Having a radar detector and laser defense system in your car or truck is a great way to avoid speeding tickets. The success those systems have in helping you avoid tickets depends a great deal on how you use them. In this article, we’ll talk about laser defense systems and explain the Jam to Gun and Jam to Kill terms.

What Is a Laser Defense System?

Also called a laser or lidar jammer, laser shifter or laser countermeasure system, a laser defense system works to prevent a police officer from measuring the speed of your vehicle using a lidar (laser) gun. Because lidar guns can target vehicles very accurately (within a few feet at a range of 1,000 feet) and measure very quickly (often in less than 0.5 second), there’s no time for a driver to slow down once a detector has alerted him. Laser defense systems identify the light pulse pattern from the lidar gun, then transmit a signal that includes additional pulses that prevent the gun from working.

What Is Jam to Gun?

Imagine a scenario where you are driving at 90 mph in a 65-mph zone. When you are 1,000 feet away from the law enforcement officer, your laser defense system detects the lidar signal and starts jamming. In a scenario when you employ a Jam to Gun procedure, you allow the defense system to continue to transmit its signal and prevent the officer from taking a speed measurement.

The problem with the Jam to Gun method is that the officer will be expecting a measurement. When he or she doesn’t get it, they’ll know you are likely jamming the signal and may decide to pursue you in hopes of catching you speeding or doing something else wrong. You may have avoided the original ticket, but you may not get away without a fine.

What Is Jam to Kill?

A much better process is called Jam to Kill. When your laser defense system is triggered, you should slow down quickly but smoothly. You don’t want the nose of the car to dip suddenly, as that would attract attention. Once you’re at a speed that won’t attract attention, you can cancel the jamming signal transmission and allow the officer to take a reading. He or she may know what you’ve done, but without any proof that you were speeding, they will likely let you carry on your way.

React Quickly and Efficiently

If you are traveling at 90 mph, you are covering 132 feet per second. If the officer is 1,000 feet away, you have about 7.5 seconds before you are beside him. You need to respond quickly and efficiently to the laser alert from your defense system while not drawing attention to yourself. Several laser defense systems can be configured to automatically stop transmitting the jamming signal after a predetermined amount of time. Many users opt to set the system for 4 or 5 seconds. Others prefer to press a button to cancel the jamming signal once they know they are traveling at the desired speed.

For whatever method you choose, it’s worth practicing the process to the point that it becomes muscle memory. When the system triggers, check your rearview mirror, brake efficiently and smoothly, then cancel the jamming signal. Given that you’ll likely waste 0.25 to 0.5 second simply reacting to the signal, being good at completing the process is very important.

Protect Yourself with a Laser Defense System

If you find you occasionally (or frequently) exceed the posted speed limit, visit your local specialist mobile enhancement retailer and ask about having a custom-installed radar detector and laser defense system installed in your car or truck. Custom-installed radar detectors and laser defense solutions are something that you won’t want to try to install yourself as it typically requires the removal of the bumper covers and careful placement and alignment of the laser sensors for the system to function properly.
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When it comes to long-range sensitivity to police radar and a defense solution against lidar, a custom-installed radar detector is your best choice. Not only do custom-installed detectors offer fewer distractions within the vehicle, they offer better range and more features to help you reach your destination quickly and efficiently. Let’s look at a few reasons why integrated or custom-installed detectors are the best choice for defending yourself against speed traps.

Radar Receiver Sensitivity

Radar receivers use a horn-shaped microwave antenna (or two) to channel high-frequency signals from the radar gun to a high-sensitivity receiver module. The best units on the market use a digital signal processor to analyze the output of the receiver and quickly and accurately extract information about the presence of X, K and Ka-band police radar.

As with any antenna, the size of the antenna itself plays a significant role in its sensitivity. Sensitivity describes how weak of a signal an antenna can detect. If you have a larger antenna, you can detect a weaker signal.

Because custom-installed radar detectors typically use larger antennae (which can be mounted to the front of the vehicle), they can detect weaker signals and provide longer warnings. Most high-quality radar detectors will detect radar guns at ranges of between 1,500 and 3,500 feet, depending on the radar gun being used and the system you have purchased.

Dealing with Police Lidar

Most police forces are investing in lidar guns as opposed to radar. Lidar is much more precise in terms of singling out a particular vehicle in dense traffic. Because lidar guns can measure the speed of your vehicle in less than half a second, there is no time for a driver to react.

Some portable radar detectors, on their own, include a lidar receiver and will provide you with an alert that your vehicle has been targeted by an officer. In most cases, if you are speeding, this means you’re likely to get a ticket. There is a slim chance that the warning was received as the lidar gun was targeting an adjacent vehicle, but with a beam pattern that is only 30 inches wide at a range of 1,000 feet, that’s unlikely.

Custom-installed detectors typically include a complete laser defense solution as opposed to a laser warning. A laser defense system detects the light signal from the police lidar gun, then transmits a scrambled beam pattern that prevents the law enforcement officer from measuring the speed of your vehicle. We have a complete article that explains how lidar defense systems work here.

