denotes that the low-frequency
resistance can be obtained from the voltage and current waves,
taking the ratio of their instantaneous values at the wave tail,
RG = v(t)/i (t).
In spite of the nonsimultaneous peaks of current and voltage,
the impulse impedance is very useful when prompt estimates
of GPR must be carried out in lightning protection applica-
tions. The GPR can be promptly obtained from the product
of the peak-current value by Z P . In lightning protection
applications, considering that the value of Z P depends on
both grounding parameters and injected current waveform, this
impedance is estimated for representative waveforms of return
currents of first and subsequent strokes [3], [4].
III. M EASUREMENT P RINCIPLE AND R ELATED
I NSTRUMENTATION
The grounding impedance measurement principle is derived
from the traditional fall of potential method [5]. This method
uses the three-terminal arrangement shown in Fig. 3 to develop
a GPR on the electrodes under test (in relation to remote
earth) from the impression of current on such electrodes.
Both the GPR and the impressed current are measured and
Fig. 3. Scheme for grounding impedance measurement. Adapted from [11].
the grounding impedance (or resistance) is determined from
the ratio of such quantities. Note that in Fig. 3 the current
flows in the soil from the impulse generator (connected to
the electrodes under test) to the auxiliary electrodes. This
current is determined from the voltage drop over a resistor Rs,
whose resistance value is known, and the corresponding GPR
is measured as the voltage detected from the current injection
point to a very distant position [5], [6].
To ensure the determined voltage–current ratio corresponds
to the grounding impedance, some cautions are required.
First, the distance between the auxiliary electrodes and the
electrodes under test has to be long enough to ensure no
conductive coupling effects between such electrodes [7]–[10].
In traditional low-frequency measurements the voltage probe
that detects the GPR is usually placed along the imaginary
line connecting the electrodes under test and the auxiliary
electrodes, in a position where the variation of the measured
voltage along this line is very reduced (this indicates that
the remote earth position has been reached). For fast impulse
waves presenting high-frequency components, it is important
to place the probe along an orthogonal line, as indicated in
Fig. 3, to minimize the magnetic coupling between the leads
used to measure the voltage and to carry the impressed current,
as indicated in [5], [6].
Since low amplitude currents are used in such tests, eventual
ionization effects in the soil are disregarded.
The technical literature describing the instrumentation
for impedance measurement focuses either on concentrated
impedance, where propagation effects on current and voltage
waves are not present [12]–[14], or on grounding resistance.
In this respect, the literature reports specific grounding-
resistance measuring systems, such as in [15], but using
signals in the frequency below the audio range. It also reports
specific system for measurement ground-related impedances,
but only using frequencies above 1 MHz, such as in [16].
The measurement of circuit parameters in nonsinusoidal con-
ditions is reported in [17]–[21], very often using DSP-based
instrumentation, although most of them related of concentrated
impedances instead of grounding impedance. The practical
considerations related to measuring grounding impedance,
notably the one concerned with the lightning response of elec-
trodes, are quite different from those related to the measure-
ment of concentrated impedances, grounding resistances and
the mentioned ground-related impedance. To the best of the
authors’ knowledge, no works have been published reporting
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RODRIGUES AND VISACRO: PORTABLE GROUNDING IMPEDANCE METER BASED ON DSP 3

Fig. 4. Block scheme of prototype fundamentals modules.

specific instrumentation using signals with typical waveforms

of lightning currents to assess the lightning response of elec-
trodes. This scenario motivated the development of the new
system presented in this paper.

