Comprehensive bird preservation at wind farms

• Wind as a clean and renewable energy source has been used by humans for centuries. However, in recent years with the increase in the number and size of wind turbines, their impact on avifauna has become worrisome. Researchers estimated that in the U.S. up to 500,000 birds die annually due to collisions with wind turbines. This article proposes a system for mitigating bird mortality around wind farms. The solution is based on a stereo-vision system embedded in distributed computing and IoT paradigms. After a bird’s detection in a defined zone, the decision-making system activates a collision avoidance routine composed of light and sound deterrents and the turbine stopping procedure. The development process applies a User-Driven Design approach along with the process of component selection and heuristic adjustment. This proposal includes a bird detection method and localization procedure. The bird identification is carried out using artificial intelligence algorithms. Validation tests with a fixed-wing drone and verifying observations by ornithologists proved the system’s desired reliability of detecting a bird with wingspan over 1.5 m from at least 300 m. Moreover, the suitability of the system to classify the size of the detected bird into one of three wingspan categories, small, medium and large, was confirmed. © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.

Ämnesord

TEKNIK OCH TEKNOLOGIER  -- Elektroteknik och elektronik -- Annan elektroteknik och elektronik (hsv//swe)

ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY  -- Electrical Engineering, Electronic Engineering, Information Engineering -- Other Electrical Engineering, Electronic Engineering, Information Engineering (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

Artificial intelligence

Bird monitoring system

Distributed computing

Environmental sustainability

Monitoring of avifauna

Safety system

Stereo-vision

Vision system

Aircraft detection

Decision making

Electric utilities

Fixed wings

Stereo image processing

Stereo vision

Wind power

Wind turbines

Artificial intelligence algorithms

Component selection

Decision-making systems

Design approaches

Development process

Localization procedure

Renewable energy source

Stereo vision system

Birds

algorithm

article

avoidance behavior

bird

human

mortality

nonhuman

reliability

renewable energy

sound

vision

wind farm

wing

Publikations- och innehållstyp

ref (ämneskategori)

art (ämneskategori)