Wind Farm Warning Lights Activate When Aircraft Approach

Wind Farm Warning Lights Activate When Aircraft Approach
Feb-12-14
To help reduce complaints from folks living near wind farms, researchers have developed an aircraft-warning beacon that will blink only when it senses an approaching plane.

Wind power is on the rise in Germany, which also brings new complaints from residents that live near wind farms—and the perpetually blinking aircraft warning beacon is at the top of their list. To address the problem, The Fraunhofer Institute joined with the commercial firm Industrial Electronics and the wind farm engineering firm Dirkshof Wind GmbH to create the Parasol project. Together, they developed a system that uses passive radar sensors to determine the distance, position and velocity of any aircraft in the vicinity of the turbine.

When an aircraft flying below an altitude of 2500 feet is detected within 2.5 miles of the wind turbines, the collision warning lights will automatically switch on. As Fraunhofer’s department head Heiner Kuschel describes it: "We use the passive radar sensors to essentially extend a protective umbrella over the wind farm like a parasol."

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[GIZMAG.COM]
[FRAUNHOFER]
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