IV. I MPLEMENTED P ROTOTYPE

Prototyping a measuring system focused on field applica-
tions must consider adding some practical features, namely
long battery life to minimize recharging frequency, portability,
robustness, secure data storage in nonvolatile form, and a
dedicated user interface to allow checking the quality of mea-
Fig. 5. View of prototype enclosure contents (weight about 1.5 kg).
surements promptly by means of fast data visualization. As the
test procedure requires data acquisition, conversion and signal
The architecture of the prototype was designed to be mod-
processing techniques, embedded processor solutions, such as
ular, to improve upgrade capabilities, software enhancements,
DSP technologies and associated peripherals, are well suited
and easy maintenance. The block scheme in Fig. 4 illustrates
to achieve the proper coordination of necessary tasks. The
the general conception of the prototype and a picture of the
error analysis on DSP-based instrumentation, the associated
enclosure contents is presented in Fig. 5.
uncertainty modeling and evaluation [22]–[25], and associate
To enable a quick prototype implementation and test,
metrological aspects related to this family of instruments
a fast processor was chosen to allow the firmware code
are reported in [26]–[32], constituting a valuable base of
development in a naive nonoptimized version of algorithm.
knowledge. Furthermore, the use of DSP to provide low cost
Accumulating peripheral control and processing functions,
and portable stand-alone instrumentation for measurement is
the microcontroller unit is based on eZdspTM kit F28335
frequently reported in literature, showing very good results
from Spectrum Digital Inc., which includes TMS320F28335
[33], [34].
Digital Signal Processor family from Texas Instruments. This
is a 32-b floating point processor with Harvard Bus-based
A. Hardware Setup architecture, working on 150 MHz primary clock [35], [36].
The system concept is based on stand-alone portable format, All hardware control routines were written in C language to
with all peripherals included. Two sealed 12 V batteries create a hardware abstraction layer, which enables fast device
provide power supply for about 4 h of continuous operation parameterization and control.
before recharging (about 70 measurements). With a built-in Most frequently the processor executes routines related
impulsive voltage module, different and software-selectable to hardware control, such as generator parameterization and
voltage impulsive waveforms can be applied to grounding trigger, signal selecting, commutating, and so on. However, the
electrodes, adding great versatility to the system. Therefore, processor unit allows easy implementation of specific routines
the meter is an active device that generates the testing current related to signal processing and management, such as data
waves. It is able to record both the test current and resulting filtering, storage, and data display.
GPR waves and to determine the impulse impedance and Although most routines could be executed later in a ded-
low-frequency resistance. icated PC or laptop, the embedded processing capability
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4 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INSTRUMENTATION AND MEASUREMENT
Fig. 6. Waveforms of voltages generated by the meter. (a) 3.5/500 μs.
(b) 0.4/500 μs. The waves are software configurable.
provides some special benefits, notably: performing qualitative
analyses of measured current/voltage waveforms in field con-
ditions using a proper graphical liquid-crystal display (LCD)
screen to enable identify and correct test mistakes (such as,
connection mismatches); fitting better the format and structure
of a possible commercial product, also easing future function-
alities expansion in end application; cost benefits (the cost
of prototyping with embedded processor, like TMS320F28335
and peripherals, is lower than purchasing a PC or laptop).
The built-in impulsive voltage module was designed to
generate modified double-exponential impulsive waveforms
with adjustable rise- and decay-time durations (from 100 ns to
10 μs and from 5 μs to 10 ms, respectively) with amplitude
of about 500 V (or 1.6 kV), using high-voltage fast-switching
metal–oxide–semiconductor field-effect transistor (MOSFET)
technology. The topology is similar to that of a traditional
high-voltage impulse generator circuit, which employs the
discharge of two energy storage elements to yield the front
and the decay times of the generated waves, though a single
energy storage element is used in the prototype. This element,
