ZX TM training –

introduction
Author: Chris Slinger
Job title: Senior Scientist
Classification: Commercial-in-confidence
Overview 03/03/2023

• ZX TM lidar overview
– Principles of operation

• Hardware overview
– Principal parts

• Data overview
– GUI
– Application modes
– Algorithms
– Data types and data access

2
HOW DOES A LIDAR MEASURE WIND SPEED?
03/03/2023

3
GENERIC COHERENT LIDAR METHOD 03/03/2023

Transmitted light
LASER

Local oscillator, or
reference beam
Scattered light
with Doppler TARGET
DETECTOR
frequency shift

• Atmospheric aerosol motion follows the wind

• A laser is focussed at a point and scattered by the aerosols
• The scattered radiation is Doppler shifted by the moving aerosols
• The Doppler shift is proportional to the line-of-sight speed (LOS) of the aerosols
• A detector records the beat between the received, scattered light and a reference
beam to determine the Doppler shift
 The LOS component of the wind speed is then determined

4
 03/03/2023
• Samples the undisturbed wind flow in advance of its arrival at
the turbine rotor plane
• Circular scan enables measurement of the wind field
characteristics around the entire rotor
• Can determine rotor averaged wind speeds, wind direction, veer
and shear across the rotor plane
• Can measure rotor equivalent wind speeds, essential for large
rotor diameters (as described in IEC 61400-12-1 Ed 2)
• Can measure turbine performance
– Yaw misalignment, nacelle instrument calibration, power curves
and wake detection and visualisation
• Integration into turbine’s control system would allow
– Energy yield increase by yaw error correction and rotor pitch
adjustment
– Reduction of fatigue loads via pitch control Prototype ZephIR on nacelle
– Warning and mitigation of extreme loads of Nordex N90, March 2003

Þ Hence could extend the life of existing turbines or design new ones
with lower costs
5
CIRCULAR SCAN
ALLOWS THE WIND TO BE MEASURED AROUND THE FULL ROTOR DISK 03/03/2023

6
ZX LIDAR NACELLE MOUNTING EXAMPLES
2003 2004 2010

2012 2014

2011
2015 2018 2019

7
 APPLICATION EXAMPLE: YAW MISALIGNMENT DETECTION
03/03/2023

A yaw error of 14°to 16°was evident from ZephIR yaw alignment measurements
Remedied by a nacelle wind vane recalibration part way through the measurement campaign
The effects are clearly visible in ZephIR measured power curves pre- and post- yaw recalibration
ROMO Wind estimated improved AEP of ~5% after yaw recalibration

2500000
15 March 2012, turbine After turbine yaw

Turbine power output (W)

recalibration
Measured yaw misalignment ()

yaw recalibrated
2000000
15

1500000
Before turbine
10 1000000 yaw recalibration

500000
5

0
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18

Wind speed (ms-1) measured by ZephIR at a range of

1000 2000 3000 4000 50 0 0 6000 7000
180 m
Time
Pre 15/03/2012 Post 15/03/2012

8
 APPLICATION EXAMPLE: ABSOLUTE POWER CURVES
the Nørrekær Enge UniTTe Campaign
03/03/2023
• DU-led collaborative project aimed
at investigating utility of TM lidar
measurements in the induction zone
• Onshore, flat terrain
• 13 Siemens 2.3 MW turbines, met
mast
• ZephIR DM mounted on heavily
instrumented turbine NKE4
• Duration 01jun2015 to 19jan2016
REWS concept
• Excellent performance compared to
metmast

Mast Power Curve: DTU_UniTTe

Mast data ZDM hub height ZDM REWS 9

 03/03/2023

ZX TM training
• ZX TM lidar overview
– Principles of operation

• Hardware overview
– Principal parts

• Data overview
– Algorithms

10
HARDWARE OVERVIEW
03/03/2023

11
 03/03/2023

ZX TM training
• ZX TM lidar overview
– Principles of operation

• Hardware overview
– Principal parts

• Data overview
– GUI
– Application modes
– Algorithms
– Data types and data access

12
Turbine and deployment settings
03/03/2023

13
Application mode(s) - Presets
03/03/2023

14
Application mode(s) - Expert
03/03/2023

15
Campaign configuration
03/03/2023

16
Dataflow 03/03/2023

Your Data Collection / Capture Systems

Email
Data Captured on ZXTM System

Raw
CSV FTP Push

FTP Pull
Mini Raw

Web API

Wind

Modbus

Wind10

UDP Broadcast

17
Finalising configuration
03/03/2023

18
Monitoring progress - Dashboard
03/03/2023

19
Monitoring progress - Wind
03/03/2023

20
Monitoring progress - Raw
03/03/2023

21
Data Examples
03/03/2023

Data Type Data Rate Zipped file Size (per day)

