Dual-Polarization Radar Characteristics of Wind Turbines With Ground Clutter and Precipitation

The demand for renewable power production has fostered an exponential increase in the size and number of wind turbines. This expanding source of power generation is sometimes at odds with maintaining the effective operation of radar systems in air traffic control, defense, weather prediction, and severe-storm-tracking applications. With the recent upgrade of the NEXRAD weather radar system to enable dual-polarization observations, a dual-polarization characterization effort of wind turbines is warranted. Focusing on weather radar applications, a characterization of ground clutter, precipitation, and wind turbines is presented here using a consistent unified treatment. This characterization effort directly compares the dual-polarization radar signatures of these three classes of scatterers. The physical characteristics of wind turbines (particularly their cyclostationary behavior) are exploited to identify unique dual-polarization radar signatures.