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I wrote a few months ago about Dallas considering radar guns as a tool to slow down cyclists, whose road speeds had gotten out of hand. Well, it looks like Brooklyn may soon do the same.

In the last six months two Brooklyn women have been seriously injured due to collisions with cyclists. Both women were walking along paths that they've used for years, and in both incidents the women suffered brain injuries, with one women in the hospital for months, having only recently regained consciousness after a coma.

I was against using radar guns to enforce speed limits on cyclists before, but these are severe injuries. I'd thought the extent of the danger was maybe a few sprained ankles or some minor broken bones, but both of these women could have been killed.

Since neither woman was on a bike at the time, they weren't wearing helmets. There are clear rules that park officials enforce regarding bike safety, but they're mostly directed at keeping the cyclists safe. Forcing pedestrians to wear helmets isn't going to happen, but being in such close proximity to speeding cyclists might be cause for a few pieces of safety equipment.

These city parks have a number of things going against them when it comes to path safety. A big issue is that the trails are designed with a number of turns and dense foliage to help urban dwellers feel they've gotten away from the city for a little bit. The density of the trees does a great job of isolating people on the paths, but it also makes it difficult to see around corners, and cyclists traveling at high speeds don't have much time to hit the breaks.

Another problem is that while most paths have clearly defined areas for bikes and pedestrians, these designations aren't obeyed enough. And that comes down on both sides, with pedestrians often straying from their part of the path, giving cyclists little room and little hope of avoiding a crash.

At present there isn't very much being done to prevent bicycle accidents. Brooklyn police has been handing out pamphlets to try to inform people of the rules, and inconsistent signs are likely going to be removed in the near future. Many of these signs currently show the speed limit as 15mph, but the actual limit is 25mph. The inconsistency may be leading a number of people to consider the speed limit a scoff law, and since almost no tickets have been issued more and more cyclists are ignoring any limits on their speed.

The Parks Department is working on as many new measures as possible to help make the park safe, but ultimately it's going to come down to keeping people informed of the rules and making sure those rules are enforced consistently enough that people start obeying.

Enforcement will include police radar guns measuring speeds, as well as making sure that cyclists and pedestrians start paying attention to red lights at crosswalks.

I believe that it's everyone's responsibility to keep roads safe, but parks are filled with kids that may not know better or who forget to keep safe, and if one of these collisions happens with a kid, it could turn fatal.

I'll admit it: I'm coming around to letting the police use radar guns on cyclists in parks.

Labels: bicycle, park radar

As a native of the Chicagoland area, I'm kinda disappointed in my beautiful second city today. Legislation has been passed that will allow Traffic Speed Cameras to be used in Chicago. For the time being this will only be in school and park zones, which is good, but it still feels a little like an invasion of privacy.

Don't get me wrong, I'm all for anything that increases the safety of children. I'm not a father yet myself, but someday I hope to have kids, and I'll want them safe when they're at school or enjoying a day at the park. It's just that letting these Radar Cameras into the city might become a slippery slope to having them everywhere.

I don't think people should be speeding, but I feel there's a necessary human element to issuing traffic tickets. A police officer armed with a radar gun can take into account other factors on the road than just your vehicle's speed to say that you were traveling too fast.

For instance, here in Chicago we get a lot of snow. If the roads are really slippery then drivers should likely be under the speed limit for safety reasons, but these traffic speed cameras won't be taking these factors into account. I think how busy the road is, visibility and other things should also play a part, and they do with a police officer, but not with a lifeless camera.

Traffic radar guns are a great tool, and I like seeing police officers out there protecting me and other people on the roads. Laws should be enforced, but allowing the police or other government organizations this ability to look in on us at all times is a bit too Big Brother for my tastes.

I don't want this to expand. I want the police to enforce laws, but not at the expense of my privacy. Who's to say these speed radar cameras won't start tracking where we go and what we do? I'm not a criminal. I don't need to be spied on.

Labels: radar camera

As is the case for most technological advancements, the coolest stuff is used by the military first, and then after a few years generally filters down to the general public. For example, some of the smart phone tech you currently enjoy has been in use by military professionals for more than a decade, though you've just gotten that feature on your new iPhone or Android. GPS Navigation Systems were in use by the military far more than the public for years as well.

But this is a radar blog!

So what cool radar tech is the military using today? Well, it's called Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) Radar. It's been in use on fighter jets in the US Air Force for a little over a decade, and the basic concept has been around for a while, but shrinking it down has taken some time. So what does it do? A lot more than your traditional baseball radar gun.

First, it's important to remember that fighter pilots need a lot more information and function from radar than simply telling how fast an object is moving. They need to know the precise location of something in three dimensional space, speed, and their radar needs to be able to lock on and track the object. But, and this is important, they need to be able to do this consistently and without giving away their position.

The basic concept is the same as a regular radar gun. A radio wave at a specific frequency is broadcast, and after it reflects off another object it will bounce back to the radar gun, which can then measure a number of factors and produce data. I've talked before about how radar guns use the Doppler Effect to determine speed, so I'll let you read those for more info on that part of the system.

