Learning about Theia from Radenso's DSP Engineer

[Heywood]

Radar detectors are such a niche market compared to the amount of fish that don’t use any CM’s that the change would be relatively a very slow and painful process. Both from the radar gun manufactures and from most budgets of law enforcement agencies.

Not to mention what’s out there now is not going away. Just like people think that when BSM get switched to 77, that all the cars on the road now are going to disappear all of a sudden.

 

[mb300sd]

More impressed every video I see. Please take my money!

Also, @Vortex see if you can get Rob to sign up here, he seems like a great fit.

 

[MikePA]

Easily one of my favorite parts of the show has been sitting down and chatting with Rob, Radenso's DSP/RF engineer. This guy is incredibly smart and so passionate about this stuff. It's been a blast to just listen to him and learn all about Theia, how it works, what it's capable of, etc.

While much of what Rob talked about zoomed over many of our heads, what is extremely obvious is his passion. So, so great to see and hear.

P.S.
It was funny to see Matt Moreman in the background videoing. Matt is a big R7 customer.

 

[Heywood]

Also, @Vortex see if you can get Rob to sign up here, he seems like a great fit.

X2.

It looks like he would have a blast here.

 

[Randy at Radenso]

More impressed every video I see. Please take my money!

Also, @Vortex see if you can get Rob to sign up here, he seems like a great fit.

X2.

It looks like he would have a blast here.

Sorry all, he is waaaaayyy busy to join but we will of course still try to answer any questions for you.

 

[tempnexus]

Sorry all, he is waaaaayyy busy to join but we will of course still try to answer any questions for you.

Now I don't know what will happen up to the release day but I know what will happen at the release day.

"Radenso felt a great disturbance in the Force, as if millions of rdf members suddenly blew their load in unison and were finally silenced. I think something wonderful has happened."

 

[Nine_C1]

So this was great and now I understand what is meant by quadrature phase view. Certainly a key ingredient in the signal analysis phase.

What I'm really looking forward to is a rundown of the RF motor itself and how it works in this application. Enough has been said already that we know this is not a Superheterodyne design (multi-stage conversion) receiver but rather a Homodyne (single conversion) detector. Superhets have been the standard in every detector since the original CM Escort.

So your local oscillator(s) have much more ground to cover having to sweep the entire bandwidth rather than just 1/2 or 1/3......or are you still using harmonics from the LO to mix in the single stage? Using a separate LNA for K/Ka and X band...….was that more necessary to prevent feedback into the mixer or for signal gain......or both. How do you split the feed off the horn to each LNA or are there multiple microstrip connections? From what little I know the Homodyne's required PLL tuners but not in the case where quadtrature detection and DSP/SDR techniques are applied so I assume it's not necessary here?

If you can't get into the nitty gritty just a good overall concept of how a Homodyne is handling all this bandwidth whilst not suffering from issues normally associated with a Homodyne receiver.

 

[dchemist]

Radar detectors are such a niche market compared to the amount of fish that don’t use any CM’s that the change would be relatively a very slow and painful process

I think you are correct, at the moment, but that's where we as enthusiasts come into play. At first people think we're nuts. After a while, our wives, children, friends, even parents get on board and the community grows.

 

[cihkal]

Wow, I just wanna say that watching this video made me really happy! It's so cool just learning more about this hobby, a hobby many of us here really love.

Even if I couldn't get this detector, or I'm happy enough with what I have.. I'm extremely thankful material like this is available.

Thank you guys!

 

[PHILBERT]

Thank you @Vortex for bringing us those great interview videos.

Phil

 

[Randath]

Add another giant THANK YOU to @Vortex and all the enthusiasts at Radenso. Learning about this next generation detector is truly mind blowing. Can't wait for the release date.

 

[hiddencam]

Mind blown. It's a new day! Such an incredibly intelligent and enthusiastic team at Radenso. Really enjoyed this video.

Thank you Rob and @Vortex!

 

[mattguy10]

Wow, I just wanna say that watching this video made me really happy! It's so cool just learning more about this hobby, a hobby many of us here really love.