composed of a fast-discharge capacitor bank, is responsible for
controlling the decay time of the generated wave. The front
time is exclusively controlled by the trigger signal applied to
a MOSFET switch, different from the trigger based on the
distance of air gaps used in traditional impulse generators.
The designed impulse module is powered by a 12 V dc battery,
with an electronic dc/dc amplifier to yield a voltage level from
few-hundred volts up to 1.6 kV.
Using different capacitance values in the capacitor bank
allows yielding decay times varying from 20 up to 500 μs.
The discharge occurs on a carbon resistor connected in parallel
to the grounding electrode under test. The value of this
resistance is selected to prevent distortion of the tail of the
generated wave due to the grounding-impedance charge effect.
Furthermore, the topology of the measuring circuit and the
method of measurement, which comprises the sampling of
GPR and impressed current, ensure that the generator’s internal
impedance does not affect the measurements.
The final module included in the prototype, whose circuit
is routed in a small profile printed circuit board, is very
light and presents very low power consumption. Fig. 6 shows
the impulsive voltage waveforms generated by the meter,
presenting rise times of 3.5 and 0.4 μs and decay time of
500 μs. This corresponds to a conservative representation of
the waveforms of first and subsequent lightning strokes.
The impressed current wave is derived from the voltage
measured on a set of internal carbon resistors, whose resistance
Fig. 7. Measured GPR and current waves displayed on the LCD screen (orig-
inal in color), resulting from the test of three 0.5-m vertical interconnected
rods buried in a 200- · m soil.
values are selected dynamically by the software to adjust the
current sensitivity. The selected resistor is crossed by the same
impressed current. Such resistors presented a flat impedance
frequency response up to 10 MHz, which is acceptable for
the measurements, considering the frequency content of the
generated voltage pulses (whose significant components are
in the range below 4 MHz).
Data conversion is performed by an integrated on-chip
12-b resolution and eight-channels analog to digital converter
(ADC), running at 12.5 · 106 samples/s, in range 0–3 V. The
projected acquisition module consists of analog circuits for
signal preparing, including signal amplitude conditioning, and
overvoltage protection. Sampled data points are collected from
ADC result buffer and transferred directly to an external static
random access memory (SRAM) by direct memory access
(DMA) feature, freeing processor bandwidth and enabling
ADC maximum conversion rate (up to 1 sampling every
80 ns).
Data storage is implemented in a 32-Mb commercial Flash
memory chip, AT25DF321 model, provided by Atmel, which
can store up to 70 field test records (consisting in sampled
and formatted data points). Processor communication and data
transfer are performed via standard serial peripheral interface
structure. Measured data can be easily recovered from Flash
memory and transmitted by RS-232 serial port, allowing PC
postprocessing analysis.
Additionally, a small profile 3.5-in quarter video graphics
array was included for fast visualization of measured wave-
forms during field tests. This feature can be useful to prevent
data lost due to practical test problems that could impact the
result reliability. Total screen resolution is 320 × 240 pixels,
which allows both data visualization and user interface for
device controlling support. All used graphical libraries were
written in C language specifically for this application, allow-
ing some code optimization which resulted in a reasonable
screen refresh rate. Fig. 7 shows the selected LCD (NHD-3.5-
320240MF-ATXL-1 model from New Heaven Inc.) displaying
a field result.
B. Firmware Structure
The system firmware was written in C language and the
project was developed using Code Composer Studio toolchain,
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RODRIGUES AND VISACRO: PORTABLE GROUNDING IMPEDANCE METER BASED ON DSP
Fig. 8. Block diagram illustrating the measurement procedure.
from Texas Instruments, allowing fast algorithm coding [37].
The execution flow is primarily based on a main loop which
runs cyclically inside the processor, waiting for user start
command. In addition to the main code, complementary source
files were coded as specific auxiliary functions. As example,
the interface functions of the LCD screen, flash memory,
and actuators source files. All the functions required to build
