A friend of mine got a speeding ticket where a Michigan State Trouper got him with radar going 67 mph in a 55 mph zone on a country back road. He says he knows he was not going anywhere near that speed and is looking for some explanation. Knowing my background in RF Transceivers and EMI he asked me what weaknesses are still inherent in today's police radar.
I think the general public believes that today's radar is flawless, otherwise, more people would try to fight speeding tickets (less than 3% are fought). I personally do not have any experience with police radar specifically. We all know that it is an electronic device and it is susceptible to interference. There are many websites that explain deficiencies in radar such as Panning, Mechanical Interference, Shadowing, Batching, etc.. Most of this information that I have found is years old. Does today's radar still struggle with the same shortfalls as those of 5 or 10 years ago? If I understand my friend's situation, there are two scenarios he thinks might be the cause of a false radar reading: - He was on a two lane country back road approaching a 4 way stop. The cop was coming the other way, but was behind one of those huge garbage trucks. There is a radar error called "Shadowing" where the radar misstates the truck speed for ground speed and the radar reads the speed in which the two vehicles are approaching each other. Is shadowing still a problem with today's radar? - About a thousand feet up the road in the direction the radar was pointed there are those huge high voltage towers from a local Nuke Plant. I know my car radio doesn't work anywhere near those towers but could today's radar be affected by this? What other common sources can affect radar? I would like to help out my friend and if I get any expert testimonies from my IEEE colleges, I would consider writing a paper on the subject. Feel free to send me any information. Thanks in advance. Brian This message is from the IEEE Product Safety Engineering Society emc-pstc discussion list. Website: http://www.ieee-pses.org/ To post a message to the list, send your e-mail to [email protected] Instructions: http://listserv.ieee.org/listserv/request/user-guide.html List rules: http://www.ieee-pses.org/listrules.html For help, send mail to the list administrators: Scott Douglas [email protected] Mike Cantwell [email protected] For policy questions, send mail to: Richard Nute: [email protected] Jim Bacher: [email protected] All emc-pstc postings are archived and searchable on the web at: http://www.ieeecommunities.org/emc-pstc