What makes the AESA radar system different is that it uses WAY more frequencies and broadcasts a bunch more radio waves to prevent radar jammers from working and trick radar tracking equipment so that the source of the radio wave can't be found. Tracking has long been a problem when using radar, which is why for many years ships and planes that employed the tech kept their usage to a minimum. As long as traditional radar is on and broadcasting radio waves, a separate receiver can find those waves and figure out where they came from. If an airplane is broadcasting constantly, it'd be easy for an enemy to track them, and the enemy could stay hidden, since they don't have to broadcast any radio waves to track other planes.

AESA Radar broadcasts a number of different waves at multiple frequencies, and then changes these frequencies constantly to make it nearly impossible to track. Since the AESA system knows what is being broadcast, it can receive the correct frequencies back and determine where other objects are, while staying relatively incognito.

In addition to its lower profile, AESA radar is much harder to jam. The normal way to jam radar is to see what frequency is being broadcast, and then broadcast a signal on the same frequency to make it difficult to accurately determine which is the correct signal. Since AESA changes it's frequency constantly, and in a (more or less) random order, it's nearly impossible to jam.

But how will this eventually trickle down to you? Well, I don't know how well AESA tech would work for a baseball radar gun, but police radar could definitely benefit from the system.

While very few cars (none legally) have radar jammers, there are a lot of radar detectors on the market. These detectors are legal in many states, and give drivers advanced warning when a radar frequency is being broadcast nearby. If police had these AESA radar systems in their town, they could constantly broadcast radio waves on multiple frequencies, setting off radar detectors and making it impossible to tell when or where there is a cop present.

Right now, AESA Radar Technology is a bit too advanced and expensive for police departments to use, but at a certain point I could see these type of systems (likely a stripped down version) in use in many places. These new radar systems go from saving lives on the battlefield to saving lives at home. Sounds good to me!

Labels: military radar tech, new technology

Most people, when they hear the phrase, "Storm Chaser," think of people who track tornadoes. Thoughts of the movie Twister come to mind, with men and women running after some of the most dangerous weather known to man armed with little more than trucks and a prayer that the twister isn't headed directly at them.

But there's a new breed of storm chaser in town, and they're hoping to learn more about winter weather.

The Storm Chasing Utah Style Study (SCHUSS) is taking the Doppler on Wheels (DOW) truck out during snow storms to get a better look at what is going on inside of the storm. While the DOW was originally developed to study tornadoes, it also works well for looking at the inner workings of a snow storm. It sends out and receives radio waves on both the horizontal and vertical planes, which allows it to provide greater detail than the Doppler Radar systems used by the National Weather System. In addition to having more advanced radar technology than most systems, the DOW can also be positioned almost anywhere, including right in the middle of the storm, so the data provided is far more detailed and extensive than the data from other systems.

But what are some of the benefits of looking at snow storms? Well, the biggest thing seen so far is the 'transition zone,' which is the elevation at which snowflakes turn into raindrops. Knowing the exact height that this occurs is crucial to determining the amount of snow that will fall during a particular storm.

The difficulty in determining snowfall is especially great in Salt Lake City, where Lake Effect and mountain storms create unique weather patterns. The data collected will help weather forecasters predict upcoming weather with greater accuracy, which, in turn, will allow for better storm preparation.

The DOW radar truck has already been used to find new information on tornadoes, as it recorded the strongest wind ever in 1999. The top speed? 318mph! Holy Cow!

I don't think we'll be carrying the Doppler on Wheels truck anytime soon at Radarguns.com, but we do have radar guns used for sports that use the Doppler Effect to determine speed of moving objects, just like the radar truck.

Labels: new technology, weather radar

A new photo radar system that was originally developed in Russia may soon be in use in the United States. Canadian-based manufacturer Peak Gain Systems has taken the Russian design and created the Simicon Cordon, which has some impressive stats.

The Simicon Cordon can track up to 32 vehicles at a time, taking photos continuously, can scan the license plate and issue a ticket all at once. To minimize processing power, the included radar gun takes speed readings first, then when a vehicle is found to be speeding, photos are saved and scanned to issue tickets. A single police officer can watch the procedure and ensure that everything is working correctly.

Using this new system, it's possible that hundreds or perhaps even thousands of tickets could be issued per hour.

There are some concerns about privacy, as the system does take thousands of tickets, but it is this very aspect that the manufacturers feel makes the Cordon more than simply a speed detection device.

The Cordon can be used to track criminals, drunk drivers and perhaps even terrorists who are using roadways. Plus, the system can be modified in a number of ways, as laws are different in every state. About a third of US states have banned photo radar devices, while another third have said they're legal. The remaining third have yet to make a final decision.

In some states it might not be necessary to get a picture of the driver of the vehicle, so a car owner could potentially receive a speeding ticket when a friend was driving. Police radar procedures will have to be set by every individual department, which may alleviate many people's concerns, as some of the more invasive aspects of the system can be limited.

