Thursday, September 28, 2006

Recently a number of publications have reported a laser radar (lidar) measuring a vehicle speed at a range of 9,204 feet (1.7 miles). An operator would have difficulty seeing a vehicle at that range.

For a police lidar to measure a vehicle at that range the target would have to be a very large vehicle (a tractor-trailer), and the weather would have to be completely clear, cool, very dry (little or no humidity), and measured just before or after sunrise (least amount of background heat).

A well designed police lidar should ignore echoes greater than specified maximum operating range (typically about 2000 feet). A lidar that can measure a vehicle at 9000 has the receiver wide open to unwanted signals and interference sources and errors.

CopRadar