Networking of Distributed Sensors for Proactive Condition Monitoring of Wind Turbines

This project addresses the investigation and demonstration of techniques that enable proactive automated control and management of sensor arrays, focusing in particular on applications of sensor arrays in the operation and management of wind farms. The research will identify desirable proactive behaviours and propose novel nature-inspired algorithms to deliver them. It will also explore mechanisms that facilitate the use of proactive control and management software including a) a policy driven management infrastructure that will use high level user goals to constrain the instrument level proactive behaviours, b) a parallel platform that supports appropriate observation, communication and actuation, and c) a lightweight, resilient peer to peer wireless communications architecture. The project will integrate the results of this research into a large scale demonstration intended for deployment at a hilltop windfarm.