Escort MAX Ci - How Radar Works; How POP Works

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How Radar Works
Trac radar, which consists of microwaves, travels
in straight lines and is easily reected by objects
such as cars, trucks, even guardrails and overpasses.
Radar works by directing its microwave beam down
the road. As your vehicle travels into range, the
microwave beam bounces o your car, and the
radar antenna looks for the reections.
Using the Doppler Principle, the radar
equipment then calculates your speed by
comparing the frequency of the reection of your
car to the original frequency of the beam sent out.
Trac radar has limitations, the most
signicant of these being that it typically can
monitor only one target at a time. If there is more
than one vehicle within range, it is up to the radar
operator to decide which target is producing the
strongest reection. Since the strength of the
reection is aected by both the size of the vehicle
and its proximity to the antenna, it is dicult for the
radar operator to determine if the signal is from a
sports car nearby or a semi-truck several hundred
feet away.
Radar range also depends on the
power of the radar equipment itself.
The strength of the radar unit’s beam
diminishes with distance.
The farther the radar has to
travel, the less energy it has for
speed detection.
Because intrusion alarms and motion sensors often
operate on the same frequency as X, and K-band
radar, your detector will occasionally receive
non-police radar signals.
Since these X-Band transmitters are usually
contained inside of a building, or aimed toward the
ground, they will generally produce much weaker
readings than will a true radar encounter.
As you become familiar with the sources of these
pseudo alarms in your daily driving, they will serve
as conrmation that your device’s radar detection
abilities are fully operational.
How “POP” Works
POP works by transmitting an extremely short
burst, within the allocated band, to identify
speeding vehicles in trac. Once the target is
identied, or “popped,” the gun is then turned to its
normal operating mode to provide a vehicle
tracking history (required by law).
Note: According to radar gun manufacturers,
tickets should not be issued in pop mode.
How Laser (Lidar) Works
Laser speed detection is actually light detection
and ranging (LIDAR). Laser guns project a beam of
invisible infrared light. The signal is a series of very
short infrared light energy pulses that move in a
straight line, reecting o your car and returning to
the gun. Laser uses these light pulses to measure
the distance to a vehicle. Speed is then calculated
by measuring how quickly these pulses are
reected, given the known speed of light.
Laser is a newer technology whose use is not as
widespread as conventional radar; therefore, you
may not encounter it on a daily basis. And unlike
radar detection, laser is not prone to false alarms.
Because laser transmits a much narrower beam
than does radar, it is much more accurate in its
ability to distinguish between targets and is also
more dicult to detect. As a result, even the
briefest laser alert should be taken seriously.
There are limitations to laser, however. Laser is
much more sensitive to weather conditions than
radar, and a laser gun’s range will be decreased by
anything aecting visibility, such as rain, fog or
smoke. A laser gun cannot operate through glass,
and it must be stationary to get an accurate reading.
Because laser must have a clear line of sight and is
subject to cosine error (an inaccuracy that increases
as the angle between the gun and the vehicle
increases), police typically use laser equipment
parallel to the road or from an overpass. Laser can
be used day or night.
Understanding Your Detector
MAXCi_Owners Manual.indd 19-20 11/9/16 3:41 PM