DeTect is part of a collaborative effort involving the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL). This 18-month initiative aims to gather extensive weather, ocean, and wildlife data near active offshore wind farms and lease areas off the Northeast United States coast.
This effort is part of the third phase of the Wind Forecast Improvement Project (WFIP3), which will obtain extensive met-ocean-environmental observations onboard an autonomous moored barge to improve the design and operation of offshore wind turbines and wind farms.
DeTect’s involvement includes the Merlin True3D radar system, specifically designed for offshore vessel and buoy deployments. The radar system handles the complexities of collecting avian and bat movements while compensating for the dynamics of a moving platform. It is coupled with an electronic stabilisation system that corrects track data in real-time to compensate for heading, roll, pitch, and yaw. The full 360-degree system provides track updates four times per second, collecting critical positional and altitudinal information of airborne targets. This data allows the system to gather valuable information on bird and bat flux rates as well as wildlife movement patterns and altitudes.
The technology can be integrated with a radar-directed electro-optic, infrared (EOIR) camera system. The system comes in a fixed or mobile design, fully self-contained with all hardware, software, and integration included.