Your mobile enhancement retailer will have the training and experience required to outfit your vehicle with enough lidar transceivers and ensure that they are mounted and aligned properly to provide excellent protection.

A Note on Custom Radar Installations

We’ve talked about keeping the interior of your vehicle tidy in the past. Companies like BlendMount offer some nice options for securing a portable radar detector to your rearview mirror, and your local specialist mobile enhancement retailer can take care of running the wiring to a switched power source for you.

That said, a custom-installed detector takes integration to an entirely different level. Displays can be integrated into a rearview mirror, your dash or the center console for a factory-installed appearance. Some shops, like Ai Design in Tuckahoe, New York, are printing entirely new mirror frames to integrate controls and displays for custom radar detector and laser defense system installations. Talk to the team at your local specialist retailer to find out about the options that are available for your vehicle.

Protect Your Driving Record with a Custom-Installed Radar Detector

If you want the longest-range radar detection available and a viable defense solution against police lidar, drop by your local specialist mobile enhancement retailer today and ask about their custom-installed radar detector options.

This article is written and produced by the team at www.BestCarAudio.com. Reproduction or use of any kind is prohibited without the express written permission of 1sixty8 media.

Over the past few months, we’ve talked about how radar detectors and laser defense systems work. Now it’s time to talk about the dreaded and often controversial DragonEye ECCM-equipped lidar guns and why they’re so difficult to jam.

What Is DragonEye ECCM?

Let’s break this down a bit. Based in Norcross, Georgia, DragonEye Technology is a company that develops electro-optical systems for the law enforcement industry. What does this mean? They make police lidar guns. They have two basic product categories: lidar speed measurement guns with and without a built-in camera.

Aside from the quality, accuracy and reliability of their products, DragonEye’s claim to fame is their anti-jamming technology called the Electronic Counter-Counter Measure (ECCM) system. ECCM was designed to prevent a conventional laser defense system from being able to disable DragonEye’s measurement system.

What Is ECCM?

In a conventional lidar gun, the emitting laser produces pulses of light and measures the time it takes for those pulses to be reflected back to the gun. Knowing the speed of light, the gun can calculate the speed of an object by analyzing the changes in reflection time for each pulse. For our discussion, let’s say that the gun sends out 150 pulses per second and expects to see that same frequency of pulses returned.

Laser defense systems on our cars and trucks are designed to detect these pulses of light and transmit additional pulses and varying timing patterns to prevent a lidar gun from being able to make a calculation.

When ECCM is in use, the spacing between the light pulses is somewhat random. We specify that is it only “somewhat” random because the gun needs to know when it emitted a pulse and be able to measure its reflection time. As such, there is a pattern, even though it’s complicated.

Again, purely as an example, a DragonEye Gun may start transmitting at 150 Hz (pulses per second), then ramp up to 1,500 Hz and back down.

Defending Against Variable Pulse Rate Lidar

A simpler name for lidar guns like the DragonEye Compact and DragonEye Speed LIDAR with ECCM enabled is Variable Pulse Rate (VPR) radar. Other guns like the Stalker X-Series, the Laser Ally lidar and the LTI TruSpeed also offer VPR anti-jamming modes.

It’s worth clarifying: It’s the frequency of the pulses that is changed, not the frequency or wavelength of the beam being transmitted. For most lidar guns, that beam remains in the 905 nanometer/331.26 terahertz range.

In order for your laser defense system to prevent a reading, the system needs to detect the algorithm used to modulate the laser pulse frequency and transmit a compatible yet scrambled pattern. The transmitted pulses can’t simply be random.

The Cat-and-Mouse Game

Manufacturers of laser defense systems such as Escort, AL Priority, Stinger and K40 are constantly working on updating their firmware to maintain compatibility with new firmware from the lidar gun manufacturers. Statements about which defense systems defend against which guns should be qualified with confirmation of the firmware on the gun. A four-year-old DragonEye gun that has never had an update is going to be easier to jam than one that just came off the assembly line or has just returned from recertification and updates.

If you are shopping for a laser defense system, visit your local specialist mobile enhancement retailer and talk with them about where and how you drive. If they are truly experienced in the laser defense market, they will be able to tell you what radar and lidar guns are in use in your area and help you select a solution that will meet your needs. As always, we want to remind our readers that the performance of a laser defense system depends significantly on the installation. A reliable and accurate installation isn’t cheap but it can be the difference between getting a speeding ticket and arriving at your destination without delays.

This article is written and produced by the team at www.BestCarAudio.com. Reproduction or use of any kind is prohibited without the express written permission of 1sixty8 media.

Sold as a means of preventing police officers from measuring the speed of your vehicle, laser shifter systems are amazing feats of engineering. Laser-based speed measurement guns measure distances very accurately and very quickly. Police use these hand-held guns to pick out a single vehicle in heavy traffic and find out in a split second how fast it’s going. With no time to slow down, a laser shifter system is your only hope of not getting a ticket – assuming you are traveling above the speed limit.

How Do Police Laser Systems Work?

