New radar technology could double number of UK wind farms -

[mhm]

UK company proves how new radar can mask wind turbines from air traffic controllers, opening path for capacity growth

A new radar system could double the number of wind farms across the UK and will allay safety concerns over installing turbines near airports and military bases.

UK technology company Aveillant has successfully completed a live demonstrations of its 3D Holographic Radar which removes wind turbines from air traffic control system radars with no degradation to radar performance.

Wind turbines can appear on airport radars, complicating the job of traffic controllers.

Green energy body RenewableUK says around 2,700 turbine applications have been held up due to aviation safety fears. It says if those objections are removed the number of wind farms in the UK could be doubled.
- See more at: http://www.rtcc.org/2013/07/24/new-radar-technology-could-double-number-of-uk-wind-farms/#sthash.K8VnLxaK.dpuf

[viking9]

So, current radars are unable to tell the difference between a jet travelling at several hundred knots and a stationary wind turbine. My!

[edgy]

Stationary targets don't have a doppler shift. Wind turbines blades turning at all different speeds (depending on the wind) produce various values of doppler shift, and the radar tracker begins an auto-track.  So you need to put a box around the site to ignore it.  After a bunch of towers go up, you have a pretty big box of no tracking allowed.  So planes flying into the box can disappear until they pop out.

Russian Bear bombers are made easier to track, because their engines provide a bigger return sometimes, then their skin. Course it drives the doppler values crazy, because sometimes it the skin, and sometimes it's the engines.  So, the Kalman filter process gets a little screwy, but over time, the target does move.

ATC radars are highly automated, thus they don't have a track initiator like in the military (a human hitting the track initiate button).

Sadly, wind turbines will be the death of Western Civilization. Already Germany is losing millions of tourists who don't want to go on a tour of scenery blotted by 150 foot windmills, and people living next to them say they sound like an airport with engines running.  Not to mention the birds and bats raining down on their cars and homes...

They say the bats and birds are killed before they hit the blades, because the suction collapses their lungs.

So, current radars are unable to tell the difference between a jet travelling at several hundred knots and a stationary wind turbine. My!

[satcom]

Ah yes but don't forget Tom  , the tips of the blades , which cause the radar clutter , are travelling at up to supersonic speeds in heavy wind.......then they explode.........causing even more clutter ! :O)
http://www.newscientist.com/blogs/onepercent/2011/12/why-did-a-wind-turbine-self-co.html

I cant help but think that in 20 years time our coasts and moorlands will be littered with rotting unused turbines when the bubble bursts and the penny drops that they are
just not efficient or cost effective.
They are probably worth more in scrap value than they will ever contribute towards
saving the environment.

[viking9]

Thanks, Edgy for your explanation.

[viking9]

Ah yes but don't forget Tom  , the tips of the blades , which cause the radar clutter , are travelling at up to supersonic speeds in heavy wind.......then they explode.........causing even more clutter ! :O)

"the turbine's manufacturer, Vestas of Aarhus, Denmark"... it does look like a giant Swan Vesta