NEWS

Mike Watson attended the Windpower 2010 Conference and Exhibition which was held at the Dallas Convention Center in Dallas, Texas from the 23^rd to the 26^th May 2010.

Mike attended the conference on Monday 24^th May where he gave a presentation which was well received by the audience. The speaker session in which Mike was involved in was ‘Airspace Conflicts: The Latest on Radar and Aviation Concerns’ – Mike’s presentation was titled ‘Resolving Radar Issues with Data Fusion’.

Below is a summary of the presentation;

The Scottish Whitelee wind farm faced major objections due to its expected impact on the radar at Glasgow Airport. Pager Power identified and developed a data fusion radar solution which enabled the wind farm to be built. 

Pager Power offered to find a suitable site for a new radar, a site from where none of the turbines would be detected, but aircraft flying into Glasgow would be detected. This was challenging because of the large site area and the wide variations in terrain elevation. The company's custom software was modified and an area of over 25,000 square kilometres was analysed using a complex iterative process which ran for a number of weeks on a multi-processor server. The computer model was refined as suitable zones were identified, and more complex analysis was carried out. A number of potential sites were surveyed which resulted in three technically suitable sites being identified. 

Following various discussions with the airport the Kincardine radar site was selected and built. The radar was subsequently integrated into the airport's own radar and display systems. The key issues relating to the integration of the two radar outputs onto an air traffic controller's screens include matching the two radar rotation rates, range errors occurring due to aircraft target height and the transition as aircraft cross from the area covered by one radar to the area covered by the other. The practical costs, risks and timescales of data fusion radar solutions are considered. 

Learning objectives:

1 - Radar Issues can be resolved in various ways.

2 - Data Fusion has successfully resolved Radar Issues in Practice and is one of the most promising mitigation technologies.

3 - An understanding of the costs and technical complexities of Data Fusion. Attendees will be able to better understand the radar risks and mitigation costs for their wind developments. Active engagement will be achieved by asking for a show of hands in response to questions and by encouraging questions during or after the presentation.