avian radar systems for monitoring & mitigation of bird ... · expertise in applied radar...

Edward “Zak” Zakrajsek

DeTect Global Ltd.Afon House, Worthing Road

Horsham, West Sussex

RH12 1TL

UK

www.detect-inc.com

Avian Radar Systems for Monitoring & Mitigation of

Bird & Bat Collisions with Wind Turbines

• Integrated radar systems

company based in Panama City,

Florida, USA

• Offices in Colorado, Washington

DC, Montreal, Canada &

Horsham, England

• Specialists in ‘intelligent radar’

remote sensing systems &

technologies

• DeTect started in 2003, however,

key staff working together since

1993

• Opened UK office in 2012

DeTect Overview

Expertise in Applied Radar Ornithology

• Radar ornithologists, radar engineers,

ecologists, wildlife biologists

• Expertise in bird & bat detection &

control in complex environments:

– Initial experience was in Bird Control at

US Air Bases in UK

• Over 120 avian radars delivered to

date

– Airports, wind farms, industrial

containment ponds

Avian Radar System for Golden eagle mortality risk mitigation, Wyoming USA

MERLIN Aircraft Birdstrike Avoidance Radar , USAF Bagram Airbase , Afghanistan

MERLIN detect & deter Bird Control Radar System, Ft. McMurray, Alberta, Canada

REPRESENTATIVE PROJECTS

Avian Radar Systems for Monitoring & Mitigation of

Bird & Bat Collisions with Wind Turbines

REPRESENTATIVE PROJECTS

MERLIN Avian Radar System for preconstruction avian survey, New Zealand

MERLIN Avian Radar System for proposed offshore wind farm, Massachusetts, USA

MERLIN Avian Radar System for Sea eagle mortality risk, Smola Wind Farm, Norway

• Avian Radar Systems

• Bird Control Radar Systems

• Aircraft Birdstrike Avoidance Radars

• Airspace Surveillance Radars

• Visual Warning Systems (VWS)

• Gap filler radars

• Wind profiler radars

• Hydrometeorological radars

• Stabilized shipboard radars

• Weather data systems

Radar is a simple concept

– Send out a pulse of energy and measure the time it

takes to reflect from a target and return to the

antenna

– The distance (range) to the target is one-half the

time (signal travels out and back)

– Radio waves travel at the speed of light, so accurate

distance measurement requires high-performance

electronics.

– Antenna rotates so “scans” 360 degrees and

repeats

– The position of the antenna gives the bearing

Radio Detection and Ranging

Methodologies:1. Visual assessment -

– Skilled radar ornithologist monitors radar screen, interprets data & ‘counts’ targets

– Limitations include operator variability, fatigue, target loss in ground clutter & inability to physically count all birds in “target rich” environment

2. Recorded visual assessment -

– Radar screen recorded & played back for visual assessment

– Allows more accurate counts & improved QA/QC; still unable to resolve bird target in clutter, and labor intensive

3. Automated computer assessment -

– Radar signal electronically processed with specialized software developed for bird detection

Radar Data Collection & Analysis

Horizontal

surveillance

mode (x-y)

Dual Radar Scan Configuration

Vertical scan

mode (y-z)

For traditional avian radar surveys, a

conventional marine radar is used to

collect data for ~15 minutes in each

position, then ‘flipped’ to other

position - results in ‘data gaps’

Dual Radar Scan Configuration

Dual radars scan simultaneously & continuously

MERLIN Avian Radar System

DeepWater Wind, Plum Island

Offshore Wind Farm, New

York, USA

• Technology originally developed for US Air Force

for bird-aircraft strike (birdstrikes) prevention

• MERLIN developed to provide real time, tactical

bird detection, tracking & risk assessment

– Essentially an ‘Air Traffic Control Radar’ for Birds

– Dual radar configuration provides both horizontal &

vertical detection & real-time bird numeration

– Uses proprietary MERLIN radar data processing &

operating software with automatic birdstrike warning

– Radar hardware & software developed specifically to

detect and track the unique characteristics of birds

MERLIN – Development & Evolution

USAF Bagram Airbase (2010)

