Wind Sensing with Digital Holography

Remote sensing of wind speeds has proven advantages in wind turbine control and site development assessment, but current methods are too expensive to be economically viable for ubiquitous adoption. A less costly method is required to realize the power efficiency gains from feed-forward control and distributed wind site assessment. This project will address this problem through the use of digital holography to remotely measure wind speed and direction. The Phase I effort will theoretically and experimental demonstrate the feasibility of this approach for this application.In addition, the project will complete a conceptual prototype design to validate the cost advantages of the method. In Phase II will result in a commercial prototype suitable for field testing. In Phase I, an accurate propagation and detection model will be developed to predict performance of digital holography for wind sensing. The model will be empirically validated via experimentation in a laboratory. Finally, a conceptual prototype design suitable for field testing will be completed. This sensing method can be applied in the wind power industry for site evaluation and feed- forward turbine control. It may also find application in low-altitude atmospheric studies, such as the mixing of pollution and aerosols in complex terrain. Another application could be detection of wind shear at local and regional airports where conventional technologies are cost prohibitive. Public benefits of this technology may include increased energy security, lower energy costs, improved pollution controls, and increased transportation safety.