Wind Turbine Cellular Systems
Proof of Concept (POC)
A first proof of concept (POC) has been set
up in Arizona. It uses a commercial
residential 3 blade wind turbine mounted on a balcony railing overlooking a
test route. The wind turbine power generation is not used. The aim was to
demonstrate that RF signals on a rotating wind turbine blade has
better performance than a static / fixed system
Test
Setup
·
Active
antenna on one blade near tip, other blades antenna used for balance to avoid
vibration.
·
Needed
to be well clear of main body so at 0.5m, no diversity
·
Blades
are not twisted or feathered as no pitch system so during high winds and
periods of maintenance manually locked
·
System
will only rotate horizontally +/- 45 degrees following wind direction until
hits obstructions and needs to be locked in place in other wind directions
·
As
no licensed cellular spectrum available for testing system operates on Wi-Fi at
2.4GHz and 5.8GHz so representative of mid band cellular coverage although Wi-Fi
is much less robust than 4G/5G which will perform much better
·
The
Wi-Fi access point was used as a repeater from existing Wi-Fi service from solid
T-Mobile home internet
·
Wi-Fi
bandwidth set at 20MHz using the cleanest channels available
·
Throughput
can be limited by backhaul Internet service. T-Mobile home internet service
gives ~200Mbps downloads and ~20Mbps uploads
POC system testing
Test Objectives
·
Coverage
on Wi-Fi at 2.4GHz and 5.8GHz
·
Throughput
downlink and uplink
·
Static
versus walking variations
·
Identify
if any coverage / system “holes”
·
Effects
of wind direction and speed
Test Results
·
Coverage
was noticeably better at 2.4GHz than 5.8GHz as expected and better than initial
estimates
·
Throughput
on downlink was great on 5.8GHz, on 2.4GHz certainly a limitation with other
signals interfering, uplink was limited by backhaul
·
Walking
gave less variations as averaged out inconsistencies
·
No
noticeable coverage / system “holes”, but no real obstructions
·
There
was no noticeable difference in performance with of wind direction.
·
With
increased wind speed as with walking there were less variation in performance
Summary
The RF
signals on a rotating wind turbine blade has better
performance than a static / fixed system. Coverage and throughput was more consistent and got even better when walking and
with higher wind speeds. This will improve more when using 4G/5G rather than
Wi-Fi
Patent
pending - 63/651,895
Patent
pending - 63/716,476
Patent
pending - PCT/US25/30399
Based in
Arizona USA, for more information contact via
https://www.facebook.com/malachite.communication/