NRG Systems to Provide Advanced Lidar Solutions to Increase Wind Hazard Detection Capabilities at North American Airports

NRG Systems, a global leader in the distribution and service of atmospheric remote sensing solutions, has announced today the U.S. launch of advanced, Lidar-based remote sensing solutions, introducingpowerful new ways to resolve some of the most critical weather hazard challenges facing the aviation industry. Thanks to theirability to detect low-level wind hazards through real-time wind reconstruction, Lidars have become an essential tool in managing wind shear, microburst, and wake turbulence events, leading to improved safety and performance in the aviation sector.

This Lidar technology, called WINDCUBE®, provides highly resolved volumetric observations of the terminal airspace, offering actionable intelligence that ensures safer take-off and approach, and boosts the overall efficiency of air traffic management. It significantly improves hazard risk detection for terminal operations, and synergizes seamlessly with complementary remote sensing technologies.

 “Global air traffic is expected to double in the next two decades, along with an increasing demand for improved safety and performance. The ability of airport operators to detect low level wind shear, gust fronts, microbursts, and other wind hazards, in real-time, has never been more important to commercial aviation,” commented Paul Drewniak, a meteorological industry expert with over 20 years of experience in the field, who was recently recruited to head NRG’s new Lidar Meteorology Solutions business unit.

The sustainable growth of air traffic requires the enhancement of weather information and its integration into air traffic management (ATM) processes. Programs such as NextGEN in the U.S. and SESAR in Europe aim to modernize ATM, improve situational awareness, and increase airspace capacity. WINDCUBE® Lidar and Selex ES Rainbow5 solutions integrate real-time wind hazard detection capabilities for single or multi-runway configurations, providing improved traffic management and safety. 

WINDCUBE® Lidar solutions are designed and manufactured by French technology firm LEOSPHERE, and exclusively distributed in the United States by NRG Systems. In SESAR-sponsored European projects at Charles de Gaulle, Nice, Toulouse-Blagnac, and Braunschweig airports, WINDCUBE® Lidar has demonstrated capabilities to measure winds up to 10 km with an accuracy better than 0.5m/s, retrieve 1-minute glide path winds, reconstruct volumetric terminal wind data every 5 minutes, and provide multi-sensor data fusion with effective new remote sensors.