a hardware abstraction layer were included. The firmware
is, therefore, oriented to this prototype, as it depends on
hardware parameters, and should be properly adapted for
eventual hardware changes.
To illustrate the prototype measurement procedure, Fig. 8
shows the execution flow for the acquisition loop. The DMA
channel is configured to create a circular buffer in the SRAM
memory of eZdspTM kit (total of 256 kB, 16 bits/word),
where the data collected from ADC channels are continuously
stored. ADC channels 1 and 2 are used to simultaneously
sample the GPR and impressed current waves in the grounding
electrodes under test, and ADC channels 3 and 4 are connected
to fast-analog peak detectors (built using LM7171 high-speed
operational amplifier, from Texas Inc.) to determine accurate
estimates of their peak value.
In the first block, to begin the acquisition loop, both the
DMA feature and the ADC channels conversion are enabled,
and the data are continuously converted and stored in a
SRAM memory. As TMS320F28335 ADC module has only
one converter unit, the ADC channels 1 and 2 are sampled
simultaneously and converted sequentially. This results in an
effective conversion time of 160 ns per channel. Due to this
conversion mode, the voltage and current waves are sampled
without losing the synchronism.
In second block, the rise and fall durations of the generated
voltage pulse is configurated and the pulse is applied to
the grounding electrodes. After the pulse duration interval,
a trigger signal is sent to DMA and ADC modules to stop
the data transfer, preventing the data from being overwritten
in the circular buffer. Not only the peaks of the signals are
recorded in the prototype, but the entire wave is sampled and
stored in the nonvolatile memory as well. This feature enables
the processor to perform a complete offline analysis of the
waveforms.
During the field test procedure, most routines executed in
firmware are related to device control, leaving all additional
signal processing tasks to be executed later. In other words,
the code does not need to run in real- time mode, simpli-
fying coding process, and reducing hardware requirements.
5
Moreover, the processing capability of DSP used, with primary
clock up to 150 MHz, allows code writing even in naive
version without losing performance. This is very useful for
fast prototype development and quick algorithm debugging.
Though real-time operation is not required, waveforms sam-
ples must be acquired and stored at the ADC maximum sample
rate (80 ns). This is achieved using DMA feature, which
transfers sample points directly from ADC result registers to
SRAM memory. The used processor TMS320F28335 has six
ADC triggered DMA channels, besides ADC synchronization
feature.
V. P RELIMINARY R ESULTS
Measurements have been carried out to test the operation
and performance of the prototype.
It is worth to mention that, from an engineering perspective,
the requirements for accuracy on grounding impedance
(or resistance) measurements are in the range of 3% to 5%.
A large number of factors (such as, the common presence
of spurious signal in the soil, the variation of soil resistivity
along the day, and the limitations of the measurement methods)
lead to significant variations of measurement results, even
considering consecutive measurements. This makes efforts for
a better accuracy meaningless.
Thus, the evaluations of the device focus on the comparison
of the generated and acquired waves with lightning-patterned
waveforms measured by the meter and by a commercial
Tektronix TDS3000C 9-bit digital oscilloscope, along with the
derived impulse impedance value.
The first tests were carried out in laboratory and consisted
of measuring concentrated impedances. They were useful to
show that, under such ideal conditions, the meter was able
to generate and to record high-quality waves of current and
voltage and to perform properly the calculation of impedances,
with an error lower than 2%. To calculate the impedance from
the oscilloscope results, a single point was used to estimate the
peak values. Following, field tests were developed. The meter
was used to measure the grounding impedance of different
arrangements of electrodes (radius about 0.7 cm) buried in
soils of high and low resistivity and to record corresponding
current and GPR waves, as described in the next sections.
A. Results for an Electrode Arrangement Consisting of Short
Interconnected Rods
The impulse impedance and corresponding GPR and current
waves of an electrode arrangement, buried in a 200- · m
