Thread: Making Radar/Lidar detectors obsolete?

http://dsc.discovery.com/news/briefs...411/speed.html

discuss

April 11, 2005 ? A new speed-measuring system that its inventors say is fully undetectable may someday render radar detectors useless.

The inventors, from the University of Florida, will outline the research in a paper in an upcoming issue of the journal Transactions on Robotics and Automation. The technology is so new that police are not yet equipped with it.

The technology is so new that police are not yet equipped with it.

However, the device's inventors say that could change at any time, since it would take minimal effort to outfit officers with the system.

The U.S. Air Force Office of Scientific Research also is interested in the research, which it plans to apply to robotic airplanes and ground vehicles for surveillance purposes.

"It (the new system) will be forever undetectable since it does not emit any form of energy that gives itself away, like radar and laser systems," said Warren Dixon, a university assistant professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering who was part of the research team.

Radar and laser guns transmit beams to a moving object. Upon hitting the object, the beam changes frequency. When the beam returns back to the gun, the frequency change is deciphered to determine speed.

Detectors can pick up a gun's bands of energy and alert speeding motorists that someone is watching. As a result, many speeders avoid getting tickets.

Dixon told Discovery News that the new device, inspired by human vision, eliminates radar and laser beams altogether.

He explained that humans perceive depth because the brain processes information received from each eye. In the past, researchers mimicked human eyesight in the field by employing more than one camera to receive 3D data, but the position of each camera had to be noted at all times.

The new system is simple, requiring just a single video camera hooked up to a small computer. Computer algorithms, or mathematical instructions, enable the computer to continuously register motionless target points, such as a tree that the car passes. By comparing changing distance vectors between the car and the target, as captured in multiple images, the software program can calculate the car's speed.

"A policeman could have the camera/computer in his car, and much like a radar detector, he could simply point the camera at a motorist and the speed could be displayed on the screen," Dixon said. "If a dispute is raised in traffic court, the officer even has a short video sequence of the speeding car that proves beyond any doubt that the motorist was speeding and the exact speed."

He added, "The camera is passive so that a motorist cannot detect if he/she is being monitored. The camera can also use infrared technology to detect motorists at night and in bad weather conditions."

Dixon and his colleagues' work so impressed the U.S. military that it has funded them to develop the technology for future intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance missions.

According to a university press release, soldiers could mount the cameras onto airborne drones or truck convoys that could be dispatched to follow "potentially hostile objects." Since the technology is undetectable, it would be difficult for the enemy to track the locations of a drone or a convoy.

Andy Kurdilia, a University of Florida professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering who did not work with Dixon on the journal paper, is leading a project funded by a $5 million grant from the Eglin Air Force Base in Florida. The goal of the project is to transform the new system's 3-D vision capabilities into artificial vision intelligence for robotic airplanes.

Kurdilia hopes robot planes outfitted with the technology could fly without any kind of human assistance, even from a remote operator. Instead, onboard cameras could provide an airborne robot with real-time terrain and weather condition information that the robot could use to make navigational decisions.

Dixon said the AI vision system also is being readied for private security duty in places like warehouses and shopping centers. Since it can be operated remotely, the system also could help to safeguard water supply reservoirs.

While Dixon believes the speed measurement component of the new technology is ready for immediate implementation, he thinks the advanced applications, such as unmanned platoons and persistent surveillance, could be put into action within the next year or two.

Originally Posted by Shane916

Definately would be effective if it works as they say it does. Hopefully, if it is ever introduced it won't be abused by law enforcement. For example if they just left it on and combined it with photographed license plates then every person speeding would recieve tickets. Is that possible to have an eletrical device the transmits no energy though?

Yes and no... it won't transmit no electrical energy, it just won't be sending a laser/radar beam at your car, so no detector will be able to pick it up... designing an early warning system for this kind of detector would be difficult at best - remembering that there are devices that can detect video recorders, and microphones and whatnot ("bugs" ala james bond, enemy of the state and other espionage movies) but designing them to be able to sort out all the other things (other cars, street lights, cell phone signals, etc) would make it cost prohibitive for the every day person to get one... I have a bad feeling that these things will be going in everything from streetlights (yanno, the ones they have now to take your picture when you run a red light) to speed traps on all the major roadways around town... good news/bad news... less idiots speeding around town, possibly less stupid people related car accidents... but then again, I won't be able to putter around town as fast as I'd like, providing they do the strict enforcement that I'm sure they will adapt... I think most speed limits are 10 miles slower than they should be... *shrugs* We'll see what happens

Originally Posted by Shane916

Definately would be effective if it works as they say it does. Hopefully, if it is ever introduced it won't be abused by law enforcement. For example if they just left it on and combined it with photographed license plates then every person speeding would recieve tickets. Is that possible to have an eletrical device the transmits no energy though?

eh somewhere in the middle of bumfuck egypt... well central US there were speed cameras trapping people radar and cameraon some streets... that states supreme court ruled it illegal as a form of invasion of privacy... i was bored and was googling about speed cameras since one night driving on watt i saw a flash and i didnt run a red... they are all over europe... but that one state ruled it unconstitutional so more than likely if this happened the cop would still need to pull ya over... =T besides what if you were speeding for a reason like trying to avoid someone who was swirving between lanes like a drunk driver? eh food for thought
~jae