Wind Turbine Generator Impacts to Marine Vessel Radar (2022) / Chapter Skim
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4 Key Findings, Conclusions, and Recommendations
4 Key Findings, Conclusions, and Recommendations
Pages 65-76
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From page 65... ...
Marine vessel radar (MVR) design and operation, 4.
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Coast Guard's proposed safety fairways are intended to provide safe access to U.S. ports by guiding vessels safely past wind turbines but may cause increased traffic density and risk of col lision with crossing vessels in the vicinity of wind farms.
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Solid-state radars employ stable frequency sources and hence enable coherent signal processing, whereby the radar processor can combine returns from a contiguous set of transmit pulses to filter objects according to Doppler frequency and inferred angle. Thus, solid-state radars provide functionality BOX 4.2 Findings: Offshore Wind Turbine Generator Characteristics Finding 2.1: The three-bladed horizontal axis upwind WTG will be the standard marine deployment in the near term (10–15 years)
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The current MVR system has fairly narrow azimuth beamwidth but a broad elevation response to accommodate vessel motion. The broad elevation beamwidth allows strong WTG returns to enter the radar over a greater range extent, thereby exacerbating WTG effects.
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Electromagnetic Characteristics of Wind Turbine Generators The electromagnetic characteristics of WTGs determine return signals seen by the MVR. There are two dominant effects: the strong return from the WTG tower, and the strong and Doppler-spread returns from the blades.
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Current computational models are approximate and lack validation, including those used in simulators. Wind Turbine Generator Impacts on Marine Vessel Radar From the committee's information-gathering sessions and collective experience, it is evident that WTGs decrease the effectiveness of MVR, and the sizes of anticipated marine WTG farms will exacerbate this situation.
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Additionally, own vessel platform multipath is a significant challenge for returns from WTGs, leading to ambiguous detections and a potentially confusing operator picture. Finding 5.3: When conducting maritime surface SAR operations in and adjacent to an offshore wind farm, use of MVR could be challenging because wind turbines can cause significant interference and shadowing that suppress the detection of small contacts.
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BOX 4.6 Findings: Present State of Mitigating Solutions for Wind Turbine Generator Effects on Marine Vessel Radar Finding 6.1: In contrast to investments by developers and operators of air traffic control and military radar systems, compelling WTG mitigation techniques for MVR have not been substantially investigated, implemented, matured, or deployed. Finding 6.2: Questions remain about the effective utilization of current generation, solid-state Doppler radar and target trackers/analyzers in the presence of WTGs for currently fielded systems.
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Conclusion 2: Opportunities exist to ameliorate wind turbine generator–induced inter ference on marine vessel radars using both active and passive means, such as improved radar signal processing and display logic or signature-enhancing reflectors on small ves sels to minimize lost contacts. MVRs are not optimized for operations in the complex environments of a fully populated continental shelf wind farm.
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operated in and adjacent to wind farms, giving attention to • comprehensive test planning, data collection, and evaluation over a range of expected, operational conditions; • innovative and collaborative approaches to facilitate data collection, such as the establishment of an MVR "sensor integration lab" for all classes or types of MVRs and the development of a validated modeling and simulation capability; • research, development, and characterization of a reduced radar-cross-section WTG for MVR; • improvements to operator training models based on verification with physics-based models anchored by field collected data; • data collection and analysis using prototype systems, preceding the full deployment of vertical axis wind turbines, if and when they become economically feasible for offshore applications, as a means of characterizing their impacts to MVRs; and • data collection and analysis on floating wind turbine generators, which may pose additional challenges for MVRs through their wave-induced movement that will likely provide a less-consistent radar return overall and may also increase clutter and complicate Doppler return interpretation. Recommendation 2: The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM)
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. Presentation to the Committee on Wind Turbine Generator Impacts to Marine Vessel Radar, September 16, 2021.
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