A new year means it’s time for a new series of lidar sensitivity tests. This year we focused on last years lidar king the AL Priority, the legendary Laser Interceptor, and the new kid on the block the Stinger VIP. This test was designed to measure each lidar jammer’s ability to detect a small beam off vehicle using a known distance from the vehicle. The lidar gun’s distance to the vehicle inline with the lidar receiver is exactly 20′ measured perpendicular to the baseline of the vehicle. The gun is then fired in the direction of the vehicle and the lidar gun is moved parallel to the vehicle baseline going away from the centerline of the lidar sensor. Once a laser receiver stops picking up the gun we stop and measure the distance from the centerline to the gun’s current position. Last year we measured the AL Priority to a distance of exactly 84″ or 7 feet off the vehicle. It was both surprising and amazing that the ALP was that sensitive. This year with a completely different setup on the vehicle including new ALP heads I am happy to report that once again we were able to duplicate the results from last years test with extreme precision. Here are the results:
Off Vehicle Reception Sensitivity:
AL Priority = 84″
Laser Interceptor = 45″
Stinger VIP = 24″
The results of the Stinger VIP are very disappointing. It has been rumored that the lidar portion of the Stinger VIP is still under development. That being the case it would only affect the software side of the system and this test measures hardware sensitivity so that point would not be valid. As demonstrated in this test, the Stinger VIP lidar receivers appear to have a very big problem. I don’t know if this was an oversight or intentional, but in order to get to the sensitivity of the Laser Interceptor it would require at least 2 more receive heads and they would need to be placed on the corners of the vehicle. The receive heads alone in the USA would cost an additional $500. Even after adding these additional receivers, it would still never achieve the AL Priority results without new hardware. Again disappointing when the Stinger VIP laser is the most expensive system on the market and does not come close to receive sensitivity of its closest competitors.
UPDATE: 09/24/2015
I originally indicated that improvements to sensitivity could not be achieved via software alone. This was not correct as I have been working with Stinger and have realized why the sensitivity is where it is today and how software could potentially improve it. I will test again with 2 heads when the firmware update has been released, but in the meantime I’m recommending a minimum of 3 receive heads on a vehicle with at least a 6′ width. Based on my original calculation, 3 receivers evenly spaced should cover the vehicle.