Deutsche WindGuard Sets Up LiDAR Calibration Tunnel for PTB

Deutsche WindGuard Wind Tunnel Services has developed a special wind tunnel for LiDAR Calibration on behalf of the National Metrology Institute of Germany (Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt – PTB).

The wind tunnel will be used to calibrate PTB’s newly developed LiDAR system, which the company will use as a traceable reference standard to calibrate other remote sensing devices, like LiDARs and SoDARs.

The tunnel is erected on a 8-meter high platform in PTB’s Competence Center Wind, below which the LiDAR system will be positioned so it can be calibrated in the test section of the tunnel. As a result, it can be validated as a reference standard.

“The special feature of this wind tunnel is that the LiDAR can be positioned below the test section. The distance to the test section is enough to calibrate the PTB-LiDAR against a LDA used as reference standard, which is placed in the wind tunnel,” said Dieter Westermann, Managing Director of Deutsche WindGuard Wind Tunnel Services GmbH and developer of the wind tunnel.

As of now, the method for traceable calibration of wind remote sensing devices is to place the sensors next to a met mast with calibrated anemometers for a specified amount of time, which leads to higher measurement uncertainties, Deutsche WindGuard said.

“Constructional limits as well as our high expectations/sophisticated requirements with regards to flow quality required the design and construction of a new, special wind tunnel,” said Dr. Harald Müller, Head of the Working Group Fluid Flow Measuring Techniques at PTB.

“We chose to work with Deutsche WindGuard, because this way we could access their valuable experience from the development and design of several wind tunnels with excellent flow quality.”