Raw 50 Hz ~500 MB

Raw Mini 50 Hz ~130 MB

Wind Configurable (typically 1 Hz) ~3.5 MB

Wind 10 0.002 Hz ~100 kB

22
 03/03/2023

RESTful API Overview

• Provides:
– Read-only interface
– Concurrent access
– Date range limits
– Wind & Wind10 data

• All wind-10 data:

– http://ztm-4020:8000/api/v1/wind10
• For specific range of dates, add:
– ?q={"filters":[{"name":"TIMESTAMP_MS","op":"gt","val":"2018-1-1"},
{"name":"TIMESTAMP_MS","op":"lt","val":"2018-12-31"}]}
• …to return all Wind10 data between the January 1, 2018 and December 31,
2018
• Refer to API manual for more detail.
23
 03/03/2023

UDP Broadcast Interface Overview

• Provides:
– Raw, Wind & Wind10 data in real time.
• Ports 10004, 10005 & 10006
– Broadcast to the unicast address of the local network interface. Multiple
listeners can consume in parallel.
• Data Format:
– Descriptor packet sent every 30s.
• List of entries in the subsequent data packets (type, size and offset).
• N entries describe N data points in data packet
– Data packet sent as it’s measured. 1 packet = multiple fields describing a single
measurement.

24
 03/03/2023

UDP Broadcast Interface Data

Format Message Source

• All broadcasts: Payload…
Version Type ID

• Descriptor payload: Data Offset In

Field ID xN
Length Payload

• Data payload: Data Data … Data

Value 1 Value 2 Value N

Refer to UDP manual for more detail on field content

25
 03/03/2023

ZX TM training
• ZX TM lidar overview
– Principles of operation

• Hardware overview
– Principal parts

• Data overview
– GUI
– Application modes
– Algorithms
– Data types and data access

26
 APPLICATION PRESETS

• Configure lidar for some common campaign types

• Set ranges, dwell times, campaign fulfilment estimations, CSV outputs….
• Multiple applications can be selected
• Can be over-ridden or fine tuned using the Expert Mode tab
• Some applications are more standardised than others e.g.
• Wind Yaw Misalignment (WYM) Determination and Absolute Power Curves are well defined
• Load Measurements and Turbine Control are still evolving
 WIND YAW MISALIGNMENT DETERMINATION

• One of the simplest and most effective turbine optimisation steps

• Campaign duration typically 6 weeks, depending on winds
• The application preset
• Sets main measurement range to D/2, with a subsidiary atmospheric quality range of 10 m
• Scan dwell times of 5 s (@ D/2) and 1 s (@ 10 m)
• Generates a CSV output (if requested) containing WYM specific quantities
• The FD algorithm is used to determine the WYM
• A campaign fulfillment algorithm gives an estimate of progress, based on a standard error measure
 ABSOLUTE POWER CURVES

• Turbine performance assessment, following industry standard procedures 61500-12-1 Ed 2

• Campaign duration typically 3 months or so, depending on winds
• The application preset
• Sets main measurement range to 2.5 D, with a subsidiary atmospheric quality range of 10 m
• Scan dwell times of 5 s (@ 2.5 D) and 1 s (@ 10 m)
• Generates a CSV output (if requested) containing power curve relevant lidar measurands
• The PDAC algorithm is used to determine both hub height and rotor equivalent wind speeds (REWS)
• Wind veer is also measured and used in the REWS calculation
• A campaign fulfillment algorithm gives an estimate of progress, based on 61400-12-1 data gathering stipulations
• Refer to ZX Lidars Power Curve Procedure Document for more information
• Beware timing synchronisation with the turbine SCADA !
 NACELLE TRANSFER FUNCTION VERIFICATION

• Allows comparison of SCADA turbine anemometry with lidar measured free stream wind speed
• Based on the principles espoused in 61500-12-2
• Campaign duration typically 3 months or so, depending on winds
• The application preset
• Sets main measurement range to 2.5 D, with a subsidiary atmospheric quality range of 10 m
• Scan dwell times of 5 s (@ 2.5 D) and 1 s (@ 10 m)
• Generates a CSV output (if requested) containing NTF relevant lidar measurands
• The PDAC algorithm is used to determine hub height wind speeds
• A campaign fulfillment algorithm gives an estimate of progress, based on 61400-12-2 data gathering stipulations
• Analysis will require combination with turbine SCADA data, so time synchronisation considerations apply
 SITE CALIBRATION