Even if I couldn't get this detector, or I'm happy enough with what I have.. I'm extremely thankful material like this is available.

Thank you guys!

Couldn’t have said it better myself!

And yes, thank you @Vortex and the Radenso team for sharing all of this. Amazing stuff!

 

[NorEaster18]

I've been trying to just ride this whole wave and drink most of it in. First off, Thank you @Vortex for everything you've done in the past few days to help inform us all.

A big realization I had today, from watching all these videos and knowing a little about @Jon at Radenso, this detector "thinks" in the same way one would think about pro audio. Upon that realization, a lot of this makes so much more sense. This thing is going to be so cool.

"using linear arrays of antennas and DSP to 'steer' the pickup pattern"
kind of the same way one would use arrays of subs to "steer" audio spread around a venue

 

[Brainstorm69]

Easily one of my favorite parts of the show has been sitting down and chatting with Rob, Radenso's DSP/RF engineer. This guy is incredibly smart and so passionate about this stuff. It's been a blast to just listen to him and learn all about Theia, how it works, what it's capable of, etc.

We wanted to sit down together and chat a bit about Radenso's new detector on camera so here's a video nearly half an hour long of the two of us just geeking out about this stuff.

After SEMA, we'd like to do more videos together. He's excited to share more about this and I'm excited to learn more. We're not totally sure on the best level to go into this. He loves going into super technical detail, but for this video he kept things relatively simple and digestible for people.

We've also found it's super helpful to have visuals like the "swoosh" when detecting IO or showing you the difference between a frequency modulated BSM and a continuous wave radar gun. Similarly, in this video when he's talking about differentiating signals by looking at the modulation at the base of the carrier, that sounds super technical, but when you can just look at two different CW signals and visually see the differences yourself, it makes things instantly clear when you can see unique shape of the signals just on either side of the big single spike. It's tough to put visuals together in the middle of the show, so after the show he'll be able to put together some really great visual samples for us in future videos to help illustrate and explain this stuff.

If you have some additional questions as well as feedback on how we can best present this type of information, please let us know what you liked and what you think we could try that would make this even better for you.

All I can say is WOW! Glad I finally got the time to watch this also. Rob's passion for this really shines through and his attitude is amazing. It's clear that the whole Radenso team has an unbelievable attitude and passion about this project and detector. I am really pumped about this! Thanks at @Vortex, Rob and the whole Radenso team!

 

[surprisinguy]

Nice! Super great video. Love to see someone so passionate with their trade. He's as excited explaining everything as you can get. Really enjoyed it. Thanks!!

 

[Transporter]

So we now have to worry about agencies repurposing Stanley garage door openers as guns. Mind boggling.

If this wasn't sarcasm or a joke, then you misunderstood the information presented: All transmitters, even mass produced, have signal signatures but more importantly the required minimum number of parts so a specific transmitter can perform a specific job it is designed for creates a general overall signature for devices in that class with that purpose. Just as a Typhoon Class submarine's reactor has a specific sonar signature that immediately identifies it as a Typhoon, each individual Typhoon submarine also has its own specific reactor plant signature that allows each sub in the Typhoon Class to be specifically individually identified as well. For example, each reactor vessel even though built on the same specs will be slightly different as will the joints in its plumbing creating an overall signature for all Typhoons but additionally one specific to each one in the class.

A Stanley Garage Door opener is only a transmitter and it doesn't have a feed horn or a receiver so it is impossible to make a functioning Radar Speed Gun to mimic the signal of a simple push button garage door opener which is another reason why they can be completely removed from the False Alert list because when the Theia sees a garage door opener it knows it isn't radar because Theia Alerts by signal identification not just any signal in the Police radar Frequency Band! This is also why Theia will even reject roadside K Band Speed Limit signs as not Police Radar because of design and signal signature differences. Being able to do that makes trying to create a Police Radar Gun to mimic a garage door opener a losing proposition.