Police laser guns emit a series of narrowly focused light pulses at a target. The system measures the time it takes for those pulses to reflect back to the gun. Knowing the speed of light, the gun can calculate how far away the object is. If the series of pulses arrives back to the gun at an increasingly faster rate, the object is getting closer to the gun. If the time between pulse reflections is slower, the object is moving away. Using calculus (that math you learned in high school but never thought was necessary), the gun can calculate the vehicle speed, often in less than 0.3 of a second.

How Do Laser Defusers Work?

The laser defuser system uses a pair (or more) of transceivers on the front (and optionally the rear) of your vehicle to detect the light pulses from the laser gun. The transceivers have IR receivers that are similar to those used to detect signals from your TV remote control. As soon as the system detects a signal, it sets to work analyzing the pattern of pulses to determine what type of laser gun is being used. It compares the pattern to a look-up table and immediately starts broadcasting light pulses that are similar, but not identical, to those it received. This process happens in less time than it takes the gun to measure the vehicle speed. The pattern of confusing light signals and reflections from the vehicle prevents the laser gun from accurately determining your distance or speed.

How Do We Use Laser Defuser Systems?

The key to being able to continue driving without interruption lies in how your laser shifter system is used, more than what it does. As soon as the system detects a signal, you will receive an alert so that you can start to slow down. Once at a safe speed, you can cancel the shifted signal transmission and allow the officer to take a reading.

The speed at which you complete the “slow and cancel” process is crucial to your success. If you lollygag and drive past the officer with the laser signal shifted, he or she will know what you are up to and may choose to follow you.

A smooth but efficient application of the brakes to prevent the nose of the car or truck from dipping, then a subsequent tap on the Mute (or similar) button should take no more than a few seconds. The officer will likely be in the process of taking a second measurement of your vehicle and, if you’ve done your job, will get a reading that won’t raise an eyebrow.

Expert Installation Is Required

One final point we want to highlight is the importance of proper installation. Laser defusers, shifters, sensors, transceivers or whatever you choose to call them require very accurate installation. If they aren’t aligned perfectly and positioned according to manufacturer guidelines, the system may not function properly. Done wrong, your investment in protection will be rendered useless.

As with most premium automotive enhancements, choosing a retailer who has the tools, training and materials to complete the installation properly should take significant precedence over any other aspect of the project. Ask to see examples of their work and, if possible, have a look behind the scenes at how they mount components, run wiring and make connections. If it doesn’t look right to you, it probably isn’t.

Our team asks that you always obey all traffic laws and drive carefully at all times.

This article is written and produced by the team at www.BestCarAudio.com. Reproduction or use of any kind is prohibited without the express written permission of 1sixty8 media.

Police officers in North America have been using radar guns to catch speeders since 1949. This relatively simple technology evolved from military applications before World War II, where long-range installations were the size of a medium-size apartment building. Modern radar guns aren’t quite pocket-sized, but they are easily transportable and can be hand-held or installed permanently in a police vehicle. Let’s look at how a radar gun works.

How Does Speed-Detecting Radar Work?

In simple terms, a radar gun transmits a narrow beam of radio-frequency energy out the front of the gun and looks for that signal to be reflected back to the gun after bouncing off an object. Unlike lidar and laser guns, the speed measurement is calculated by how much the received signal has changed in frequency after reflecting off the moving object. This phenomenon is called a Doppler effect and is the same reason that a car sounds different as it approaches and drives away from you.

Please Explain Doppler Effect to Me!

Imagine that you have a tennis ball machine shooting balls at a stationary object once every second. The balls bounce back to the machine and arrive once per second. If you start to move the object toward the ball launching machine, the balls bounce back faster and faster as the object approaches the machine. This increase in return speed represents an increase in frequency.

If an object is moving away from the tennis ball machine, it will take longer for each ball to bounce back, thus representing a decrease in frequency. The digital signal processor in modern radar guns is configured to analyze the changes in the reflected signal very quickly and display a speed reading in less than a second.

Different Radar Bands

In North America, police officers use radar guns that operate in the X, K and Ka band frequency ranges. X band is the oldest technology and operates between 8 and 12 GHz; the K band is between 18 and 27 GHz; and the Ka band is between 27 and 40 GHz. X band radar is prone to interference from automatic door opening systems. K band (K is short for Kurz, which is the German word for short) and Ka (K-above band) radar are less resistant to atmospheric absorption than X band and less effective over long distances. Most of the new radar guns such as the Stalker II and the Kustom Talon use Ka band signals, so if your detector goes off, you know you need to react right away.

Radar Detectors Provide Early Warnings

Unlike lidar, the radar signal isn’t as precise at long distances, allowing it to spread well beyond the vehicle being measured. The high-sensitivity radar receiver in a radar detector is tuned to pick up extremely low-level signals and alert you that radar is in use. You need to act quickly when a radar detector goes off. Your local specialist mobile enhancement retailer can help you choose the perfect portable or custom-installed radar for your application and ensure that the system is installed cleanly. Drop by and find out what’s available today!

This article is written and produced by the team at www.BestCarAudio.com. Reproduction or use of any kind is prohibited without the express written permission of 1sixty8 media.