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Wind Farms Near Airports Made Possible: New Holographic Radar Can Tell Planes and Wind Turbines Apart
Posted By Lidija Grozdanic On December 4, 2012 @ 10:00 am In energy efficiency,Environment,Green Technology,Innovation,News,Renewable Energy,Wind Power | 1 Comment
The new Holographic Radar system, developed by UK tech firm Aveillant , can differentiate between the spinning blades of aircraft and those of wind turbines . The new radar can pinpoint any turbine within a radius of 20 nautical miles (37 km) of the airport, which will help open up more locations for wind farm development in areas around airports.
What makes wind turbines and aircraft  geographically incompatible is that fact that both have rotating blades, which makes it difficult for the air traffic control to tell them apart. Unlike traditional radar, where rotating antenna sweep horizontally under a radar beam to detect objects, the new Holographic system uses a stationary array that receives radar signals  from all directions continuously.
With this, the Holographic  radar proves to be much more efficient in distinguishing between turbines and airplanes. The new technology can be added on to an airport’s existing radar system and, by eliminating the movements of wind turbines from the air traffic control screen, it creates an opportunity to use wide belts of land around airports for wind energy harvesting.
The Holographic radar is currently in a prototype stage. After getting encouraging test results on a small scale, Aveillant plans to test it at a large wind farm  in the near future.
+ Aveillant 
Via Treehugger 
Photos by Wikimedia Commons 
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URL to article: http://inhabitat.com/wind-farms-near-airports-made-possible-new-holographic-radar-can-tell-planes-and-wind-turbines-apart/
URLs in this post:
 Image: http://inhabitat.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2012/12/wind-farms-airports-holographic-radar.jpg
 Photo: http://www.shutterstock.com/cat.mhtml?lang=en&search_source=search_form&version=llv1&anyorall=all&safesearch=1&searchterm=wind+farm&photos=on&search_group=&horizontal=on&orient=&search_cat=&searchtermx=&photographer_name=&people_gender=&people_age=&people_ethnicity=&people_number=&commercial_ok=&color=&show_color_wheel=1&secondary_submit=Search#id=79444825&src=b116a8e7c27f6d77e48834e843b2c2b5-1-22
 Aveillant: http://www.aveillant.com/
 wind turbines: http://inhabitat.com/philippe-starck-unveils-two-revolutionair-wind-turbines/
 Image: http://inhabitat.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2012/12/800px-Auckland_Airport_Seen_From_Light_Plane_03.jpg
 wind turbines and aircraft: http://inhabitat.com/altaeros-energies-floating-wind-turbines-tap-into-strong-high-altitude-winds/
 radar signals: http://inhabitat.com/students-develop-radar-device-to-help-blind-people-see/
 Holographic: http://inhabitat.com/scientist-develops-water-resistant-solar-panel-coatings-inspired-by-iridescent-butterfly-wings/yang-holographic-butterfly-coating/
 wind farm: http://inhabitat.com/kitegens-power-systems-are-the-next-stage-of-wind-energy-generation/
 + Aveillant: http://www.aveillant.com/news/
 Treehugger: http://www.treehugger.com/wind-technology/new-radar-system-can-tell-planes-and-wind-turbines-apart.html
 Wikimedia Commons: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Auckland_Airport_Seen_From_Light_Plane_03.jpg
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