Presentation and validation of a simulation environment for floating lidar systems

In recent years, floating lidar systems (FLS) have developed into a fully-fledged and accepted measuring instrument for determining and surveying wind conditions in the offshore sector. FLS are currently primarily used for wind resource assessment purposes before the construction phase of an offshore wind farm. That is why a precise knowledge of the measurement accuracy or uncertainty of the FLS for different wind and wave conditions is very important. The lack of knowledge could be mitigated with a simulation tool for FLS of different types and for variable wind and wave conditions. Within this paper we present an approach for such a simulation framework for FLS and the process for validating this simulation environment using data from an offshore measurement campaign. The data used for the validation include data from one FLS and two reference measurement systems (measuring mast and fixed lidar).