Testing lidar-assisted control (LAC) and data processing algorithms on physical prototypes is expensive, highly weather-dependent, and carries inherent risks. solis, developed by sowento, is a sophisticated wind lidar simulator engineered specifically for nacelle lidar-assisted control simulations.
By delivering highly realistic, reliable preview measurements in a fully simulated environment, solis allows control engineers to thoroughly test and verify their algorithms before field deployment.
Why Engineers Trust solis?
- Realistic Preview Measurements: Generate high-fidelity simulated lidar data to develop and test advanced Lidar-Assisted Control (LAC) systems before field deployment.
- Built for OEM Standards: Designed to validate advanced control loops and data processing algorithms in a highly repeatable environment.
- Adaptable & Cross-Platform: solis features a highly flexible interface and runs seamlessly on Windows and Unix systems (supporting both 32-bit and 64-bit environments).
- Proven & Verified: Features a dedicated unit testing framework and extensive coherence verification to ensure fidelity with physical wind fields
.
Unrivaled Physics & Turbine Interaction Modeling
solis goes beyond basic geometric wind field approximations. It simulates the physical interactions between the wind, the lidar beam, and the turbine structure to capture real-world measurement behavior.
Sophisticated Lidar Physics
- Volume Averaging: Support for both Gaussian (pulsed) and Lorentzian (continuous-wave) range weighting functions, alongside manual definition options.
- Custom Sampling Distances: Specify sampling distances along-beam or along the x-axis to match your specific hardware setup.
- Beam and Trajectory Flexibility: Define beam angles directly within the lidar reference frame with a wide choice of trajectory types.
- Statistical Availability: Model range-dependent signal quality to simulate a realistic fraction of valid measurements over along-beam distance, complete with random seed inputs for perfectly repeatable simulations.
Advanced Wind and Turbulence Environments
- Comprehensive Wind Field Formats: Seamlessly ingest uniform wind, Mann turbulence, TurbSim-style
.btsfiles, Bladed-style.wndfiles, and alaska turbulence. - Unfrozen Turbulence Evolution: Utilize our Python pre-processor to generate evolving, unfrozen turbulence fields (
.evo) using Kaimal or Mann spectra, ensuring realistic coherence as wind structures travel toward the rotor. - Dynamic Table Updates: Realistically simulate changing wind conditions by dynamically updating wind speed, wind direction, and shear exponents over time via simple input tables with linear interpolation.
Turbine Interferences
- Blade Blockage Modeling: Simulate beam blockage caused by rotating blades (assuming symmetric blade geometries and a cylindrical nacelle), including the simulation of single-beam blockage and fixed blocked beams.
- Induction Zone Modeling: Predict axial induction based on turbine thrust and wind speed, incorporating radial variation with advanced shape functions (such as the Troldborg & Meyer Forsting model) to simulate the true velocity ratio approaching the rotor.
Seamless Integration with Your Existing Workflows
There is no need to restructure your existing toolchains. solis features pre-built, robust interfaces to the wind industry’s leading aero-hydro-servo-elastic simulation environments:
| Supported Interface | Target Application |
| OpenFAST | Publicly available NREL engineering tool |
| HAWC2 | DTU’s high-fidelity structural design code |
| Bladed | Industry-standard turbine design software |
| alaska Wind | Advanced multi-body simulation software |
| SLOW | sowento’s control-oriented wind turbine modeling tool |
Flexible Licensing Options
We support both academic research and commercial wind technology development:
- Academic Version: Reduced fee or free of charge for universities and academic research institutions to foster open scientific innovation.
- Commercial Licenses: Multiple flexible commercial tiers tailored for turbine OEMs, lidar manufacturers, and engineering consultancies.