DeTect, Inc.

Radar-based bird and bat monitoring for wind energy

[DeTect logo to come.]

WISE Group works with DeTect, Inc., a US radar specialist whose MERLIN systems were developed to detect and track small biological targets — birds and bats — in the airspace around wind turbines. DeTect combine radar with camera and acoustic sensors and a real-time analytics platform, delivered as bird and bat monitoring and mitigation systems for onshore and offshore wind.

What DeTect brings

• Radar built for the target. DeTect pioneered radar capable of tracking small biological targets, and continue to develop both the hardware and the platform that interprets it.
• Sensor fusion. Radar, camera and acoustic sensors classified together, which reduces false positives compared with any one sensor alone.
• Real-time risk assessment. Movement data processed into collision-risk assessment as it is collected.
• Shutdown-on-demand. Integration with turbine control systems, so turbines can be curtailed when risk is elevated and returned to service when it passes.
• Reporting built for compliance. Dashboards, historical trend analysis and audit-ready documentation, with long-term data storage.

Applications run from pre-construction wildlife risk assessment through operational monitoring and adaptive mitigation to long-term environmental data programmes.

Why this partnership matters

Radar and camera-based monitoring answer different questions about the same airspace. Working with both DeTect and Spoor lets WISE Group specify whichever combination a site and its consent conditions call for, rather than fitting the project to a single technology.

What WISE Group adds is the delivery: siting, power, enclosures, communications, installation offshore and onshore, and integration of telemetry into Orbalux — plus support for the life of the asset. See radar-based bird and bat monitoring for how it comes together.