Speed Guns

News: Speed guns are being widely used by law enforcement officials to monitor traffic speed. 

About Speed Gun

• It is a device to measure the speed of a moving object without having to be in contact with the object. 
• It was originally developed during World War 2 for military use. 
• Functioning of a Speed Gun 
  • It consists of a radio transmitter and a receiver. 
  • The transmitter emits radio waves, which the person using the speed gun can direct at the object. 
  • The receiver then captures the waves reflected by the object back in the direction of the speed gun. 
  • The speed gun employs the Doppler Effect to calculate the speed of the object based on the frequency difference between the transmitted and reflected waves. 
• Application: Speed guns are widely used by law enforcement officials to monitor traffic speed, by coaches to measure the performance of their athletes and in other industries that require motion tracking. 
• Limitations:
  • Radio Waves tend to diverge as they move through the air, producing inaccurate speed readings. 
  • A continuous wave reading may produce faulty readings due to interference from multiple vehicles. 
• Due to these limitations, LIDAR speed guns are being promoted as they use laser light instead of radio waves. 
  • Laser light has very low divergence, offering better targeting.