• An experimental application aimed at providing site calibration information, to reduce uncertainty in complex
terrain turbine mounted lidar power curve measurement
• Site calibration using nacelle lidars has yet be accepted by the industry i.e. it is still a technique under
development.
• By comparing 2.5 D wind speed measurements with 30 m measurements, as a function of wind speed and
direction, a site calibration transfer function can be derived.
• The application preset
• Sets main measurement ranges to 2.5 D, and 30 m, with a subsidiary atmospheric quality range of 10 m
• Scan dwell times of 5 s (@ 2.5 D and @ 30 m) and 1 s (@ 10 m)
• Generates a CSV output (if requested) containing relevant lidar measurands
• The PDAC algorithm is used to determine both hub height and rotor equivalent wind speeds (REWS)
• Wind veer is also measured and used in the REWS calculation
• The turbine blades should be idling during this measurement campaign.
• Alternatives include CFD based site calibration.
 RELATIVE POWER CURVES

Absolute power curves

1. OEM prototype testing
2. Warranty testing
3. End user performance over time and varying conditions
4. Site specific PostCYE
Relative power curves
5. Yaw misalignment control changes
6. Blade changes
7. Wear/changes over time
8. Comparative performance for same model turbines

Credit: Antoine Borraccino, Project UniTTe, DTU

• Allows relative power curve turbine performance assessment

• Monitor changes in performance of individual turbines
• Compare performance of turbines of the safe type
• Shorter ranges than absolute power curves result in lower measurement uncertainty in complex
terrain
• Induction zone correction (using models or empirical results) can be used to derive absolute power
curves
• The application preset
• Sets main measurement range to 0.5 D, 0.75 D, 1 D, 1.25 D, 1.5 D, with a subsidiary atmospheric quality range of 10 m
• Scan dwell times of 5 s at the main ranges and 1 s (@ 10 m)
• Generates a CSV output (if requested) containing relative power curve relevant lidar measurands
 LOAD MEASUREMENTS

Met Mast Shear

Lidar Shear
Nacelle lidars can provide higher
spatial resolution measurements than
13 segments metmasts…

218 m
501 m

Credit: Vestas, Project X

• Typically used by turbine OEMs for load investigations and certifications.

• 10 min and 1 sec data over various rotor slice heights. Population of capture matrix.
• Accurate TI measurements are also important, and the SATI algorithm is used by the lidar
• The use of nacelle lidars for this application is still evolving, but the default application preset
• Sets main measurement ranges to 2.5 D, with a subsidiary atmospheric quality range of 10 m
• Scan dwell times of 5 s (@ 2.5 D) and 1 s (@ 10 m)
• Generates a CSV output (if requested) containing relevant lidar measurands
• Important to try and avoid beam clipping, otherwise lower slice height availability can be compromised
 TURBINE CONTROL

Credit: Eric Simley

• Can be used to maximise turbine efficiency and reduce peak and fatigue loads
• Yaw control and collective pitch control are the main uses
• Prioritise data availability in all conditions
• The lidar’s raw and wind data outputs are typically used, via Modbus or UDP Broadcast
• The application preset
• Sets main measurement range so that beam scan radius is 0.75 rotor radius
• Continuous dwell at this range
• FD wind speed outputs are robust and are a good approximation to rotor effective wind speed
 03/03/2023

ZX TM training
• ZX TM lidar overview
– Principles of operation

• Hardware overview
– Principal parts

• Data overview
– GUI
– Application modes
– Algorithms
– Data types and data access

35
 USING A WIND MODEL TO EXTRACT WIND DATA
THE FIT-DERIVED (FD) ALGORITHM 03/03/2023

• A wind model is applied to the measured line of sight

windspeeds around the circular scan
• Standard outputs are HH horizontal wind speed, vertical power
law shear exponent and yaw alignment
• Other outputs include quantification of flow complexity
• Benefits of the above approach include robustness in complex
wind flow conditions
• Recommended for wind yaw measurements and turbine control
applications

36
 USING PAIRED MEASUREMENTS ACROSS THE SCAN
03/03/2023
THE PAIR-DERIVED (PD) ALGORITHM
• Pairs of measurements are used to determine horizontal wind speed and yaw misalignment
• Used to determine wind veer (change in wind direction with height)
• Real time tilt/roll measurement ensures data is always available at specified heights
• PDAC (PD average-then-calculate) is the 10 minute averaged output of this algorithm
• Well suited and recommended for wind speeds at hub height and rotor equivalent
measurements

