Terma Signs Contract with NATS for Inverness Airport, Scotland

June 21, 2022, Lystrup: Terma has been given the order by UK air traffic services provider NATS, to provide wind turbine interference mitigation for Inverness Airport, which has just been named best airport with under 2 million passengers per year in Europe by Airport Council International (ACI). With the new order for a SCANTER 4002 radar, Terma radars will be in service in 4 out of the 5 largest airports in Scotland.

“We are very pleased that NATS and Inverness Airport has chosen the SCANTER 4002 radar for wind farm interference mitigation. The SCANTER 4002 radar is highly resilient to the impact of wind turbines and the versatility of the SCANTER radar technology allows us to address the needs of both the wind industry and the aviation industry. We are looking forward to delivering our radar system and service to Inverness Airport,” says Michael Agergaard Riis, Business Development Director, Security Sales in Surveillance & Mission Systems.

Wind turbines can cause interference to the radar systems used by air traffic controllers to safely and reliably separate aircrafts, as the turbine blades can appear as ‘clutter’ on radar screens and be mistaken for aircraft.

Highlands & Islands Airports Ltd (HIAL), who operate Inverness Airport, support the Scottish Government's Net Zero ambitions, and aim to facilitate the generation of renewable energy by ensuring that such generation does not diminish HIAL's ability to maintain the safe operation of the Airport.  To that end, HIAL tendered under public procurement regulations for a proven windfarm mitigation technical solution, and NATS were successful in winning the contract by proposing a Terma SCANTER radar system.

Iain Harris (NATS Director Service Delivery) added: “We’re delighted to be working with HIAL to deliver a Terma SCANTER radar to Inverness airport for windfarm mitigation. This will allow the airport to consent to several surrounding windfarm developments, which would otherwise impact the airports current surveillance system. It’s a solution that gives the airport the safeguarding it needs, while enabling the generation of vital green energy.”

The SCANTER 4002 radar provides enhanced detection of small air targets and is designed for separation of small air targets from large targets like wind turbines. With an instrumented range of 45 nautical miles and vertical coverage up to more than FL200, the SCANTER 4002 is operational in several European airports as either infill wind farm mitigation radar or as Primary Surveillance Radar (PSR).

Terma has more than 70 years of experience in developing radars. Major airports around the world rely on Terma sensor technology, for unprecedented small target detection of both surface and air target even in harsh weather conditions.