Hmmmm, another thread that appears to have gone south!
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Hmmmm, another thread that appears to have gone south!
I like this forum partly because it often gets me thinking about things I had not previously considered. I like the idea of making my spyder more visible to the radar built into many autos today, but not the idea of giving up storage space on my 2016 F3 L.
The following links are to products now available or being developed.
https://www.alliedelec.com/sensor-ac...%20Engineering
https://www.cycleworld.com/story/bik...ar-reflectors/
I worked radar in the USAF and it's not the strength of a single return that matters, it's the cumulative signal return that triggers the AEB. So, I'm wondering if a fixed array system would also work. Here is my idea...Instead of a single large TriHedral, why not a "Sheet" of small ones? Imagine a surface covered with an array of small ones, like the surface of a rectangular reflector? I could knock one out on my mill using a 45 degree chamfer bit in some 1/4" or thicker Aluminum stock, hit it with some polishing compound, and then mount it below the license plate on my RT. My wife's Mitsubishi has the emergency braking system, so I could test it out using her car.
That's what I was thinking. It wouldn't even have to be rigid since a tertrahedron will reflect straight back regardless of it's angle. That is to a certain degree likely maybe up to 30 to 45° from perpendicular of the bean hitting it. If I could find such an array about 1/2" to 1" thick a piece of it would fit quite nicely in the rear wall of the trunk below the latch.
I think you do want to as much as possible concentrate the return beam in a tight pattern. That is because the sender/receiver of the car's AEB radar is only about 3/4" to 1" diameter. On my 2016 Maxima there are only two of them in the front.
As someone else commented above there is a significant limitation when it comes to detecting motorcycles. Here's a quote from my 2016 Nissan Maxima Owner's Manual.
Now, if the receiver is looking for a wide beam to gauge the existence of an obstacle ahead, regardless of strength, as you're saying, then a single reflector won't help much. So even in spite of a good reflector we may be screwed.Quote:
(Illustration A) The predictive forward collision warning system does not function when a vehicle ahead is a narrow vehicle, such as a motorcycle.
Excellent resource. BMW is proposing using several small reflectors spread apart on the bike to present a larger apparent target. The Banner engineering products look pretty good for that purpose, e.g......
https://www.alliedelec.com/product/b...x84a/70167676/
How about this stuff? https://www.alliedelec.com/product/b...-100/70167267/
The thickness doesn't matter as it is a "First Surface" device. I'm looking at doing one wide and tall enough to cover the surface between the rear tire and "Mud Flap" on my 19 RT. My plan is to mill a fixed array master, pull a silicone mold and then cast one using 5/0 aluminum powder in water thin epoxy. That way the reflective angles will be facing the correct way. (The milled master comes out as a negative of what is needed)...Yes, I do prototyping on the side, and I see this as a fun adventure for an old inventor like me. :trike:
That wouldn't work. The aluminum has to be the corner reflector so the beam will bounce off one, two, or all three, surfaces to be directed straight back to the sender. The principle of the reflector is as long all three surfaces can be hit by the incoming beam, regardless of the reflector's three dimension orientation, the beam will reflect from one surface to the next, and probably to the third surface. The sum of the angles of the reflection on all three surfaces is 180°, i.e., the beam folds back on itself and returns along the same line as the sent beam.