A LIDAR Tutorial

[Lee]

This is the best tutorial on this subject I have ever seen.

The tutorial is targeted (pardon the choice of word) towards drivers and how they can beat and/or defeat LIDAR. :guns:

http://www.mr2.com/TEXT/FAQonLidar.html

Lee

[ZX12r_Pat]

Hey Lee,

Just a couple of things, that article is about 11 years old. So a lot of the information that I read in there is obsolete. I have first hand knowledge that LIDAR's range is about 3,000 feet and not 800 as the article points out. Also Colorado has given the laser judicial notice.

Pat

PS Good read though. ;)

[Lee]

Pat,

I have had 5 encounters with LIDAR. In 4 of them, I was significantly speeding: 1 - car, 3 - motorcycle (an FJR-1300).

In all 3 motorcycle incidents, I was the only vehicle on the road. Why was I not cited? My only defensive reaction was (and has been for years) to clamp down as fast and hard on the brakes as I possibly could.

In your professional opinion, why might I not have been cited for speeding?

Lee

[ZX12r_Pat]

Because its very hard to get a reading on a motorcycle with LIDAR. Realize that the LIDAR unit works with a single beam that NEEDS to be reflected back to the unit. The motorcycle does not have much of a reflecting surface if looked at it from the front. The LIDAR needs to be held very still for the time it takes the unit to do its calculations. If it takes a lot of time to find an area that would reflect, the officer will get tired. By the time the LIDAR gets the speed, the speeder would have obviously had enough time to slow.

Regards,

Pat

[Lee]

That is good news. 8)

LIDAR uses a frequency of infrared - "heat" in the vernacular.

Would the heat generated from motorcycle headlights make the headlight reflectors less than a good reflector of the LIDAR beam? Would the heat the headlights generate interfere with a useful LIDAR beam reflection back to the officer?

Lee

[ZX12r_Pat]

Lee,

Now we are getting into technical stuff. I really dont know about the heat from the lamp.

Pat

[Lee]

Lee,

Now we are getting into technical stuff. I really dont know about the heat from the lamp.

Pat

Pat, thanks for sharing what you do know.

Motorcycle headlamps are so hot that I am thinking their energy should completely overwhelm the relatively low energy signal from the LIDAR gun. Right now, it's just a theory but I suspect there is some truth to it. Halogens bulbs put out a tremendous amount of infrared in all frequencies.

Lee