A rig for calibrating a continuous-wave coherent Doppler wind lidar has been constructed. The rig consists of a rotating flywheel on a frame together with an adjustable lidar telescope. The laser beam points toward the rim of the wheel in a plane perpendicular to the wheel's rotation axis, and it can be tilted up and down along the wheel's periphery and thereby measure different projections of the tangential speed. The angular speed of the wheel is measured using a high-precision measuring ring fitted to the periphery of the wheel and synchronously logged together with the lidar speed. A simple geometrical model shows that there is a linear relationship between the measured line-of-sight speed and the beam tilt angle, and this is utilised to extrapolate to the tangential speed as measured by the lidar. An analysis of the uncertainties based on the model shows that a standard uncertainty on the measurement of about 0.1 % can be achieved, but also that the main source of uncertainty is the width of the laser beam and its associated uncertainty. Measurements performed with different beam widths confirm this. Other measurements with a minimised beam radius show that the method in this case performs about equally well for all the tested reference speeds ranging from about 3 to 18 m s−1.

Abstract. In this paper we present an analytical model for estimating the uncertainty of the horizontal wind speed based on dual-Doppler lidar measurements. The model follows the propagation of uncertainties method and takes into account the uncertainty of radial velocity estimation, azimuth and elevation pointing angles, and ranging. The model is achieved by coupling ranging and elevation angle to uncertainty of the probed wind speed through a simple power-law shear model. The model has been implemented in Python and made freely available through as the Python package YADDUM.

The fusion of drone and wind lidar technology introduces the exciting possibility of performing high-quality wind measurements virtually anywhere. We present a proof-of-concept (POC) drone–lidar system and report results from several test campaigns that demonstrate its ability to measure accurate wind speeds. The POC system is based on a dual-telescope continuous-wave (CW) lidar, with drone-borne telescopes and ground-based optoelectronics. Commercially available drone and gimbal units are employed. The demonstration campaigns started with a series of comparisons of the wind speed measurements acquired by the POC system to simultaneous measurements performed by nearby mast-based sensors. On average, an agreement down to about 0.1 m s−1 between mast- and drone-based measurements of the horizontal wind speed is found. Subsequently, the extent of the flow disturbance caused by the drone downwash was investigated. These tests vindicated the somewhat conservative choice of lidar measurement ranges made for the initial wind speed comparisons. Overall, the excellent results obtained without any drone motion correction and with fairly primitive drone position control indicate the potential of drone–lidar systems in terms of accuracy and applications. The next steps in the development are outlined and several potential applications are discussed.

A rig for calibrating a continuous-wave coherent Doppler wind lidar has been constructed. The rig consists of a rotating flywheel on a frame together with an adjustable lidar telescope. The laser beam points toward the rim of the wheel in a plane perpendicular to the wheel's rotation axis, and it can be tilted up and down along the wheel periphery and thereby measure different projections of the tangential speed. The angular speed of the wheel is measured using a high-precision measuring ring fitted to the periphery of the wheel and synchronously logged together with the lidar speed. A simple, geometrical model shows that there is a linear relationship between the measured line-of-sight speed and the beam tilt angle and this is utilised to extrapolate to the tangential speed as measured by the lidar. An analysis of the uncertainties based on the model shows that a standard uncertainty on the measurement of about 0.1 % can be achieved, but also that the main source of uncertainty is the width of the laser beam and it's associated uncertainty. Measurements performed with different beam widths confirms this. Other measurements with a minimised beam radius shows that the method in this case performs about equally well for all the tested reference speeds ranging from about 3 m/s to 18 m/s.

In this talk we present the preliminary results of the proof of concept (POC) stage of a drone-based wind lidar system development. For many years, the wind energy community has been in the quest for cost-effective alternatives to wind measurements from tall masts. A potential solution lays in the application of drones as platforms for wind lidars in which the drone would be used to position the lidar in vicinity of the measurement points and steer the outgoing laser beam. By doing this, the wind lidar can be significantly simplified leading to the overall cost reductions. To put on trial the proposed solution we have built a proof of concept (POC) drone-lidar system. The system consisted of a dual-telescope CW lidar system built by ZX Lidars, and off-the-shelf drone and gimbal system. The selected drone and gimbal system are typically used in the motion picture industry, while the lidar was optimized for wind tunnel measurements or for turbine blade mounting, thus the telescopes are separated from the rest of the lidar. For the POC we mounted only the telescopes to the gimbal which were placed orthogonal to each other (i.e., 90 degrees opening angle). The telescopes were connected to the lidar located on the ground using 100-m long optical fibers. To test the POC drone-lidar system we hovered the drone next to mast-mounted sonic anemometers at the Riso test center. The preliminary results of the intercomparison between the measurements derived from the POC system and one of the sonic anemometers show good agreement. The POC stage results confirmed that the drone-lidar systems could be a potential measurement solution that the community has been looking for.

