A wind farm interference model for Over-the-Horizon Radar

The wind-turbine scatter of the Over-the-Horizon Radar (OTHR) is one interference source that may degrade the radar sensitivity. In this paper, a high-fidelity, full-system model is developed to assess the wind turbine-generated clutter level and the resultant OTHR performance degradation. This model includes several phenomenological components that respectively calculate the bistatic wind-turbine scattering cross section, the wave propagation loss over a variable ground surface, the antenna elevation gain variation, and also the radar receiving antenna array response to the clutter signal collectively scattered from a wind farm. As such, the whole system model is useful to estimate the total wind farm clutter level and to determine its impact on the OTHR operation as a function of the wind farm stand-off range.