What Is a Laser Ranging Device?
As technology advances, new discoveries can advance entire fields of knowledge and research in ways that most people wouldn't expect. Laser technology, for instance, extends from the medical fields for purposes of wart and tattoo removal into the industrial field for marking and cutting materials. One of the areas that laser technology has become most prominent in these days, though, is in laser range-finding devices.
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Definition
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A laser ranging device is a laser projector which measures the distance between the projector and an object, telling you how far away a certain object is. The lasers that these devices use can vary, but most commercial laser-ranging devices use eye-safe lasers in their machines.
Process
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A laser ranging device sends out hundreds of lasers toward an object. The projector also collects the refracted lasers from the object and then computes the distance between the projector and the object using a complicated algorithm. Laser ranging devices also provide an accuracy measurement on the readout, such as accurate to within one yard.
Conditions
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Laser range finders have certain conditions under which they are more effective than others. For instance, bright sunlight, snow, rain or dark, dull objects all make it harder for a laser ranging device to get an accurate measurement. On the other hand, conditions such as white, shiny objects and overcast days tend to be ideal conditions for laser ranging devices to function under.
Civillian Uses
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There are many uses to which laser ranging devices have already been put. Surveyors and construction companies often use laser ranging devices to get accurate measurements faster than they could with more traditional surveying tools. Additionally, police officers use a variety of laser ranging devices to track the speed of cars and to gauge when speeding tickets are necessary.
Military Uses
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Laser ranging devices also are used by the military. Planes may use laser ranging devices so as to have an accurate measurement for dropping bombs. Riflemen also may use laser ranging devices to help calibrate their weapons in addition to finding the proper distance to a target in the field.
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Comments
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Bob Hauser
Nov 21, 2010
A laser range finder does not "send out hundreds of lasers" to a distant object....the range finder HAS a laser built within it that emits a train of electromagnetic pulses very much like a radar only of slightly higher carrier frequency. These short pulses of infrared frequency radiation are so timed that any given pulse has enough chance to reach the furthest object for which the range-finder is designed, rebound off of its surface and return to the finder to be picked up and registered before the next pulse is emitted.
