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LIDAR is an acronym for LIght Detection And Ranging. A police laser emits a highly focused beam of invisible light, in the near infrared region of light, that is centered at 904nm of wavelength and is only about 22 inches (56cm) in diameter at 1000 feet (300m). Unlike police RADAR which directly determines a vehicle's speed by measuring its doppler shift, police laser-lidar calculates speed by observing the changing amount of time is takes to "see" reflected pulses of light over a discreet amount of time.
Older Generation I & II police laser guns (ie; LTI 20/20 Marksman, KS Prolaser I/II) - which have long been out of production - today pose little or no threat to drivers as they are no longer used - and were fairly easy to defeat.
Generation III (Gen 3) police lasers such as the Laser Technology (LTI) Ultralyte 100/200LRB, Kustom Signals Pro Laser III, and Stalker LZ-1 account for the majority of guns currently in operation in the US with Laser Atlanta attempting to gain market share with the new S-model. The Riegl LR90 and Jenoptik Laveg/LaserPatrol are European police laser guns for use in their respective markets.
For 2006, two new ultralight (~1lb) guns have been introduced into the traffic enforcement market by Kustom Signals - the binocular-styled Pro-Lite and Pro-Lite+ - that should prove to be quite popular and are much more price competitive with their RADAR gun counterparts - meaning that police laser is only going to become even more popular!
These latest generation police laser-lidar guns are much more difficult to defeat than their earlier Gen II or I predecessors.
police lidar/laser beamvehicle laser cross section
After many hours of testing this product with different cars and different speed police laser guns, we have determined five primary contributors to police laser's effectiveness. They are (in order of decreasing importance): whether or not a license or vanity plate is mounted on the front of a vehicle; the surface-area of headlights, fog lights, and parking/running lights that are positioned in the front; the amount of large sections of chrome that is perpendicular to the road facing the front; the shape of the vehicle - specifically how much of the vehicle is vertical or perpendicular to the road; and finally the color of the vehicle (white being the easiest to detect) and type of automotive paint (metallic being the easiest to detect.)
Let's examine each one of these factors which contribute to a vehicle's "visibility" to police laser/lidar.
First
Most states and countries require the use of a front license plate (as of this writing, only seventeen states do not.) These plates are mounted perpendicular to the road surface, thereby acting as a strong reflector of light energy. Furthermore, most current state plates are retro-reflective which, in effect, magnifies or intensifies the amount of reflected light. We have found that even on black cars that have hidden head lights, such as Corvettes, when they have a front-mounted license plate, effective targeting range increases as much as four times!
Second
Head/fog lights and parking/running lamps are also strong reflectors however they are typically spaced farther apart and since the LIDAR beam only strikes a portion of them at any one time, they are the secondary contributing factor.
Third
Vehicles that have large sections of chrome are easier to target than do vehicles that do not or have complex thin chrome grills with a lot of space in between them.
Fourth
The frontal shape of a vehicles plays a large role in effecting the targeting range of laser. Corvettes, Camaros, Mustangs, and many import sports cars have steeply raked front-ends that have fewer surfaces that are perpendicular to the road. Therefore, cars which are aerodynamic looking are likely harder to target with laser as these kinds of vehicles reflect laser light away from the gun source. These types of vehicles stand to benefit the most when VEILed.
Fifth
The color and type of paint contributes to a vehicle's stealth nature. Metallic and/or light cars are easier to target at greater range than darker non-metallic cars. You may be surprised to see that color is not higher on the list of importance, however, we have found that all laser guns have improved, since their debut, to the point that the other factors play a more important role in contributing to the overall visual signature to laser. However, darker vehicles will tend to benefit the most with VEIL, because once the reflected portions are obscured with VEIL, the car's color will be the source of any remaining reflectivity.
Older Generation I & II police laser guns (ie; LTI 20/20 Marksman, KS Prolaser I/II) - which have long been out of production - today pose little or no threat to drivers as they are no longer used - and were fairly easy to defeat.
Generation III (Gen 3) police lasers such as the Laser Technology (LTI) Ultralyte 100/200LRB, Kustom Signals Pro Laser III, and Stalker LZ-1 account for the majority of guns currently in operation in the US with Laser Atlanta attempting to gain market share with the new S-model. The Riegl LR90 and Jenoptik Laveg/LaserPatrol are European police laser guns for use in their respective markets.
For 2006, two new ultralight (~1lb) guns have been introduced into the traffic enforcement market by Kustom Signals - the binocular-styled Pro-Lite and Pro-Lite+ - that should prove to be quite popular and are much more price competitive with their RADAR gun counterparts - meaning that police laser is only going to become even more popular!
These latest generation police laser-lidar guns are much more difficult to defeat than their earlier Gen II or I predecessors.
police lidar/laser beamvehicle laser cross section
After many hours of testing this product with different cars and different speed police laser guns, we have determined five primary contributors to police laser's effectiveness. They are (in order of decreasing importance): whether or not a license or vanity plate is mounted on the front of a vehicle; the surface-area of headlights, fog lights, and parking/running lights that are positioned in the front; the amount of large sections of chrome that is perpendicular to the road facing the front; the shape of the vehicle - specifically how much of the vehicle is vertical or perpendicular to the road; and finally the color of the vehicle (white being the easiest to detect) and type of automotive paint (metallic being the easiest to detect.)
Let's examine each one of these factors which contribute to a vehicle's "visibility" to police laser/lidar.
First
Most states and countries require the use of a front license plate (as of this writing, only seventeen states do not.) These plates are mounted perpendicular to the road surface, thereby acting as a strong reflector of light energy. Furthermore, most current state plates are retro-reflective which, in effect, magnifies or intensifies the amount of reflected light. We have found that even on black cars that have hidden head lights, such as Corvettes, when they have a front-mounted license plate, effective targeting range increases as much as four times!
Second
Head/fog lights and parking/running lamps are also strong reflectors however they are typically spaced farther apart and since the LIDAR beam only strikes a portion of them at any one time, they are the secondary contributing factor.
Third
Vehicles that have large sections of chrome are easier to target than do vehicles that do not or have complex thin chrome grills with a lot of space in between them.
Fourth
The frontal shape of a vehicles plays a large role in effecting the targeting range of laser. Corvettes, Camaros, Mustangs, and many import sports cars have steeply raked front-ends that have fewer surfaces that are perpendicular to the road. Therefore, cars which are aerodynamic looking are likely harder to target with laser as these kinds of vehicles reflect laser light away from the gun source. These types of vehicles stand to benefit the most when VEILed.
Fifth
The color and type of paint contributes to a vehicle's stealth nature. Metallic and/or light cars are easier to target at greater range than darker non-metallic cars. You may be surprised to see that color is not higher on the list of importance, however, we have found that all laser guns have improved, since their debut, to the point that the other factors play a more important role in contributing to the overall visual signature to laser. However, darker vehicles will tend to benefit the most with VEIL, because once the reflected portions are obscured with VEIL, the car's color will be the source of any remaining reflectivity.