Labview_Wind Turbine Radar for Student Design Competition 2011

[kong6989]

University: University of Oklahoma

Team Member(s): Fanxing Kong

Faculty Advisors: Robert Palmer and Yan Zhang

Email Address: fxkong@ou.edu

Title: An Experimental Radar System for Demonstration of Wind Turbine Clutter Mitigation

Description: I designed and built a Pulsed-Doppler polarimetric radar system for indoor measurement. The motivation of this project is to scale both wind turbine and radar system down into the size that fits into our anechoic chamber (built with wave absorbing material) so that we can analyze the Electromagnetic Interference (EMI) caused by wind farms on current radar networks. This EMI is causing potential severe cluttter to radar as more wind farms are being built across the world. As a recently recognized type of clutter, it is very important to characterize its radar signatures. For such a purpose, we customized a wind turbine model and built the radar our own.

Our radar are composed by three major hardware segments: antennas, RF transceiver and PCI digitizer. Labview is used to control and synchronize these parts. The radar can work in both PPI scanning mode (antennas rotating while collecting data) and ASCOPE spotlight mode (antennas focus on one direction). Many radar operating parameters such as PRF(Pulse Repetition Frequency), dynamic range, etc. are well adjustable through our labview interface. A super fast digitizer with high dynamic range is needed in our experiment. And we used Gage product, which features 200MHz sampling rate with 16-bit resolution.

Further more, we demonstrate with our system that if telemetry information (rotating speed and aspect angle) from wind turbine owners are available to radar engineers, it is possible to mitigate the Wind Turbine Clutter (WTC) in real time. This will solve the problem both sides: radar operators will be free of WTC inteference; wind farm developpers can start many projects that have been stalled due to their potential inteference to radar networks.

Products: Self-made radar RF transceiver, Gage PCI digitizer, Labview control interface

The Challenge and The Solution:

The major challenge is to synchronize all hardware pieces including RF pulse modulator, RF switch module, digitizer trigger, a couple of motor controllers. Labview provides very convenient tools talking to hardware pieces with standard interface such as serial port. I designed a control board that synchronize RF modules w/ digital wares.

Benefits gained using LabVIEW and NI tools

Nice interface for demonstration; easy for system integration; fast speed for near real time processing.

Add image(s), video, and VI code to give us a clear picture of your project.  of project with captions>: see attachment

A video clip can be found at http://arrc.ou.edu/~fanxing/WTC/ , which is way too large for email transmission.

P.S For the questions about Labview and competition: I love the way that Labview makes system integration in such a straightforward way. And I got an invitation from NI to opt in for the competition.

[LPS]

Hey there,

Thank you so much for your project submission into the NI LabVIEW Student Design Competition. It's great to see your enthusiasm for NI LabVIEW! Make sure you share your project URL with your peers so you can collect votes via "likes" for your project and win. Collecting the most "likes" gives you the opportunity to win cash prizes for your project submission. I'm curious to know, what's your favorite part about using LabVIEW and how did you hear about the competition?

Finally - please add the following information to your submission document. I know that it's in the attachment, however it will make it easier for us when assessing your submission.

University:

Team Member(s):

Faculty Advisors:

Email Address:

Title:

Description:

Products:(hardware, software, modules, and toolkits)

The Challenge and The Solution:

Benefits gained using LabVIEW and NI tools

Add image(s), video, and VI code to give us a clear picture of your project.  of project with captions>

Good Luck, Liz in Austin, TX.

[jcallaway]

Hello,

Just a friendly reminder to provide the following information by June 10th so your submission can be considered complete:

University:

Team Member(s):

Faculty Advisors:

Email Address:

Title:

Description:

Products:(hardware, software, modules, and toolkits)

The Challenge and The Solution:

Benefits gained using LabVIEW and NI tools

Add image(s), video, and VI code to give us a clear picture of your project.  of project with captions>

Good Luck, Jessica in Austin, TX.

[kong6989]

OK. I have difficulties replying the email I got. The server kept sending my emails back. Is there another that I can send you these information? Another email address other than "ni-1011545228-1d0w-2x-c5t@decibel.ni.com"? Or some where I can upload? Many thanks!

[kong6989]

I figure maybe just posting here:

University: University of Oklahoma

Team Member(s): Fanxing Kong

Faculty Advisors: Robert Palmer and Yan Zhang

Email Address: fxkong@ou.edu

Title: An Experimental Radar System for Demonstration of Wind Turbine Clutter Mitigation

Description: I designed and built a Pulsed-Doppler polarimetric radar system for indoor measurement. The motivation of this project is to scale both wind turbine and radar system down into the size that fits into our anechoic chamber (built with wave absorbing material) so that we can analyze the Electromagnetic Interference (EMI) caused by wind farms on current radar networks. This EMI is causing potential severe cluttter to radar as more wind farms are being built across the world. As a recently recognized type of clutter, it is very important to characterize its radar signatures. For such a purpose, we customized a wind turbine model and built the radar our own.

Our radar are composed by three major hardware segments: antennas, RF transceiver and PCI digitizer. Labview is used to control and synchronize these parts. The radar can work in both PPI scanning mode (antennas rotating while collecting data) and ASCOPE spotlight mode (antennas focus on one direction). Many radar operating parameters such as PRF(Pulse Repetition Frequency), dynamic range, etc. are well adjustable through our labview interface. A super fast digitizer with high dynamic range is needed in our experiment. And we used Gage product, which features 200MHz sampling rate with 16-bit resolution.

Further more, we demonstrate with our system that if telemetry information (rotating speed and aspect angle) from wind turbine owners are available to radar engineers, it is possible to mitigate the Wind Turbine Clutter (WTC) in real time. This will solve the problem both sides: radar operators will be free of WTC inteference; wind farm developpers can start many projects that have been stalled due to their potential inteference to radar networks.

Products: Self-made radar RF transceiver, Gage PCI digitizer, Labview control interface

The Challenge and The Solution:

The major challenge is to synchronize all hardware pieces including RF pulse modulator, RF switch module, digitizer trigger, a couple of motor controllers. Labview provides very convenient tools talking to hardware pieces with standard interface such as serial port. I designed a control board that synchronize RF modules w/ digital wares.

Benefits gained using LabVIEW and NI tools

Nice interface for demonstration; easy for system integration; fast speed for near real time processing.

Add image(s), video, and VI code to give us a clear picture of your project.  of project with captions>: see attachment

A video clip can be found at http://arrc.ou.edu/~fanxing/WTC/ , which is way too large for email transmission.

P.S For the questions about Labview and competition: I love the way that Labview makes system integration in such a straightforward way. And I got an invitation from NI to opt in for the competition.