Page 27 - AAA MARCH - APRIL 2013 Online Magazine

FEATURE WINDMILLS

a new track is a key requirement,” says government is due to release results in
Smith. “Where there are many adjacent the coming weeks.
wind farms, you need to maintain the Meanwhile, C Speed has introduced
probability of detection, and you still need its LightWave S-Band solid-state primary
three consecutive tracks.” Thales is using radar to Europe, commencing wind farm
the data collected during the trial to refine trials in mid-2012. The first trial took
its software algorithms and to advance place at Whitelee Wind Farm southeast
the technology. The company is also of Glasgow to test the performance of
working with the UK Safety Regulatory LightWave in-fill technology and included
Group (SRG) and expects to start testing stakeholders such as the UK CAA, MoD,
production software by the end of 2012. SRG, NATS and AOA (airport operators
association). Further trials are also
Raytheon’s new software starting at Prestwick and London Manston
Also due to begin operations in 2012, in collaboration with airport owner Infratil
Raytheon is currently installing new Airports Europe. The radar operates
processing software on the S-Band primary in S-Band with a mitigation range out
radar system at Woensdrecht Air Base in to 25 nautical miles, and an extended
the Netherlands, in the first delivery of this surveillance range of 60 nautical miles.
technology. Successful modification of the It provides standard Asterix output and is
existing radar will allow the extension of available as a stand-alone system or in a
a nearby wind farm to go ahead without multi-sensor configuration.
impacting flying operations by the Royal Further tests are underway at wind
Netherlands Air Force. Raytheon has been farm sites in Scotland using an in-fill
working with UK NATS and a consortium solution called CH-Infill. The solid-state
of wind farm energy providers for the 3D radar is designed by Cambridge
past three years to adapt its ASR-10SS Consultants and is being developed by
S-Band and ASR-23SS L-Band primary spin-off company Aveillant. The CH-Infill
surveillance radar systems to overcome sensor is designed to detect aircraft
radar interference issues associated with flying over and around a wind farm, and
wind turbine blades. to reject returns from wind turbines, while
Raytheon reports its mitigation continuing to transmit position data for
solution significantly reduces the number detected aircraft. The sensor distinguishes
of false plots, achieving less than one aircraft and wind turbine tracks using
false report per scan even in areas of advanced processing to compare the
dense wind turbine concentrations. The Doppler signature of returns with their
advanced signal data processor combined actual movement between updates. The
with proprietary software algorithms is high update frequency, close proximity to
designed to be retrofitted into existing the wind farm and 3D detection contribute
ASR-10 and ASR-23SS radar systems to the accuracy of this system.
and is standard on new deliveries. The
company says it is finalising plans with High-speed processing
several key customers to commence Taking a different approach, UK video
implementation of system upgrades. specialist Thruput has developed a
mitigation solution based on technology
MIT trials the company uses for the training
Raytheon also participated in US trials simulator for the Merlin helicopter.
designed by the Massachusetts Institute MIDAS integrates multiple video
of Technology Lincoln Laboratory and sources in real time into a single display to
carried out in Tyler, Minnesota, in early provide a hardware solution that compares
2012. Raytheon was selected along data pixel by pixel to create a composite
with Lockheed Martin and C Speed to image. The system uses parallel arrays
demonstrate mitigation technology of field-programmable gate arrays
including new processing software (FPGA) that operate independently to
and gap-filler radar solutions. The US ATC. Thruput was retained by BT Wind for
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