1.2 miles away with a 520nm, 1.35 watt Trail Blazer.

[Razako]

That's pretty interesting, thanks for sharing.

 

[RB astro]

I second this notion.

That's pretty interesting, thanks for sharing.

Brad, Razako, thank you so much for watching my friends.
I'm super excited at the prospect of making vids like this now.

:beer:

 

[Benm]

Very nice video, that also shows how well you have to aim at something for your laser to be the brightest object visible, but once you get it exactly right it IS bright.

I'm trying to find somone in anthoher highrise a few km away to replicate this, but most tall buildings within sight are offices and such that would probably not be that open to such experiments, especially after office hours.

 

[paul1598419]

I'm not convinced that getting a camera to flash out with a hit from a laser at 2 km is the same as getting hit in the eye by one. At that distance the dot, if you can call it that, is huge and the energy density at your pupil is small. It can't be figured out with a simple divergence equation because there are too many other variables involved like scattering losses. The only way to know is to take a power reading at that distance. I think it will be so small it won't even create a flash blindness. Possibly why there has never been an incident reported to date from any pilots.

 

[lasersbee]

This is the Trail Blazer aka Zacop but not with the corrected optics installed.
I've got another test for that situation.
Here it's just the straight 520 with a G3 lens at a distance of 2 km or 1.2 miles !!!
I had to fish around and around to hit the drone at that distance because I literally couldn't see it out that far.
I flew it out over bushland and had it hovering around 70m or 230 feet while I got the laser onto it.

Anyway, I had promised Mr Alaskan I would try this a while back, so here it is.
Try to view it in Full Screen HD.
Enjoy !

RB

:beer:

Was recently thinking about the same test
with my P4P+... Wanted to try lower powered
and other wavelength Lasers..
Great minds think alike...

BTW...What time of day was it ?


Jerry

 

[RB astro]

Very nice video, that also shows how well you have to aim at something for your laser to be the brightest object visible, but once you get it exactly right it IS bright.

Glad you liked it Ben. :beer:

Was recently thinking about the same test
with my P4P+... Wanted to try lower powered
and other wavelength Lasers..
Great minds think alike...

BTW...What time of day was it ?


Jerry

Give it a go Jerry, it's a blast.
Would be awesome on the P4P+.
This one was with the P3P and it was just on dusk, around 5.30pm.

RB

 

[lasersbee]

Give it a go Jerry, it's a blast.
Would be awesome on the P4P+.
This one was with the P3P and it was just on dusk, around 5.30pm.

RB

Yeah I figured it was either early in the
morning before sunrise or just around
dusk. You were pretty close to hitting
the P3P quite often. Did you use your
transmitter mounted screen for aiming
to see if you were pointing the Laser
on target ??

Jerry

 

[RB astro]

Yeah I figured it was either early in the
morning before sunrise or just around
dusk. You were pretty close to hitting
the P3P quite often. Did you use your
transmitter mounted screen for aiming
to see if you were pointing the Laser
on target ??

Jerry

Yes, definitely Jerry, the only way I could aim at the drone was to use my screen to direct the beam.
No way could I see the drone 1.2 miles away.
Even when I was getting close I had a hard time hitting the target.
Once I hit the drone I'd have to remember landmarks in the distance so as to be able to return and hit it again.
Fun times...
Can't wait to use a tripod next time and also use different WL as well.
LOL, maybe I'll be bold and use the DJI Goggles next time and see what it feels like from 'inside the cockpit' .... :crackup:

RB

 

[lasersbee]

Yes, definitely Jerry, the only way I could aim at the drone was to use my screen to direct the beam.
No way could I see the drone 1.2 miles away.
Even when I was getting close I had a hard time hitting the target.
Once I hit the drone I'd have to remember landmarks in the distance so as to be able to return and hit it again.
Fun times...
Can't wait to use a tripod next time and also use different WL as well.
LOL, maybe I'll be bold and use the DJI Goggles next time and see what it feels like from 'inside the cockpit' .... :crackup:

RB

Don't blind yourself with the Goggles...:crackup:
I had bought the DJI Google for the P4P+
but after I found out the touchpad and
flight menu were not usable with my drone
I sent them back. Now I use HD Googles
and get the same view.

Jerry

 

[RB astro]

Haha, I'll wear my Eagle Pair underneath....
Yeah shame the DJI Goggles don't work as well on the P4P etc.
The Mav is the only one that works with the whole display options and is wireless.

:thinking:

 

[vk2fro]

I think it will be so small it won't even create a flash blindness. Possibly why there has never been an incident reported to date from any pilots.

I think the problem with pilots and lasers is that people often target aircraft during the most critical phase of flight - takeoff and landing. Its during this time that a lot of things are happening up front, so even if the pilots are not flash blinded by the laser, they're sure going to be distracted, and one place that doesn't needs a distraction like that is the cockpit of a landing or taking off passenger jet. the pilot and co-pilot are doing 6 things at once each with two hands. Its a rather busy and complicated environment during that phase of flight.

Another great video RB. Were you worried the pen would take out the mavic's camera?

 

[RB astro]

Another great video RB. Were you worried the pen would take out the mavic's camera?

No, I'm not too worried about that.
But I also make sure the laser is always moving so the strike time is minimised.
At 2km I don't think even this 1.3W beam would cause damage and it was actually very hard to keep hitting the sensor from that distance.
I couldn't even see the drone, I had to guess from the feedback video I was getting on my iPhone.

I want to try this out again so badly.
Too many projects, not enough time.

:crackup:

 

[BobMc]

I love this video, every time I watch it, it just reminds me just how powerful these lasers are. Well done once again RB.

I realize this will be difficult, but with your new 7 watt'er a comparison video of a 1.35 vs a 7 watt would make a interesting video. :thinking: food for thought?

 

[Alaskan]

Great, appreciate your doing that. I have another request for the future, if so inclined. I wonder how bright that same laser would be when shot into a cylinder lens to make a line. That's something I really want to try, but can't do, especially where I am. Thank you again Nice

 

[RB astro]

I love this video, every time I watch it, it just reminds me just how powerful these lasers are. Well done once again RB.

I realize this will be difficult, but with your new 7 watt'er a comparison video of a 1.35 vs a 7 watt would make a interesting video. :thinking: food for thought?

Thanks Bob, yeah I love this vid too.
And that's a great idea, I'll try that with the 7W and the 1.3W when I get a chance.

:beer:

Great, appreciate your doing that. I have another request for the future, if so inclined. I wonder how bright that same laser would be when shot into a cylinder lens to make a line. That's something I really want to try, but can't do, especially where I am. Thank you again Nice

I'll have to find out a bit more about these lenses Chris and see what I can do for you.
I think I can do it with the 1.3W Zacop, can't I?

I'm off to work, catch up later.

 

[Benm]

This video demonstrates very well what lasers would look like from a pilots perspective too.

You are actually aiming for the drone and still not able to get in blindingly bright flahses most of the time. At times you're not hitting the drone camera head on the beam is sometime visible but by no means so bright you cannot see the landscape any longer.

Using a beam expander can increase the brightness, but will also make it harder to aim. If you want to do tests with lasers over such distances i'd suggest setting up something using tripods on mountain sides or between tall buildings as aiming it manually for maximum impact becomes rather impractical.