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6 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INSTRUMENTATION AND MEASUREMENT
Fig. 9. Setup for measurement of the interconnected rods buried in a
200- · m soil.
Fig. 10. Response of three 0.5-m vertical interconnected rods buried in
a 200-·m soil (GPR and impressed current). Rise and decay times of the
impressed voltage wave: (a) 3.5 μs/500 μs and (b) 0.4 μs/ 500 μs.
resistivity soil and consisting of three interconnected 0.5-m
long vertical rods spaced 1.5 m, were measured. This apparent
soil resistivity was determined from the measured 175.5-
low-frequency grounding resistance. The auxiliary current
electrode was placed 100 m away and the voltage probe
was placed 50 m away from the electrodes under test. The
leads connecting the meter to the auxiliary electrode and to
the voltage probe were laid orthogonally. Fig. 9 shows the
measuring setup.
Fig. 10 compares the measured GPR and current waves
obtained by the meter and by the digital oscilloscope. The
estimates for impedance and resistance of such measurement
are included in Tables I and II.
Note that the recorded waveforms include the effects of
wave-reflections at current lead termination. However, what
is really impressive is the quality of the measured waves of
voltage and current. The records obtained with the meter and
the oscilloscope practically match each other.
B. Results for a Horizontal Electrode
Following, the impulse impedance and corresponding GPR
and current waves of a single 6-m long horizontal electrode
buried 0.5-m deep in a 2000- · m soil were measured, as indi-
cated in Fig. 11. This apparent soil resistivity was calculated
from the measured 1536- low-frequency resistance. Due to
the short length of the electrode, the auxiliary current electrode
was buried 50 m away from horizontal electrode and the
voltage probe was placed 30 m away.
The measured voltage and current waves are shown in
Fig. 12. The values of the estimated impedance and resistance
are shown in Tables I and II.
Once more, the waves recorded by the meter and by the
oscilloscope show close agreement.
C. Results for a Large Grounding Grid
The last test arrangement consisted in a large 16-m × 20-m
grounding grid buried 0.5-m deep in a 2000-·m soil,
comprising 20 meshes of 16 m2 , as shown in Fig. 13. The
measured low-frequency resistance was found 49 . In this
experiment, the auxiliary current electrode was placed 200 m
away from the grid corner to avoid mutual effects and the
voltage probe was placed 60 m away in a perpendicular
direction. The impulsive voltage was impressed on the grid
corner, resulting in the recorded waveforms of Fig. 14.
The curves measured by the meter show very good agree-
ment with the waveforms recorded by the oscilloscope, adding
a good reliability to instrument indicated results. In this case,
one can note the oscillations in the waves measured by both
the meter and the oscilloscope. It was found that they were
associated to a spurious signal in the soil with representative
frequencies in the range of 600 kHz to 1 MHz. The long
distances between the electrode under test and the auxiliary
grid (200 m) and the voltage probe (60 m) increases the
intensity of the detected spurious voltage.
D. Remarks on Repeatability and Associated
Standard Uncertainty
Considering the focus of the prototype development, which
is the grounding impedance assessment for lightning protec-
tion applications, the device presented a good repeatability in
the measurement results for the same test condition. This is
shown in Fig. 15 that show the field test GPR measurement
result for the configuration presented in Fig. 9. The test
involved 12 repeated measurements, maintaining the same
conditions. The continuous-line curve indicates the average
of the sampled points of the voltage wave developed on the
grounding. The Type A standard uncertainty was estimated
from this set of data, as described in [38], considering the
aspects reported in [22]–[25]. It is indicated along the curve
as error bars, with a maximum value of 1.4675%, which
occurred at wave front. The evaluation of the Type A standard
uncertainty contribution for the current wave reached 1.7142%
at the wave front.
The impulsive impedance Z P is obtained by means of
the ratio of the voltage- and current-peak values collected
from ADC channels results (V P /I P ). Other uncertainty
components can be obtained from ADC accuracy information
and the prototype resolution to compose the combined
standard uncertainty. The ADC uncertainty can be derived
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RODRIGUES AND VISACRO: PORTABLE GROUNDING IMPEDANCE METER BASED ON DSP 7

