That’s it: the radar manufacturer Parifex has approved its latest, the Nano. This is a real technological leap. Indeed, the machine no longer works with a classic radar but with a formidable lidar-3D. This sensor will eventually make it possible to automatically penalize multiple infractions.
Triumphant press release, published Thursday, May 19, by the manufacturer of the discriminating radars, these black cylindrical cabins that one crosses on the axes overcrowded by heavy goods vehicles. ” Parifex, a French company that designs, produces and markets multi-offence radars and road counting solutions, is proud to see the Nano (its latest model) approved by the National Metrology and Testing Laboratory (LNE). The Nano thus becomes the first speedometer using a lidar-3D sensor for speed measurement approved in the world*. »
3D modeling of each vehicle
How does replacing the traditional doppler radar with a lidar-3D sensor really change the game? Parifex explains that this brings “ greater precision, better performance and a scalable solution opening up to many functionalities “. In effect, “ lidar allows 3D modeling of the environment and incomparable speed of use and processing », explains Désiré Codo, R&D manager.
“Unlike traditional radars, this innovative solution demonstrates greater data reliability, regardless of the environment and weather conditions in which it is located.“
- the set of points from which it comes,
- 4 characteristic points determining the base of a bounding box (rectangular parallelepiped),
- his height.
” Thus, at each rotation of the lidar-3D, a point cloud is defined and a “bounding box” is extracted from the point cloud (so there are several boxes for a trajectory). »
Precision to the centimeter
This cloud of points offers centimeter precision, which is why lidars are the “eyes” of self-driving cars. Thus such a sensor can detect any object, identify it, determine its position and, consequently, deduce its speed. This in both directions of traffic and by following it for a hundred meters thanks to its 360-degree field of vision, therefore on all the lines at the same time.
The hunt for other offenses becomes credible
Best of all, the Nano can spot many other offences, whether from a landline or mobile, because it’s ” light, compact and easily transportable “.
“As the system is scalable, the machine will allow “ the implementation of a large number of various controls such as the detection of obstacles on a level crossing, the wrong way, right priority, stop detection, crossing the white line, the inter-vehicular distance , pedestrian safety, etc. “says the manufacturer.“
Okay, for years Road Safety has been serving us this refrain without it succeeding due to lack of reliability. But there, with such a sensor, the “promise” becomes credible. We can therefore expect it to materialize soon with urban radars, at least those installed in the northern half of France, because those installed in the southern half belong to the competitor Idemia. Remember that around thirty are already being tested in the Montbéliard region and the Territoire de Belfort, but without verbalizing for the moment.
In the discriminating radar cabins to begin with
Simple reprieve. Because in reality the approval of the LNE still only relates to “ the Parifex Nano-01 type speedometer coupled to the Parifex Vigie-02 type complementary device for taking pictures, identifying the vehicle and discriminating the type of vehicle “.
Clearly, the lidar-3D can only punish speeding violations detected from a discriminating radar in its most recent version called “double-sided” (to flash both the front and back of a vehicle in violation). We recognize these black cylindrical cabins by their funny little bell attached to the top: it is precisely the lidar-3D. We therefore deduce that the Doppler radar of these cabins will no longer be used, replaced by the Nano-01 both to control the speed and to discriminate between vehicles according to their size.
And soon in the urban radars
We bet that the approval will be extended in the coming weeks to its Nomad urban radar. Then, according to the functions that Parifex will manage to have certified by the LNE, the Nano-01 will be able to spot other infractions, starting of course with burnt out red lights including at level crossings. This will probably be followed by failure to respect a stop sign, a reserved lane, a white line, a turning ban, etc. In the future, its mobile version Nano Cam, which can be used on a tripod, will be an ideal candidate to replace aging owls.
The mobile Nano Cam version may one day replace the old owls of law enforcement, thus offering much greater technical capabilities by being able to detect speeding violations in several lanes, and taking into account the size of the vehicle in the meantime other types of offences.
TO READ. Mobile speed cameras. Future devices installed soon
And also to spy
Good to know too, the Nano-01 can be a hell of an analysis machine of all kinds for local authorities wishing to obtain information such as the position of fixed and mobile objects, the classification of vehicles, the measurement of speed, vehicle tracking or movement flows. However, according to Parifex, “ to be effective, data collection must be able to be carried out at any time of the day or night, whatever the weather conditions, which is possible with lidar-3D, capable of analyzing its environment at 360°, unlike cameras . »
*Rare competitors, such as the German Vitronic in its autonomous radars, already use lidars but using 2D lasers.
