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One of the toughest issues facing police officers when tracking speeders is determining when and where it is most useful to station a police officer. Most drivers, especially those exceeding the posted speed limit, will slow down when in view of a marked police vehicle, and this affects how accurate the officer's readings are when trying to get an idea of the general flow of traffic.

These officers are often not trying to issue tickets, but rather just getting an idea of how fast drivers are traveling. Based on this data the police department places cops with police radar guns in the right place at the right time to do the most good in slowing down dangerous traffic.

To combat the problem of people slowing down when in sight of a marked car, police in Lake Worth, Florida have just purchased a radar recorder. This black box contains a radar gun and records all the speeds of drivers over a given period of time. This data can be quickly and easily analyzed to see when police will be most effective. The small black box is inconspicuous, so very few drivers will even notice it, and even fewer will likely guess its purpose, so driving speeds should be more natural. The radar recorder can be strapped to a telephone poll or hidden behind a bush, so keeping it hidden shouldn't be a problem.

There have been a number of calls from concerned citizens who complain about speeding in Lake Worth, but police officers have not really seen an increase, so instead of playing a 'cat-and-mouse' game with drivers by trying to guess where the problem zones are, the recorder will allow for pinpoint accuracy.

The radar recorder doesn't take photos of cars, and the information gathered will not be used to issue tickets, so it isn't like red light cameras, which a great number of people find to be too intrusive. It's far closer to a speed trailer, such as the Decatur OnSite 200 Radar Speed Display Sign, which also tracks driving speeds, but is more obvious and doubles as a warning to drivers to slow down.

Lake Worth City Officials hope the improved speed detection will help slow down speeds on the road and improve driving safety. The use of these radar gun-like devices is becoming more common, as other cities and towns near Lake Worth have used them in the past or are planning to implement them soon.

With all the advantages speeders seem to have these days, such as the social networking radar I wrote about last week, it'll be interesting to see how effective this new approach is. These radar recorders might throw off some of the radar detectors.

Labels: police procedure, police radar

The final scene from the film Batman Begins is one of my favorites. Commissioner Gordon asks Batman about escalation. What he means is that when police officers use bulletproof vests, bad guys use armor piercing bullets, and now that Batman starts fighting crime, it will just make the bad guys that much more inventive and dangerous. Escalation is a real issue for most police departments, and one area in particular is in radar detection.

Police radar guns are used to keep drivers at or under the speed limit. But it didn't take too long for drivers to find ways around radar guns. Thus, the radar detector was born. Drivers were able to tell when and where police were using radar guns. Police reacted by using new different frequencies that were not detectable by the original radar detectors.

Round after round of this type of back forth went on, with companies producing increasingly advanced devices that could read a number of different bands of radio frequencies, and now police often augment their radar guns with laser devices that are much more difficult to detect far enough in advance for a driver to slow down.

So how have some companies dealt with this issue? Well, they're getting into social media. One of the first websites to offer speed trap services was Trapster, which allowed drivers to input data on where there are speed traps, or just areas where cops are often found tracking speeders. The issue with this system was that it was dependant on users manually inputting data. Well, Trapster.com and Waze.com have both developed new smartphone apps and radar detectors that upload radar data into their system automatically, providing drivers with far more sophisticated information on where and when police are using their radar guns.

This new radar detector system keeps track of the date, time, and location of every time your radar gun gets a reading. So you'll be able to see, if you use the app for your smartphone, that from 5-6 pm on Tuesdays on XYZ Road that police are especially vigilant in cracking down on speeders. It can even read the strength of the signal, so you'll have a pretty good idea of where the officer is hiding while trying to catch you speeding.

I'll admit it's a pretty interesting idea. Both companies are even working on systems where you wouldn't need a radar detector, but rather just have the information sent directly to your phone.

It'll be interesting to see how the police take on this new system. They could change up their pattern of when and where they try to catch speeders, but there's a methodology behind their current practices, as some areas have children present, or are especially busy, and they want to be present at these moments to ensure public safety.

While the social media radar detectors could help some speed, it might also cause some to slow down more, as they'll be able to see how vigilant the police are, and they may not feel comfortable going over the limit in very many places. I feel it's more likely that speeders will use the radar detector to skirt the system, but it might help with public safety. The new radar systems could also add in other data, such as school zones, work zones, etc., which could help those in a hurry better plan their route, and keep them away from places where it is especially dangerous to be speeding.

It'll be interesting to see how things develop for police radar. Will they find new ways of tracking speeders, or use new methods with existing technology?

Labels: police radar, radar detectors

Labels: new technology

Right up front I'm going to admit that I've never skydived. I want to, and someday I plan to, but I have yet to take the leap (pun intended).

Labels: skydiving

Conventional radar, such as the radar guns used by police, has a single, tightly focused beam of radio waves that is broadcast. One small area is being read at any given time. This is true for Doppler Weather Systems like you hear about on the news, or the radar used at airports, and while it is incredibly accurate, it is also limited as to the amount of data that is being received.

Labels: new technology, radar uses

Labels: golf, golf radar gun

Labels: cricket, sports radar

A British satellite manufacturer, the Surrey Satellite Technology Limited (SSTL), has just recently announced their plan to develop a new radar satellite that will not use regular optics to take pictures of the Earth, but rather use a radar imaging system to map the ground. Up till now the company has been mostly a smaller, low-cost satellite manufacturer, and this step up in technology is rather dramatic.

The reason this improvement seems so significant is that when compared with traditional optical satellites the radar technology will drain a far greater amount of power. The power will be used for both the greater power demands that using radar calls for and that processing all that information. The radar will generate between 20 and 30 times more data per second than an optical satellite, and all that has to be transmitted down to the ground, which is extremely taxing to the power system. Fortunately, recent advancements have made it possible for SSTL to get plenty of power and take all the photos they need without costing too much money. Similar satellites with radar imaging would normally cost about $100 million, but they hope to get theirs in the air for half that price.

The biggest advantage of radar over optical satellites is the image is not affected by weather. When there's extensive cloud cover, as is often the case over rain forests, optical satellites cannot take decent photos. This limits the ability to track deforestation, which can cause a huge number of problems around the world. Using radar images would give daily updates for parts of the world that are normally hard to map out using satellites.

This is a pretty cool new development. The radar gun-like device on the satellite would produce images that can see details larger than 6m across. While that may not super detailed, with the ability to take pictures in any weather this is a fantastic new use for radar!

Radar works based on a relatively simple scientific principle: the Doppler Effect. Measuring the change in wavelength of a radio signal has been around for quite some time, but there have been so many smaller advancements to the technology that more and more applications are found every day for radar. Whether it's used by the weather man to see when it's going to rain, a cop with a police radar gun to catch speeders, or a scout using a baseball radar gun to check out a new pitching prospect, radar is constantly getting more accurate and more economical.

Labels: new technology