Wednesday, December 3, 2008

The Inner Workings Of A Radar Detector

By Tommy Joe Canter

State Troopers have been utilizing radar to measure the speed of drivers and to assist them in maintaining safe roads for several years. However, a lot of drivers have started using radar detectors to help them keep from paying costly fines for speeding violations. In spite of the popularity of radars and radar detectors, there are lots of people who still do not understand the science or technology behind them.

The police use radar guns which work by transmitting radio waves from the radar to the target vehicle and wait for them to bounce back. And since radio waves move through the air at the constant speed of light, radars can easily calculate how far away an object is based on how long it takes for that radio signal to return. When an object such as a car is moving, there is a change in the frequency of these radio waves.

Radars look at this frequency change and then convert it into miles per hour which then determines the speed of its target. Additionally, radar guns use various kinds of wave bands to determine the speed of the target, including X band, K band, and Ka band. So then a radar detector lets the driver know whenever it detects the presence of radars in the area.

One of the newer technologies that have come along is lasers. Police officers can now use a laser beam to also determine the speed of a vehicle. A laser is nothing more than a concentrated beam of light. These laser radar guns measure the time it takes for an infrared beam of light to leave the gun, reach a car, bounce off and then return back. These units can determine how far away an object is by multiplying this time by the speed of light. Since this type of radar sends out many bursts of light to determine multiple distances, the system can evaluate how fast the car is moving by comparing these samples.

The thing is that while laser speed detectors have a much more focused beam and can detect lasers over great distances, these police laser guns are generally more difficult to evade. While modern radar detectors often include a light-sensitive panel that detects these light beams, the problem is that by the time the detector senses them, the vehicle is usually already in the sights of the beam.

While the traditional radar detector operates by alerting the driver to the presence of a radar or laser, there are now detectors on the market that also emit a jamming signal. This signal duplicates the original signal from the police radar gun and mixes it with additional radio noise, which will confuse the radar receiver, and thereby prevents the police officer from getting an accurate speed reading.

Some of these newer detectors can also jam a laser by that producing a light beam of their own. The beam prevents the receiver from recognizing any reflected light to get a clear reading on the speed of the vehicle.

So now that you understand just how these units operate, then maybe you can eliminate some speeding tickets in the future. If speeding tickets have been bothersome for you, then perhaps you would want to buy one of these units. They will pay for themselves in a short time. - 16928

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