Impact of wind farms on surveillance radar system: a realistic scenario in Palakkad gap region

Nowadays, wind energy utilization is escalating, which leads to an increase in the number of wind turbines at various locations across the globe. Massive numbers of wind turbines are installed in regions where the wind speed is high throughout the year paving way for the renewable energy source. However, due to these wind turbines, communication signals (electromagnetic waves) are obstructed and dispersed, which results in communication failure. To be precise, the radar communication located near these wind farms deteriorates because of fading, resulting in miss alarms, false detection of targets, and so on. The adverse effects of wind farms on radar systems are modelled and discussed in this paper for the Palakkad gap region. The Sulur military surveillance (Air Force Station) radar system located at 11° 00′ 49″ N 077° 09′ 35″ E and operating in the X-band (8–12 GHz) frequency, is impacted by the wind farms installed in the Palakkad gap region. Wind turbine modelling and radar cross section (RCS) assessments are carried out using an electromagnetism (EM) solver, viz., XGtd software tool. The analysis of RCS plots by wind turbines and airborne concerns reveals that wind farms in line-of-sight and those adjacent to radar affect the propagation of signals in free space resulting in power loss, signal clutters, and information loss. Thus, the radar is unable to function properly which leads to miss alarms.