TABLE I
I MPULSE I MPEDANCE M EASUREMENT R ESULTS FOR T ESTED C ONFIGURATIONS

TABLE II
R ESISTANCE M EASUREMENT R ESULTS FOR T ESTED C ONFIGURATIONS

Fig. 11. Setup for measurement of the 6-m long horizontal electrode buried
in 2000-·m soil.

from the general expression SADC = (x − Off ) × G ADC + Q,

where Off , G ADC , and Q are the offset, gain and ADC
quantization error characteristics, respectively, for an input
analog signal x and the corresponding sampled point
SADC . By consulting the ADC datasheet information, we
compute the ADC standard √ uncertainty√ contribution as
u(SADC ) = SADC / 3 = 0.0203%/ 3 = 0.0117%,
assuming rectangular error distribution.
Fig. 12. Response of a 6-m long horizontal electrode buried in a high-
Considering the Type A voltage and current uncertainties resistivity soil (2000 ·m). Rise and decay times of the impressed voltage
and the ADC channels uncertainty contributions, the overall wave: (a) 3.5 μs/ 500 μs and (b) 0.4μs/ 500 μs.
standard uncertainty for voltage and current measurements are
u(V P ) = 1.4792% and u(I P ) = 1.7259%. As the voltage and √
The term u res (Z P ) = (0.5) / 3 = 0.2887 corresponds to
the current waves are sampled by the same ADC unit, we standard uncertainty associated to prototype resolution. Using
assume these measurements are correlated and the combined the combined uncertainty expressed in (1) and adopting a
uncertainty can be written for Z P in the form [22]–[25], [38] coverage factor k = 2, the measurement overall uncertainty
 is given by u(Z P ) = k × u c (Z P ). By analogy, the same
  
u(V P ) u(I P ) 2 procedure and the same expression can be used for computing
u c (Z P ) = |Z P | × + + (u res (Z P ))2 . (1)
VP IP the standard uncertainty associated to the measurement of RG .
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8 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INSTRUMENTATION AND MEASUREMENT

Fig. 13. Setup for measurement of the 20-m × 16-m grounding grid buried
0.5-m deep in a 2000- · m soil.

E. Estimates of the Impulse Impedance and

Low-Frequency Resistance
The values of the impulse impedance provided by the meter
in the field tests are presented in Table I and are compared with
those estimated from the waves measured by the oscilloscope.
The measurement uncertainty associated to the prototype is
Fig. 14. Response of the grounding grid. Rise and decay times of the
calculated as indicated in Section V-D above. We calculated impressed voltage wave: (a) 3.5 μs/ 500 μs and (b) 0.4 μs/ 500 μs.
the combined uncertainty associated to the oscilloscope-based
measurements, as indicated in (2), using the oscilloscope
channels error (3) given in the datasheet information
u c (Z P )OSC




