ThermalTracker-3D, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, is the only known avian tracking system equipped with 3D tracking capability via thermal cameras, providing the most comprehensive information needed for planned offshore wind farms to determine if birds and bats are flying at heights where they are at risk of turbine blade collision. The 3D capability captures detailed information about wingspan, body length, flight speed and height — critical data historically difficult to obtain but necessary for understanding responses of offshore birds and bats to wind turbines that would accurately characterize the environmental impacts of offshore wind development.

Unlike competing technologies, ThermalTracker-3D can detect a wide range of birds and bats, from small to large, both night and day, providing 3D georeferenced flight tracks for quantifying animal activity in proposed development areas.

ThermalTracker-3D is made up of a stereo pair of thermal cameras, software, a global positioning system (GPS) and camera orientation sensors. The system is used with any high-performing industrial computer system with power over ethernet ports.