USTRANSCOM wins technology partnership award for wind farm study
USTRANSCOM's ability to enter into Cooperative Research and Development Agreements, or CRADAs, one of several Technology Transfer tools used by federal laboratories, brought the parties together to collaboratively analyze the problem. Work under the CRADA helped the team quickly determine whether additional construction would degrade radar performance below acceptable limits.
The partners focused on Air Mobility Command's Travis AFB, Calif., located in an area favorable for wind farms. A proposal by three development companies to increase the number of wind turbines operating in the nearby wind resource area of Solano County raised the question of how the turbines would affect the ability of radar to detect aircraft.
AMC's Judge Advocate General and Operations Directorates led much of the effort. Brig Gen Steven Lepper, the command's top lawyer, announced the team's findings at a Jan. 19 public meeting in Solano County just 42 days after the CRADA was signed. The team found little impact, and AMC was able to drop its concerns about additional wind farm construction.
"The recognition for USTRANSCOM, in itself, covers multiple agencies within the Department of Defense," said Mark Surina of MITRE Corporation and manager of the command's Office of Research and Technology Applications. "USTRANSCOM, Headquarters Air Mobility Command, Air Force Flight Standards Agency and Travis AFB were key players in collecting and analyzing data in partnership with the wind farm developers and a commercial radar analyst.
USJFCOM attorney Damien Walsh assisted USTRANSCOM in drafting the CRADA language, providing the connection to the mid-Atlantic region. The Department of Energy's Idaho National Laboratory also provided vital expertise."
"The CRADA relationship allowed us to rapidly assemble all the right technical expertise from government and industry, and give all parties access to facilities and data," said Dr. Donald Erbschloe, AMC Chief Scientist, who recommended the CRADA as a teaming strategy.
"Traditional federal laboratories use CRADAs primarily to 'spin off" or commercialize government-designed technologies," he said. "USTRANSCOM uses CRADAs to 'try on' and further mature new technologies in our environment, learn what's possible, and share the knowledge and the technology that was developed together."
"The technical collaboration did more than help predict the impact of new construction," said 60th Air Mobility Wing's Col. James Vechery, commander of the parent organization at Travis.
"The cooperative efforts also assisted us in developing baseline probability of detection values that will maintain aviation safety and efficiency of flight operations over the wind resource area," he continued. "Additionally, by exercising our systems with the teamwork of a private-sector analyst and government experts, we identified methods to improve our existing radar performance and reliability."
Vice Adm. Mark D. Harnitchek, USTRANSCOM deputy commander, serves as the command's Laboratory Director for Technology Transfer activities, and approved the CRADA.
Work under the CRADA continues at Travis AFB, with additional data collection and analysis to further validate the predictions and develop confidence in the techniques. The USTRANSCOM ORTA has received several inquiries about how the CRADA and its technical approach might be used at other DOD installations facing nearby wind farm construction.
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