  u(V OSC ) u(I OSC ) 2
=  Z OSC × P
+ P
+ (u res (Z P ))2 (2)
P
V POSC I POSC
u(V POSC ) = 0.02 × V POSC + 0.15 × (scale) + 1.2mV.
We calculated the standard uncertainty associated to oscillo-
scope measurements using u OSC (Z OSC P ) = 2 × u OSC (Z P ).
OSC
As the current measurements are taken from voltage mea-
surements across precision carbon resistors, the uncertainty
associated to its nominal values are combined in the term
u(I P ) in (1) and u(I POSC ) in (2). The resulting uncertainties
are presented in Tables I and II.
Note that in most cases the errors with respect to
oscilloscope-based measurements are lower than 5%, even for
this complex type of measurement. In a single case it is about
10%, which is still a good result. As a matter of fact, it is
not clear to what extent the measurements obtained from the
oscilloscope are more reliable than those of the meter. It is
also worth mentioning that, due to its frequency content and
magnitude, the spurious signal in the soil has potential to affect
the measured peak of the meter record, since for the very fast
rise time the number of samples at the measured wave front is
not so large. This suggested an improvement of the procedure
to determine the peak value to mitigate this potential effect
based on averaging a set of results. This improvement has
already been incorporated to the prototype.
The low-frequency resistance was estimated from the
voltage and current waves measured by the meter and by the
oscilloscope as the ratio of the instantaneous values v(t)/i (t)
at the wave tail. In Table II, the calculated ratios are compared
with the resistances measured by a commercial meter that
employs low-frequency signal (Metrel Model MI-2088, with
measurements accuracy of 5% + 3-D, considering the spurious
(3)
Fig. 15. GPR of three 0.5-m vertical-interconnected rods buried in a
200- · m soil. The applied voltage wave has rise and decay durations of
3.5 μs and 500 μs. The error bars represent Type A standard uncertainty, for
12 test repetitions under the same conditions.
signals with amplitudes greater than 10 V, as informed on
product datasheet).
Note that in all cases the resistance estimated by the meter
and obtained from the oscilloscope measurements agrees quite
well, with a maximum deviation lower than 5%. The results are
quite good when compared with the resistance measured by the
commercial meter, with the exception of the grid resistance,
where the deviation in measured values reaches 12%. It
is worth reporting the presence of spurious signals in all
measurements, always with amplitude of about 15 V, which
strongly affect all devices indications. Anyway, the relative
deviations with respect to the values obtained by direct mea-
surements still remain in an acceptable level, considering all
variables that impact the results in field conditions [6].
VI. C ONCLUSION
This paper described the design and implementation of a
new portable grounding impedance measuring system. The
core of the digital hardware is built around the commercial
 This article has been accepted for inclusion in a future issue of this journal. Content is final as presented, with the exception of pagination.
RODRIGUES AND VISACRO: PORTABLE GROUNDING IMPEDANCE METER BASED ON DSP
TMS320F28XXX DSP family, programmed on CCStudio
toolchain from Texas Inc., which results in code flexibility
and good execution performance. The general structure of
the hardware layer is discussed, presenting the key peripheral
modules.
The built measuring system was designed to be used in an
independent mode. It is an active device that generates itself
the current signals impressed on the electrodes, in addition
to acquiring and recording the current and developed GPR to
process the final results. In addition to the records of voltage
and current waves, such results include the measured impulse
impedance and the estimated low-frequency resistance.
Preliminary tests were developed, applying the device to
measure the mentioned quantities of simple and complex
arrangements of grounding electrodes buried in soils of low
and high resistivity.
The quality of the measured voltage and current waves was
assessed by comparison with those recorded by an oscilloscope
and showed very good agreement. The measured impulse
impedance are all consistent and the estimates of grounding
resistance as well.
The results demonstrate that this portable low cost, low
weight, and stand alone impedance measuring system based
on DSP processor consists of an effective tool for assessing
the lightning response of grounding electrodes and can be very
useful in lightning protection applications.
Furthermore, the modular architecture of the device design
allows improving upgrade capabilities, software enhance-
ments, and easy maintenance.
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10
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Breno Dias Rodrigues was born in Contagem, MG,
Brazil, on January 10, 1986. He received the B.Sc.
and Ph.D. degrees in electrical engineering from the
Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG), Belo
Horizonte, in 2009 and 2014, respectively
He is involved in electronic-based instrumentation
for grounding impedance measurements, lightning
protection, and lightning performance assessments
of transmission lines. His current research interests
include grounding, lightning, and electronic-based
instrumentation.
IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INSTRUMENTATION AND MEASUREMENT
Silvério Visacro (SM’00) received the B.Sc. and
M.Sc. degrees in electrical engineering from the
Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG), Belo
Horizonte, Brazil, and the Ph.D. degree from the
Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro,
Brazil, in 1980, 1984, and 1992, respectively.
He has been with UFMG since 1980, where has
been involved in applied electromagnetics. He is
currently a Full Professor with the Electrical Engi-
neering Department and the Head with the Lightning
Research Center, UFMG. He has developed many
investigation projects of a theoretical and applied nature. He has authored
or co-authored many scientific papers published in reviewed journals and
presented at international conferences. He is the author of two books on
lightning and grounding. His current research interests include electromagnetic
modeling, grounding, and lightning physics as well as protection.
Prof. Visacro is an Effective Member of the American Geophysical Union
and International Council on Large Electric Systems, where he convened the
Response of Grounding Electrodes to Lightning Currents working group.
He is an Associate Editor for the Journal of Lightning Research. He is
a regular reviewer of the IEEE T RANSACTIONS ON E LECTROMAGNETIC
C OMPATIBILITY and the IEEE T RANSACTIONS ON P OWER D ELIVERY.