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UNDERSTANDING RADAR & LASER
24
5
UNDERSTANDING RADAR & LASER
Does weather have any affect
on LIDAR?
Yes. Rain, snow, smoke, fog, or airborne
dust particles will reduce the effective
range of LIDAR and can, if dense enough,
prevent its operation.
Can LIDAR operate
through glass?
Yes. Newer LIDAR guns can obtain
readings through most types of glass.
However, the laser pulse also can be
received through glass to trigger an alarm
by your detector.
Can LIDAR operate while
in motion?
No. Because LIDAR operates by line of
sight, the person using it cannot drive the
vehicle, aim and operate the gun all at
the same time.
Is LIDAR legal to use?
Yes. It is legal in all 50 states.
Some common questions about LIDAR include:
Strobe Alert
Special strobes mounted on the light bars of
authorized emergency vehicles (fire trucks,
police cars, ambulances) automatically
change traffic signals as the vehicle
approaches an intersection. These strobes
and the special strobe detectors located on
the traffic signals, introduced fairly recently
by 3M and Tomar, are already in use in
more than 1000 cities nationwide. Cobra’s
exclusive Strobe Alert detector will detect
these special strobes and give an
Emergency Vehicle alert.
When you receive such an alert, please
watch for an approaching emergency
vehicle and pull over to allow it to pass. To
inquire about coverage in your area, contact
your local fire and police departments.
LIDAR (laser)
The correct name for the technology that most
people refer to as laser is actually LIDAR,
which stands for Light Detection and Ranging.
LIDAR operates much like radar. Its signal
spreads out like a radar signal, though not
as quickly. Unlike radar, LIDAR must have a
clear line of sight to its target vehicle
throughout the entire measurement interval.
Obstructions such as sign posts, utility
poles, tree branches, etc., will prevent valid
speed measurement.
Pop Radar Guns
The Pop mode radar gun is a single pulse
Doppler radar that is a feature of a Ka band
Instant On radar gun. It uses a single short
time pulse (<100 msec.) to measure the
target vehicle’s speed. Despite the fact that
the short, single pulse makes the unit very
sensitive to officer hand and vehicle
movement and reduces the range of the
gun in Pop mode to 50% of its range in
Continuous Wave mode, this feature is
added in an attempt to make the radar gun
invisible to Radar Detectors.
While your purchased radar detector will
detect this mode of operation in excess of it’s
range of operation, the very nature of the Pop
signals also means that the Pop mode
receiver section is more prone to false alerts
than the Continuous Wave portions of the
Detector. In recognition of the fact that the
Pop mode guns are new and limited in
distribution, Cobra Electronics has included a
user selectable on or off Pop Ka Detect mode.