I'm not sure which states allow this form of police radar, but it would be interesting to see near my house, as there isn't a lot of traffic, but what cars do come by tend to be speeding. This small Cordon (about the size of toaster) can be put in most places fairly easily, and it could seriously help minimize traffic violations.

Labels: police procedure, police radar, radar camera

We've all heard about State birds, State flags, State dogs, State flowers and more State Legislature-recognized activities, objects, plants animals and more, but not every State currently has a State Sport.

A few states seem to have been having fun with their State Sport, such as Maryland, whose individual State Sport is jousting, and Michigan, who apparently prefer storm chasing to baseball. Earlier this year North Carolina declared Stock Car Racing their State Sport, and it appears Florida may be closely following suit. As the Daytona International Speedway is in Florida, it isn't exactly surprising that Automobile Racing is a popular activity there.

What is perhaps most interesting is that of those polled, 65 percent responded with "Who Cares?" instead of actually suggesting a particular sport. Of the remaining 35 percent, racing was the most popular.

I know there are a lot of folks down in Florida who bring their own radar gun along with them to the racing track because they have such a love for the sport, and many enjoy watching smaller races in addition to the big shows like Daytona, so racing could very well be the most popular sport in Florida, but I don't see why they have to stick with conventions. It'd be more fun to make the State Sport "Who Cares?"

Personally, I'm considering putting in Calvinball as the Illinois State Sport. It's still better than jousting. Although maybe we could use paintball...

I guess auto racing works as the Florida State Sport, but It'd be more fun if the did 'gator-wrestling' or 'orange shotput.'

Labels: racing, sports

YU55 was measured and imaged using radio telescopes, which employ similar methods to that used in a radar gun. The asteroid that flew by the Earth today at the closest range of any large rock in the last 35 years. It will likely be 17 more years before such a large asteroid comes as close to Earth as YU55.

The asteroid was actually closer to Earth than the moon at it's closest, as it was just shy of 202,000 miles away. The moon orbits at about 239,000 miles from Earth. I don't think it counts as a 'world-destroyer' (my term), but YU55 is pretty darn big. It's roughly 1,300 feet wide, or about the size of a city block, so it's a little too big to skip across a pond.

The really cool thing about this close fly by is how astronomers took a look at the asteroid. First, they wanted to know the distance and speed of the asteroid. This is where it's most similar to a radar gun. A large satellite broadcasts a radio wave out to the asteroid, and since these waves move at the speed of light and we know how fast that is (300,000 km/sec), we can measure the time it takes for the radio wave to be reflected back, multiply by the speed of light, divide by two (there and back) and we know how far away it is! The same radio waves can also be measured for their relative change in wavelength, which gives us the speed the asteroid is moving. This change in wavelength and frequency is the Doppler Effect, without which we wouldn't have Speed Radar Guns!

But wait! There's more! You can also measure the rotation of the asteroid using the change in wavelength, as the waves that struck parts rotating toward us will be different than the waves that struck parts rotating away from us.

Finally, using the radio telescopes we can also get an image of what the topography of the asteroid is like. A single signal is sent out, but as some parts hit higher planes and peaks of the asteroid, they'll reflect back to Earth quicker, and those that go into valleys will take longer, giving the astronomers a view of what the asteroid looks like.

All this can be found using a single radio telescope! That's pretty cool, and it's all done using the same scientific principles as is used in Police radar guns. You won't be able to see the asteroid with the naked eye, and even with a telescope it's tricky, as you'll need a telescope with an aperture at least 6" around. The moon is full tonight also, which will provide a lot of glare that may further obstruct viewing YU55, but it's still a pretty neat, and extremely rare, astronomical occurance, and definitely worth some consideration.

Labels: new technology, telescopes

Corpus Christi, Texas has undertaken a new project to give local residents a better idea of how far police procedure, technology and success has come in the last century. The police department has been collecting old artifacts, such as antique radar guns, massive cell phones, an early sobriety test called the drunkometer and a Thompson Machine gun to put on display in a police museum.

All this is made more fun and accessible by the mobile nature of the museum, which is housed in a trailer that was seized in a drug bust 5 years ago. The use of seized materials and money has kept the cost of the police museum down, with extra funds coming from a local nonprofit charity that supports the Corpus Christi Police Department.

The trailer has been outfitted by a local welder with a cell, so that kids who check out the museum can see what prisons really look like, which will hopefully have a deep impression on the kids and keep them away from crime. Local police officers related their childhood experiences with similar police museums and said that the experience was partially responsible for their chosen careers, so hopefully up and coming police officers will be inspired as well.

Careers as crime technicians and police scientists are often overlooked, so showing the various aspects of what the police do should give local residents a greater appreciation for their work. Those who design, care for and use police radar guns all serve the public, and while it may not be as showy a job as those that take down drug dealers, lives are saved by enforcing speed limits.

It'd be interesting to see the old time radar gun. Maybe one day some of our traffic radar guns like the Decatur Genesis 2 will be on display and kids will wonder how they worked.

Labels: police procedure, police radar