Airports – Radar Mitigation Study

Why consider radar mitigation?

Tall structures such as buildings and wind farms can adversely affect radar installations in their vicinity. Whilst there is no ‘cut-off’ range, there are many cases of tall buildings within 20 km of a radar requiring mitigation. For wind farms, mitigation can be required at significantly larger distances.

Radar mitigation options can be wide-ranging depending on the type of development, the type of radar, airspace, design flexibility and budget (among other factors!).

Mitigation can be technical e.g. some kind of change to the radar and/or display systems or operational e.g. implementation of processes for accommodating technical effects.

Understanding the options requires knowledge of the radar’s operational importance and technical capabilities, along with the nature of the impact that the development can cause. New technical solutions are continually in development to overcome the issues that can otherwise hold up development.

What are the benefits of a Pager Power Radar Mitigation Study?

A radar mitigation study will determine:

• Whether mitigation solutions are available.
• What the options are.
• The pros and cons of the various options. Typically, constraints are technical feasibility, track record, available budget and timescales.
• The recommended way forward.

All Pager Power reports are designed to be: 

• Comprehensive – covering all the relevant aspects for each individual proposed development. 
• Up-to-date with reference to available solutions.
• Understandable to non-experts and experts alike. 

Pager Power has been conducting aviation and radar mitigation assessments for more than fifteen years. The company is well-placed to conduct mitigation studies having coordinated many solutions in the past including the in-fill solution currently operational at Whitelee in Scotland.

What does a Pager Power Radar Mitigation Study Cover?

The precise scope is tailored to the project needs, however broadly speaking the purpose is to ensure the project developer has the requisite information to inform an optimal mitigation strategy and meaningful discussions with the relevant operators. Typical report sections include the below.

Summary of Impact

The impact that requires mitigation in the first place must be well understood in order to evaluate the options. This includes consideration of the technical effects and their operational significance. For example, it may be that a proposed development has the potential to block radar signals and reflect them – but only the latter is of operational concern due to the nature of operations in the area.

Description of Mitigation Options

Where there are multiple potential ways of resolving issues, a description of the key options will be presented.

Evaluation/Ranking of Options

The pros and cons of the various options will be considered based on their suitability and the relevant project constraints.

Recommendation

The optimal solution to be progressed will be identified.

If you’d like to discuss this service with a member of our team, please get in touch.