Owner's Manual

How Radar Works
Traffic radar, which consists of microwaves, travels
in straight lines and is easily reflected 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 off your car, and the
radar antenna looks for the reflections. Using the
Doppler Principle, the radar equipment then
calculates your speed by comparing the frequency of
the reflection of your car to the original frequency of
the beam sent out.
Traffic radar has limitations, the most
significant 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 reflection. Since the strength of the
reflection is affected by both the size of the vehicle
and its proximity to the antenna, it is difficult for
the radar operator to determine if the signal is from
a sports car nearby or a semi-truck several hundred
feet away.
Technical Details
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-Band
radar, your Solo S3 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 confirmation that your
Solo S3’s radar detection abilities are fully
operational.
How Laser (Lidar) Works
Laser speed detection is actually LIDAR (Light
Detection and Ranging). LIDAR guns project a
beam of invisible infrared light. The signal is a
series of very short infrared light energy pulses,
which move, in a straight line, reflecting off your car
and returning to the gun. LIDAR uses these light
pulses to measure the distance to a vehicle. Speed is
then calculated by measuring how quickly these
pulses are reflected given the known speed of light.
LIDAR (or laser) is a newer technology and is not
as widespread as conventional radar. Therefore, you
may not encounter laser on a daily basis. And,
unlike radar detection, laser detection is not prone
to false alarms. Because LIDAR transmits a much
narrower beam than does radar, it is much more
accurate in its ability to distinguish between targets
and is also more difficult to detect. AS A RESULT,
EVEN THE BRIEFEST LASER ALERT SHOULD BE
TAKEN SERIOUSLY.
There are limitations to LIDAR equipment.
LIDAR is much more sensitive to weather conditions
than RADAR, and a LIDAR gun's range will be
decreased by anything affecting visibility such as
rain, fog, or smoke. A LIDAR gun cannot operate
through glass and it must be stationary in order to
get an accurate reading. Because LIDAR must have
a clear line of sight and is subject to cosine error (an
inaccuracy, which increases as the angle between
the gun and the vehicle, increases) police typically
use LIDAR equipment parallel to the road or from
an overpass. LIDAR can be used day or night.
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