A number of ideas for mitigating the effects of wind farms on radar have been proposed and explored. These ideas can be divided into three groups. 1) From the operational perspective, mitigation approaches include rerouting of aircraft and ships around the wind farm and providing training to radar operators to distinguish wind farm clutter from real targets. 2) From the wind farm developer's perspective, possible mitigation methods include using terrain screening to mask wind farms from radar, developing and deploying stealthy turbines, and properly designing wind farm layout to minimize wind farm clutter seen by the radar. 3) From the radar perspective, mitigation approaches include relocating the radar, optimizing radar parameters to minimize wind farm interference, upgrading radar hardware, using advanced processing/filtering techniques, and using gap filler radars to cover regions blocked by wind farms. These techniques are examined and discussed in [EU1, EU2, US1, US2]. It is generally agreed that no single "silver bullet" solution exists in mitigation, and possible solutions must be examined on a case-by-case basis. In [US3, US4], radar hardware and software processing techniques are discussed for air traffic control and long-range surveillance radars. In [US5, EU3, EU4], R&D activities in the US and Europe into stealthy turbines are reported. In [EU5], the feasibility of using in-fill radar in UK's Greater Wash area is examined.
US.1
"Wind Farms and Radar"
Windmills"
Michael Brenner
The MITRE Corporation, Rept. JSR-08-125
January 2008
US.2
"Testimony of Stu S. Webster, Director of Wind Development Permitting and
Environmental"
S. S. Webster, Iberdrola Renewables
On Behalf of the American Wind Energy Association to the Readiness Subcommittee of the
House Armed Services Committee
June 29, 2010
US.3
"Wind Turbine Impact Mitigation for QVN ARSR-3 Radar"
MIT Lincoln Laboratory report to DOD
June 21, 2010
US.4
"Overview of Raytheon Wind Farm Mitigation Techniques and Test Results"
P. R. Drake
CNS/ATM Conference, Boston, MA
June 2011
US.5
"Radar-Cross-Section Reduction of Wind Turbines (Part 1)"
J. J. McDonald, B. C. Brock, S. E. Allen, P. G. Clem, J. A. Paquette, W. E. Patitz, W. K. Miller,
D. A. Calkins, and H. J. Loui
Sandia National Labs, Rept. SAND2012-0480
Mar. 2012
EU.1
"Feasibility of Mitigating the Effects of Windfarms on Primary Radar"
M. M. Butler and D. A. Johnson
Alenia Marconi Systems Limited
2003
EU.2
"Options for Mitigation of the Effects of Windfarms on Radar Systems"
C. A. Jackson and M. M. Butler (BAE Systems)
IET International Conference on Radar Systems
2007
EU.3
"Stealth Technology for Wind Turbines"
J. Pinto, J. C. G. Matthews, and C. Sarno
IET Proc. Radar Sonar Navig., Vol. 4, Iss. 1, pp. 126-133
2010
EU.4
"Stealth Technology for Wind Turbines"
M. Bryanton et al.
BAE Systems, Vestas, U. of Manchester, and U. of Sheffield
BAE Systems, Vestas, U. of Manchester, and U. of Sheffield
Dec. 2007
EU.5
"Radar In-fill for Greater Wash Area Feasibility Study - Final Report"
D. J. Bannister
QinetiQ Rept. No. ED02698
Aug. 2007