Riga International Airport, Latvia (2011)

How MERLIN Works …

• Virtually any radar can detect birds

• Bird targets in conventional radar are occluded by

ground clutter, weather & other interference

• Requires highly trained, full-time radar ornithologist to

monitor radar & provide warning of hazardous bird

activity

• Labor intensive & expensive

• Physically impossible to interpret, track

& react to all birds in a “target rich”environment

• All birds cannot be "seen” due to ground

clutter

• Not operationally usable

• Radar software developed specifically for detecting

& tracking unique characteristics of bird targets

• Small irregularly moving, variable Radar Cross

Section (RCS) target

• Not modified aircraft or marine radar software

• Digitizes & processes radar signal in real-time with

live remote display of information

• Unique clutter suppression & Doppler processing

improves bird detection in high clutter & near ground

• User friendly output options include aviation type

symbols (target trail, data tags for speed, size,

bearing, heading)

• Modular, easily customizable, GUI design

• Automatic routines for real-time risk assessment,

alerting & auto-response actions (e.g. warning

alarms, deterrent activation)

MERLIN Operating System

MERLIN Operating Software

MERLIN SQL Data System

All target data continuously written to the MERLIN SQL

Server data system:

• Real-time processing for web-based displays & risk

analysis

• Historical data by user selectable data periods (daily,

monthly, annually, etc.)

• Documents environmental compliance

Standard & custom report formats supported

• Tabular & graphic presentations

• Includes auto-report engine that generates daily reports

at end of each defined period (e.g. 24 hours)

Provides relatively complete picture of activity over

time & space

Large survey area

24/7/365 data collection - at night

Provides large, high-resolution datasets – X, Y, Z, & T

Provides precise target count, direction, speed, and

flight altitude

Size categories – not species

Enables real-time assessment & mitigation

Technology advancing – performance improving


Bache Wind Farm, Turkey

Why Use MERLIN for Wind Farms?

1. Pre-construction monitoring

– Assess bird activity throughout the Wind Resource Area

– Assess project mortality risks

– Linked to post-construction data

– Year-round, 24-7 survey of bird activity at the site

2. Post-construction monitoring

– Monitor bird activity WITH wind turbines present

– Monitor changes in target numbers or behavior

3. Operating wind farm mortality risk mitigation

– Radar-activated turbine curtailment or deterrent activation

– Custom risk control parameters based on pre- or post-

construction data

– Supports mitigation of risk to resident or migratory birds

MERLIN – for Wind Energy Projects


C-Power Offshore Wind Farm, Belgium

Colors represent the flight direction

MERLIN Radar Data

MERLIN Radar Data

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Risk Assessment

Site-level Risk Assessment:

• Performed in real time for an entire wind farm

• Currently the model for migratory songbirds

• Assess risk for the location, use information on environmental conditions and frontal movements of birds

• Provide a risk model for curtailment decisions with thresholds

Single Turbine Risk Assessment

• Performed in real time at single or clusters of turbines

• Currently targeted at large raptors

• How close is too close?

• Provide a scale for curtailment decisions

• Simple Mission Statement:

To find when and where birds are active at rotor swept heights and the

conditions under which they may collide with the wind turbines

• Migration may be a “when”

• Daily foraging flights may be a “when”

• Seasonal movements or weather avoidance (from hurricanes or flooding for example)

may also be a “when”

Risk Assessment

• Avian radar integrated with the wind farm SCADA system (Supervisory Control And Data Acquisition)

• MERLIN applies custom ‘rule sets’ gathered from radar and other sensors as needed

• May include passage rate, size, position, direction of flight, altitude, weather, etc. to estimate collision risk

• Radar initiated mortality risk mitigation response options:

• Alert to wind farm operators/control centers

• Automated idling of turbines with automatic or manual turbine restart when risk abates