The aim of the present paper is to investigate the wake turbulence as based on advanced full-scale measurements which, for the first time, makes it possible directly to resolve all three turbulence components in the wake behind an operating wind turbine with high spatial and temporal resolution. The experimental setup will be described, and analysis of selected runs will be presented with a focus on the expected inhomogeneity of this turbulence field. The analyses are performed in a meandering frame of reference, and in addition to afore mentioned wake turbulence field, the wake deficit field will be resolved and analysed. Atmospheric stability is not considered but is, however, not expected to contribute noticeably to wake turbulence nor to the wake deficit field when expressed in the meandering frame of reference.

The main purpose of this study is to evaluate the near-zero wind velocity measurement performance of two separate 1.5 μm all-fiber coherent Doppler lidars (CDLs). The performance characterization is carried out through the presentation of the results from two separate atmospheric field campaigns. In one campaign, a recently developed continuous wave (CW) CDL benefiting from an image-reject front-end was deployed. The other campaign utilized a different CW CDL, benefiting from a heterodyne receiver with intermediate-frequency (IF) sampling. In both field campaigns the results are compared against a sonic anemometer, as the reference instrument. The measurements clearly show that the image-reject architecture results in more accurate measurements of radial wind velocities close to zero. Close-to-zero velocities are usually associated with the vertical component of the wind and are important to characterize.

A new direction sensing continuous-wave Doppler lidar based on an image-reject homodyne receiver has recently been demonstrated at DTU Wind Energy, Technical University of Denmark. In this contribution we analyse the signal-to-noise ratio resulting from two different data processing methods both leading to the direction sensing capability. It is found that using the auto spectrum of the complex signal to determine the wind speed leads to a signal-to-noise ratio equivalent to that of a standard self-heterodyne receiver. Using the imaginary part of the cross spectrum to estimate the Doppler shift has the benefit of a zero-mean background spectrum, but comes at the expense of a decrease in the signal-to noise ratio by a factor of √2.

In this paper, we present an alternative approach to the down-conversion (translation) of the received optical signals collected by the antenna of an all-fiber coherent Doppler lidar (CDL). The proposed method, widely known as image-reject, quadrature detection, or in-phase/quadrature-phase detection, utilizes the advances in fiber optic communications such that the received signal can be optically down-converted into baseband where not only the radial velocity but also the direction of the movement can be inferred. In addition, we show that by performing a cross-spectral analysis, enabled by the presence of two independent signal observations with uncorrelated noise, various noise sources can be suppressed and a more simplified velocity estimation algorithm can be employed in the spectral domain. Other benefits of this architecture include, but are not limited to, a more reliable measurement of radial velocities close to zero and an improved bandwidth. The claims are verified through laboratory implementation of a continuous wave CDL, where measurements both on a hard and diffuse target have been performed and analyzed.

We analyse frequency conversion by Bragg scattering numerically including Raman scattering. The frequency configuration that performs the best under influence of Raman noise results in 95% conversion over a 3.25 THz bandwidth with a 2.5-dB noise figure.

In this work, we present an analytic model for analyzing the range and frequency dependency of a monostatic coherent lidar measuring velocities of a diffuse target. The model of the signal power spectrum includes both the contribution from the optical system as well as the contribution from the time dependencies of the optical field. A specific coherent Doppler wind lidar system measuring wind velocity in the atmosphere is considered, in which a Gaussian field is transmitted through a simple telescope consisting of a lens and an aperture. The effects of the aperture size, the beam waist position, and pulse duration are analyzed.

