Avian Radar Systems for Monitoring & Mitigation of

Bird & Bat Collisions with Wind Turbines

Edward Zak Zakrajsek

DeTect Global Ltd.

Afon House, Worthing Road
Horsham, West Sussex
RH12 1TL
UK

www.detect-inc.com

DeTect Overview
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

Expertise in Applied Radar Ornithology

Radar ornithologists, radar engineers,

ecologists, wildlife biologists

MERLIN detect & deter Bird Control Radar

System, Ft. McMurray, Alberta, Canada

Expertise in bird & bat detection &

control in complex environments:

REPRESENTATIVE PROJECTS

Initial experience was in Bird Control at

US Air Bases in UK

Avian Radar System for Golden eagle

mortality risk mitigation, Wyoming USA

Over 120 avian radars delivered to

date

Airports, wind farms, industrial

containment ponds

MERLIN Aircraft Birdstrike Avoidance Radar

, USAF Bagram Airbase , Afghanistan

Avian Radar Systems for Monitoring & Mitigation of

Bird & Bat Collisions with Wind Turbines
REPRESENTATIVE PROJECTS

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

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

Radio Detection and Ranging

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

Radar Data Collection & Analysis

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

Dual Radar Scan Configuration

Horizontal
surveillance
mode (x-y)

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

MERLIN Development & Evolution

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

USAF Bagram Airbase (2010)

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

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

MERLIN Operating System

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 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)

Why Use MERLIN for Wind Farms?

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

MERLIN Avian Radar System

Bache Wind Farm, Turkey

MERLIN for Wind Energy Projects

1.

2.

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

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 postconstruction data

Supports mitigation of risk to resident or migratory birds

MERLIN Avian Radar System

C-Power Offshore Wind Farm, Belgium

MERLIN Radar Data

Colors represent the flight direction

MERLIN Radar Data

Frequency Distribution over 24-hr day

1400
1350
1300
1250
1200
1150
1100
1050
1000
950
900
850
800
750
700
650
600
550
500
450
400
350
300
250
200
150
100
50
0

700

Flight altitude
Distribution

Average Target Height (m)

600

Mean Flight Altitude by Hour

500
400
300
200
100
0
1400

10 11

12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 40%
23

Hour
1200

10000

20000

30000

Number of Targets

40000

50000

Nightly target passage rate (targets/km/hr)

Target height (top of 50-meter increment)

MERLIN Radar Data

Nightly TPR
% targets within RSZ

35%

30%
1000

25%
800

20%
600

15%
400

10%
200

5%

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

Risk Assessment

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

MERLIN SCADA: Radar-based Risk Mitigation

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 Implementation

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

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 windwildlife management

MERLIN Avian Radar System

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

MERLIN Avian Radar System

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

Europe

International

DeTect, Inc.

DeTect Global Ltd.

DeTect International

1022 West 23rd Ave, # 620

Panama City, Florida
32405
USA

Afon House Worthing Road

Horsham, West Sussex
RH12 1TL UK
+44.01403.788315

5801 Lee Highway

Arlington, Virginia
22207
USA

+1.850.763.7200

+1.703.533.8555 ext 588

contact@detect-inc.com

www.detect-inc.com