Perhaps one of the most demanding applications of the Doppler Radar Speed Sensor is in amusement park ride testing. GMH Engineering originally developed the sensor to support its own amusement park ride testing services. The sensor has been used on a dozens of coasters to obtain accurate speed profiles.

As shown above, the sensor is mounted on the front of the train and measures the speed of the coaster throughout the entire ride. The graph shows measured train speed (MPH) vs. time (seconds).

The Doppler Radar Speed Sensor is very useful in vehicle ground speed and distance measurements. The sensor measures relative motion of the vehicle over the ground and therefore is not affected by wheel slip. The sensor has been tested successfully in all types of weather and on several different road surfaces. It is currently used by many of the world's top racing teams for improving performance.

The output of the sensor is a digital pulse - the frequency of the pulse can be used to determine vehicle speed or the pulses can be summed to determine distance traveled. The sensor is compatible with many types of digital speedometers, tachometers and data logging systems. It is fully compatible with the Data BRICK Data Acquisition System. Download an Application Note for further details.

The Doppler Radar Speed Sensor can be used in many different traffic monitoring situations to give vehicle speeds and counts. It can also be used to give estimates of vehicle length which can be used in classifying traffic flow by vehicle type.

The sensor can be used for quick, portable measurements or it can be mounted permanently to monitor a single lane of a highway as part of a complete monitoring system. Multiple sensors placed on an overhead structure such as a signpost or overpass can be used to give a complete picture of traffic flow by lane in a given location. Download an Application Note for further details.