• Activation of bird deterrent devices

• Adaptive Management - rule sets can be modified

MERLIN SCADA: Radar-based Risk Mitigation

Implementation process:

1. Pre-construction surveys used to define high-risk strike conditions & mitigation parameters required for each site.

2. Radar system programmed with rule set based on these conditions

3. Radar system detects & tracks birds in real time, & gathers weather or other data

4. When rule set is met, the radar system initiates pre-determined mitigation measures

5. Post-implementation data used to refine rule sets

Qualifiers & Notes:

• Level of study and implementation is unique by site

• Appropriate, long-term pre-construction studies are the best approach

• Refine with post-construction operational studies (Adaptive Management principles)

• Mitigation technique minimizes both bird mortality & turbine downtime by targeting high risk periods in real time

MERLIN SCADA Implementation

Conditions and Risk

• For migrating birds, a condition WHEN birds May collide with a turbine is during low visibility conditions

• For raptors, conditions WHEN birds May collide with a turbine are the absence of strong thermals or presence of prey or territorial behavior or presence of orographic lift

• For bats the list is longer but does not include low visibility yet

• Bird risk is based upon the best risk assessment and collisions with other structures, bat risk is based on actual mortality at multiple sites

• Risk Assessment and Risk Management are evolving areas of wind-wildlife management


Penascal Wind Farm, Texas, USA

MERLIN SCADA – Displays

• Real-time remote display of data from the MERLIN system

– User-specific levels of detail

– Activity reports (passage rates, curtailment events, track & altitude data)

– Automatic ‘high activity’ alerts

– Allows remote user query for periodic & trend analysis

– Allows operations center to forecast curtailments & restarts

Operations Center Display

Zorlu Energy

Bahce Wind Farm

Turkey


El Pino Wind Farm, Spain

Mitigating Mortality Risk of Large Soaring Birds

MERLIN SCADA Raptor Roadmap

Step 1: Gather Information

Step 2: Identify Risks and Develop a Predictive Model

Step 3: Use Ornithologists as Preliminary Decision Makers

Step 4: Work towards Automating Decision Steps

Step 5: Refine Mitigation Strategy with Adaptive Management

Mitigating Mortality Risk for Large Soaring Birds

The MERLIN SCADA-Raptor application uses radar-assigned risk indices for individual raptor-type targets relative to their distance and heading from each wind turbine as measured by the radar

Challenges:

• Accurately identifying when large soaring bird-type birds are at risk

• Developing economically viable radar configurations & supplementary sensors

• Minimizing wind turbine downtime to allow for profitable energy production

• Finding a solution that is applicable to the variety of potential collision causes

• Validating operational efficacy

MERLIN SCADA – Raptor

• The risk components from both the vertical & horizontal radars used

– A “3D” risk assessment is developed

– Risk value generated based on distance & direction from turbine

• Operational system:

– Radar activated idling of individual turbines based on risk for each target when the risk threshold is exceeded

– On-line operator web interface shows color-coded risk status of each turbine in real-time

– Automatic idling or operator initiated through web interface

Ground Truthing

Incorporation of ornithologist

• Visually verified tracks required for moving forward towards taxonomic classification or identification

• Use radar SCADA interface to curtail turbines

Using capabilities within MERLIN

• Limitations when comparing two independent datasets

• Ability to tag tracks with MERLIN software

• Improve behavioral observations, correct for visual bias in location and altitude

Can be augmented with other technology

• Camera systems

• GPS and VHF tagging

Questions?

Headquarters

DeTect, Inc.1022 West 23rd Ave, # 620

Panama City, Florida

32405

USA

+1.850.763.7200

Europe

DeTect Global Ltd.Afon House Worthing Road

Horsham, West Sussex

RH12 1TL UK

+44.01403.788315

www.detect-inc.com

International

DeTect International5801 Lee Highway

Arlington, Virginia

22207

USA

+1.703.533.8555 ext 588

[email protected]