The aim of this study is to experimentally demonstrate that the time-average Doppler spectrum of a continuous-wave (cw) lidar is proportional to the probability density function of the line-of-sight velocities. This would open the possibility of using cw lidars for the determination of the second-order atmospheric turbulence statistics. An atmospheric field campaign and a wind tunnel experiment are carried out to show that the use of an average Doppler spectrum instead of a time series of velocities determined from individual Doppler spectra significantly reduces the differences with the standard deviation measured using ordinary anemometers, such as ultra-sonic anemometers or hotwires. The proposed method essentially removes the spatial averaging effect intrinsic to the cw lidar systems.

This Letter presents a measurement of the spectral content of frequency shifted pulses generated by a lightwave synthesized frequency sweeper. We found that each pulse is shifted in frequency with very high accuracy. We also discovered that noise originating from light leaking through the acousto- optical modulators and forward propagating Brillouin scattering appear in the spectrum.

Frequency swept fibre laser for wind speed measurements This PhD thesis builds around a light source forming the basis for a novel type of wind measuring lidar. The lidar emits a train of laser pulses with each pulse being separated from its neighbours in frequency, while being closely spaced in time, thus combining the advantages of conventional continuous wave (CW) and pulsed lidars. A light source capable of emitting such a pulse train is suggested. A theoretical description of all components constituting the light source is presented, and a time dependent model is developed and compared to measurements as well as to previous theoretical work from the scientific literature. The model presented shows good agreement with the experimental results regarding the pulse train envelope as well as the individual pulses. A model adopted from the literature is subsequently expanded to incorporate frequency components other than the main signal frequency and compared to measurements of individual pulse spectra. Critical issues such as various contributions to noise, in particular amplified spontaneous emission (ASE), are investigated. The realized frequency stepped pulse train (FSPT) emitting light source has been incorporated into a modified CW lidar, and the ability to measure wind speeds as well as the direction successfully demonstrated. A challenge still remains in the improvement of the signal to noise ratio (SNR), though. Additionally, a theoretical study of the feasibility of mounting lidars in the blades of wind turbines for active pitch angle control has been undertaken with a positive outcome encouraging an experimental trial to measure wind with a such construction. Therefore, a small telescope CW lidar designed for turbine blade integration has been tested in a high performance wind tunnel, and very good agreement with reference measurements has been obtained.

The Frequency Stepped Pulse Train (FSPT) modulated lidar has previously been suggested as a means to achieve range resolved measurements of atmospheric wind speeds while maintaining a high duty cycle compared to other pulsed lidar systems. Earlier measurements have demonstrated the advantages of the technique on a moving hard target. In this paper we show for the first time range resolved measurements of actual wind speed performed with this technique.

A lightwave synthesized frequency sweeper using a Raman amplifier for loss compensation is presented together with a numerical model capable of predicting the shape of individual pulses as well as the overall envelope of more than 100 pulses. The generated pulse envelope consists of 116 pulses with constant peak power and no significant growth of noise. The numerical simulation is based on careful measurements of the physical properties of the individual components and a well established Raman amplifier model. Very good agreement between the measured and the simulated data is found.

In this paper a wind sensing lidar utilizing a Frequency Stepped Pulse Train (FSPT) is demonstrated. One of the advantages in the FSTP lidar is that it enables direct measurement of wind speed as a function of distance from the lidar. Theoretically the FSPT lidar continuously produces measurements as is the case with a CW lidar, but at the same time with a spatial resolution, and without the range ambiguity originating from e. g. clouds. The FSPT lidar utilizes a frequency sweeping source for generation of the FSPT. The source generates a pulse train where each pulse has an optical carrier frequency shifted a set quantity relative to the carrier frequency of the previous pulse. In the scheme presented here, the measured frequency depends on the distance from which the signal originates. The measured frequency is related to the Doppler frequency shift induced by the wind and an integer number of frequency shifts corresponding to a specific distance. The spatial resolution depends on the repetition rate of the pulses in the pulse train. Directional wind measurements are shown and compared to a CW lidar measurement. The carrier to noise ratio of the FSPT lidar compared to a CW lidar is discussed as well as the fundamental differences between the two systems. In the discussion we describe the most dominant noise sources in our system and what influences these have on the FSPT lidar's ability to measure under different scattering conditions.

We present a Lightwave Synthesized Frequency Sweeper comprising a Raman amplifier for loss compensation. The generated pulse train contains 123 pulses and has a flat signal level as well as a low noise level.