Video: The impact of wind farms on radar performance

As a complement to the lecture (titled “The Impact of Wind Farms on Radar Performance”), which was given recently by Professor Tony Brown during his visit to the University of Cape Town, he has made available this video: Modelling of the Interaction between Wind Farms and Radar. We gratefully acknowledge Prof Brown, Dr L R Danoon and the University of Manchester in this regard.

The video expands on some of the concepts introduced in his lecture:

• Radar cross-section
• Doppler signature
• Nearfield effects
• Shadowing
• Returns masking
• Effects on shipping

The initial section of the video shows the analysis and results for the case of a marine radar, which is further discussed in the lecture slides. The video also shows the Doppler signature of a whole wind farm as a function of range resolution of the radar. In the worst case position, the length of the blades is such they may cover many range cells. The video shows that, as range resolution is changed, the nature of Doppler return changes too and large Doppler ‘glints’ can be seen.

The potential impact of wind farms on navigational radars onboard vessels that operate within close proximity of the farm zone is assessed. The movement of the vessels itself may also cause a number of varying effects, which necessitate the rerouting of shipping traffic around wind farms. Lastly, a case where straightforward blockage presents a potential problem to an offshore oil rig is demonstrated.

See more information in the previous blog post about the day of talks: Exciting research in radar.