Theia will also be a hard worker, yes it will have a catalogue of known signals but in classifying signals it also builds up its ability to take a new unknown signal and compare it to Known Signals so that it can reject it as say BSM or say, wow that looks very similar to a Genesis II Ka Band Radar so I am going to Alert. Since Frequency is also out of the equation as a constant now, out of center guns (badly off their design center frequency) are no longer an issue either IE no need for band segmentation because Theia is Alerting to the presence of Radar not to a specific Frequency.

Lastly with all the unarmed vehicles driving around without CMs, why would they bother? Cars are not going to be coming from the factory with Theia installed as original standard equipment. But even if they did bother to create something new, once it is analyzed and added to the data base, drivers using Theia are back on top! Think original Lidar Gun then newer Lidar Gun, then DESL, then DETC, as each threat came out it was countered.
.

 

[G37X Jockey]

If this wasn't sarcasm or a joke, then you misunderstood the information presented: All transmitters, even mass produced, have signal signatures but more importantly the required minimum number of parts so a specific transmitter can perform a specific job it is designed for creates a general overall signature for devices in that class with that purpose. Just as a Typhoon Class submarine's reactor has a specific sonar signature that immediately identifies it as a Typhoon, each individual Typhoon submarine also has its own specific reactor plant signature that allows each sub in the Typhoon Class to be specifically individually identified as well. For example, each reactor vessel even though built on the same specs will be slightly different as will the joints in its plumbing creating an overall signature for all Typhoons but additionally one specific to each one in the class.

A Stanley Garage Door opener is only a transmitter and it doesn't have a feed horn or a receiver so it is impossible to make a functioning Radar Speed Gun to mimic the signal of a simple push button garage door opener which is another reason why they can be completely removed from the False Alert list because when the Theia sees a garage door opener it knows it isn't radar because Theia Alerts by signal identification not just any signal in the Police radar Frequency Band! This is also why Theia will even reject roadside K Band Speed Limit signs as not Police Radar because of design and signal signature differences. Being able to do that makes trying to create a Police Radar Gun to mimic a garage door opener a losing proposition.

Theia will also be a hard worker, yes it will have a catalogue of known signals but in classifying signals it also builds up its ability to take a new unknown signal and compare it to Known Signals so that it can reject it as say BSM or say, wow that looks very similar to a Genesis II Ka Band Radar so I am going to Alert. Since Frequency is also out of the equation as a constant now, out of center guns (badly off their design center frequency) are no longer an issue either IE no need for band segmentation because Theia is Alerting to the presence of Radar not to a specific Frequency.

Lastly with all the unarmed vehicles driving around without CMs, why would they bother? Cars are not going to be coming from the factory with Theia installed as original standard equipment. But even if they did bother to create something new, once it is analyzed and added to the data base, drivers using Theia are back on top! Think original Lidar Gun then newer Lidar Gun, then DESL, then DETC, as each threat came out it was countered.
.

It's reassuring to me to remember that although AI is new to the CM world, it isn't new and untried technology - this stuff does work in other applications. Theia should be the first real breakthrough in police radar detection since the original Escort. It has been a very long wait for something truly groundbreaking like this. I very much hope it lives up to the promise AI offers.

 

[fitz4321]

I know this has already been brought up, but I’m still VERY curious what kind of RF noise comes off of laser guns and if they can be intercepted at useful distances.

 

[doubledge]

Just as a Typhoon Class submarine's reactor has a specific sonar signature that immediately identifies it as a Typhoon, each individual Typhoon submarine also has its own specific reactor plant signature that allows each sub in the Typhoon Class to be specifically individually identified as well.

Lol! I love it man that you’ve managed to work in nuclear subs when describing how Theia works. I mean seriously, when in the history of RDs would you ever have imagined the tech advanced enough to do that. Freaking awesome! Nice explanation.

These Randenso boys and girls have opened a can of worms for better for worse. I just hope we as a community don’t elevate the expectations to the point of being unreasonable and they are actually able to come through on their claims. Frankly, I’ll just be happy with zero BSMs. Everything else is gravy.