Pair-derived algorithm Hub height pair- Wind veer example

chooses data slice at derived algorithm
required height
37
Rotor Equivalent Wind Speeds 03/03/2023

The ZephIR calculates both hub height and rotor equivalent

windspeeds
Rotor equivalent wind speeds minimise uncertainty in turbine
performance measurement associated with vertical wind shear
and horizontal veer, especially for larger rotor machines
The ZephIR uses pair-derived average-then-calculate (PDAC) to
determine this
IEC 61400-12-1 specifies the calculation procedure

In addition to ure, the ZephIR also outputs wind speed (ui) and
wind direction wi at N multiple slices across the rotor disk

38
Turbulence analysis by ZephIR DM: spectral turbulence
03/03/2023
The ZX lidars measure and record the full Doppler spectrum at 50 Hz
These spectra can be used to determine turbulence statistics directly, removing the spatial
averaging effects associate with probe beam volumes [Mann et al 2010, Branlard et al 2013]

Multiple Averaged
spectra, Normalise and spectra
accumulated
average spectra
over time

ZTM measurement range

= 235 m (2.5 D)
y = 0.957 x, R2 = 0.792 • Spectral averaging TI (SATI) technique yields TI results
which are much closer to the mast cups than other standard
lidar TI algorithms

TISATI 0.97 Tiu whereas conventional lidar TI algorithms result in

TIlidar 0.78 Tiu

• SATI’s insensitivity to probe length variation and optical

configuration allows it to be easily applied in the induction
zone

39
 03/03/2023

Hub height (80m) SA TI vs Mast TI, at 2.5D

(235m) from the turbine

40
 03/03/2023

Hub height SA TI vs Mast TI, between 30m and

235m from the turbine (0.3D – 2.5D)

41
Lidar to turbine alignment 03/03/2023

• Good alignment of the lidar with the rotor axis is essential for yaw misalignment analysis
• ZX lidars uses a visible alignment laser (VAL) during deployment to help align the ZDM with the
rotor axis
• However, sometimes the rotor axis in not known

42
 Blade return alignment check
03/03/2023
• Good alignment of the lidar with the rotor axis is essential for yaw misalignment analysis
• The ZDM uses a visible alignment laser (VAL) during deployment to help align the ZDM with the
rotor axis, but sometimes the rotor axis is hard to determine
• This new capability allows the lidar blade reflections to be used for alignment
– More accurate than VAL
– Alignment of lidar with rotor (w) can be checked remotely at any time
during the campaign
nmse of fit and estimated w /°

0.3°
- 0.3°
NKE ZDM result

Fit(-)of blade
reflections()using blade
Blade return “spectacles” return model Lidar to rotor axis alignment / °

43
 03/03/2023

ZX TM training
• ZX TM lidar overview
– Principles of operation

• Hardware overview
– Principal parts

• Data overview
– GUI
– Application modes
– Algorithms
– Data types and data access

• Additional materials

44
 FILE AND DATA HIERARCHY

• File types:
• Raw files (Raw...)
• low level, Doppler spectra, largely unprocessed. A separate entry for each LOS measurement.
• ~ 3.5 Gbytes day-1, normally zipped to ~ 330 Mbytes day-1

• Unaveraged files (Wind...)

• unaveraged, results of running the WFR algorithms on the raw data, yielding unaveraged wind field
metrics
• normally ~ 10 Mbytes day-1, zipped to ~ 5 Mbytes day-1 by the ZephIR

• Averaged files (Wind10...)

• 10 minute averaged wind field metrics, ~ 100 kbytes day-1

• ZPH (binary) and CSV are both possible and stored on the lidar
• User selectable in the GUI
• CSV can be generated from the ZPH using the zph2csv.exe command line tool
• Once downloaded, all types of ZPH files can be replayed in the legacy Waltz GUI PC application

• Application modes produce a subset of the full outputs for the CSVs
 FILETYPES – RAW FILES – RAW*

• Unprocessed Doppler spectra. A separate entry for each LOS measurement

• 20.48 ms spacing between measurements
• Name format: Raw_unitnumber@Yyear_Mmonth_Dday.zph
• Columns include:
• Reference: Numeric value incremented each time a ZephIR takes a measurement
• Timestamp: system time and GPS time. E.g. 2019-08-18T00:00:00.0160000
• Range: Range of scan, measured along the ZephIR scan axis (metres)
• Phase: Scan angle in radians. E.g. 3.698
• Amplitude of return for each of the 256 spectral bins
• LOS speed (metres per second). Normally from the median of Doppler spectra
• Metstation quantities
• air temperature, pressure, relative humidity, wind speed & direction, lidar direction (magnetic compass
derived)
• Raw level filtering “Raw line of sight validity”
• Identifies each LOS reading as being valid, blade, blade glint, foreign object, …
• Inclinometer and roll sensor outputs
• Raining indicator, from the rain sensor output

• There is also a Raw_Mini* file

• Identical to a Raw* file, but with the spectral information removed, resulting in a smaller file
 FILETYPES – UNAVERAGED WIND DATA FILE – WIND*

The outputs from the wind filed reconstruction algorithms (FD, PD) wind data, metstation data
and system status information
• Typically 1 second between entries (user settable, minimum is 100 ms)
• Name format: Wind_unitnumber@Yyear_Mmonth_Dday.zph
• The ZPH files can be replayed in Waltz, and exported as CSV using Waltz or ZPH2CSV
• CSV versions can also be generated directly on the unit if requested by the user.

Circular
scan
fitting
(fit-
derived)
algorithm Hub height pair-
derived algorithm
 FILETYPES – UNAVERAGED WIND DATA FILE – WIND*

Columns include:
• Reference: Numeric value incremented each for each entry
• Timestamp: system time and GPS time. E.g. 2019-08-18T00:00:00.0160000
• Met station information (air temperature, pressure, wind direction, system direction..)
• Raining flag, indicating if the system’s rain sensor triggered during the record
• Range: Range of scan, measured along the ZephIR axis in metres
• Horizontal wind speed (m/s), vertical wind shear exponent and wind yaw misalignment (deg)
from FD algorithm. Values at the centre of the ZephIR scan and horizontal wind speed at hub-
height
• Hub height horizontal wind speed (m/s) and wind yaw misalignment (deg) from
pair-derived (PD) algorithm
• Min. inclination (deg), max. inclination (deg), mean inclination (deg), inclination std.dev. (deg),
min. surge velocity (m/s), max. surge velocity (m/s), mean surge velocity (m/s), surge velocity
std.dev. (m/s)
 FILETYPES – AVERAGED WIND DATA FILE – WIND10*

10 minute averages of fitted wind data, metstation data and some system status information
• 10 minutes between entries
• Name format: Wind10_unitnumber@Yyear_Mmonth_Dday.zph
• The ZPH files can be replayed in Waltz, and exported as CSV using Waltz or ZPH2CSV
• CSV versions can also be generated directly on the unit if requested by the user.
Headers include
• Reference. Numeric value incremented each for each entry
• Timestamp: system time and GPS time. E.g. 2019-08-18T00:00:00.0160000
• Met station information (air temperature, pressure, wind direction, system direction...)
• Raining flag, indicating if the system’s rain sensor detected rain during the record
• Ranges: Ranges of scan, measured along the ZephIR axis in metres. For each range:
• Averaged horizontal wind speed (m/s), vertical wind shear exponent, wind yaw misalignment (deg)
from FD algorithm.
• Averaged hub height horizontal wind speed (m/s), wind yaw misalignment (deg) from PDAC algorithm,
at multiple heights up across the rotor disk
• SATI turbulence measurements, at each slice height
• Rotor equivalent wind speed over the rotor disk, using vertical shear and horizontal veer data from
PDAC
• Averaged Min. inclination (deg), max. inclination (deg), mean inclination (deg), inclination std.dev. (deg)
 WATCH OUT ! CURRENT KNOWN FIRMWARE ISSUES

• Terrain correction is not implemented

• Workaround is to adjust the effective ZTM height, as in the ZDM
• E.g. terrain drop of 5 m at main measurement range
• ZTM height = ZTM physical height – 5 m

• Application modes not fully implemented

• Workaround is to check and adjust as required, using Expert Mode

• All these issues are being addressed in future firmware updates

 03/03/2023

Post-Training References..
• Manuals
– Installation manual
– System Configuration Guide

• IEC 61400-12-1 “Wind turbines – Part

12-1: Power performance
measurements of electricity producing
wind turbines”

• ZephIR “Wind turbine power

performance measurement” procedure

• Support@zxlidars.com

51
Contact
The Old Barns,
Fairoaks Farm,
Hollybush,
Ledbury,
HR8 1EU
Terms and
Conditions
No part of this presentation or translations of
it may be reproduced or transmitted in any
form or by any means, electronic or
mechanical including photocopying,
recording or any other information storage
and retrieval system, without prior permission
in writing from ZX Lidars Ltd. All facts and
figures correct at time of creating. All rights
reserved. © Copyright 2018