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Wireless Laser Activation

gnagna

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Hi everyone!
I'm getting crazy to build a system to be able to remotely press the on/off button with a servo on a laser.
Maybe you have any idea of any laser that can be remotely turned on/off?

Thanks! :drool:
 





Teej

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Apr 16, 2014
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Hi everyone!
I'm getting crazy to build a system to be able to remotely press the on/off button with a servo on a laser.
Maybe you have any idea of any laser that can be remotely turned on/off?

Thanks! :drool:

Wow, that's asking for it!

:D

There are wireless servo systems used to trigger all sorts of things.

Did you want to mechanically press a button, so any applicable device could be inserted and activated, or, did you want the laser itself to have an electronically triggered switch, such that the signal opened/closed a circuit?

Plans for safety interlocks, so as to avoid accidentally blasting yourself, etc?

When a device can be triggered remotely, you want to make sure that when it went on, it didn't do damage.

This would be akin to a remote for your car in your pocket...if you pocket-activate it, and the panic alarm goes off for the car, it just annoys the neighbors...

if the laser goes off, it might burn the neighbors/your house/lab or just exceed the duty cycle and kill the diode, etc...

Food for thought.

:D
 

gnagna

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Hi Teej, thanks for the answer :)

What I need is just a solution to remotely turn on and off the laser. I don't mind if it's a servo or the laser itself with some kind of wireless functions.
The laser is mounted on a drone and I don't want to accidentally shine the laser in someones eye or even just to save battery!

Any idea?
 

Teej

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Hi Teej, thanks for the answer :)

What I need is just a solution to remotely turn on and off the laser. I don't mind if it's a servo or the laser itself with some kind of wireless functions.
The laser is mounted on a drone and I don't want to accidentally shine the laser in someones eye or even just to save battery!

Any idea?

If its on a drone, and its a dedicated use, a telemetry based switch built into the light itself would be the way to go....as that would have the least weight impact.

Do you have a camera that is also providing line of sight to the laser target?
 

gnagna

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Dear Teej,
what do you mean with "telemetry based switch"? Is that something that I have to make myself or there are some solutions ready to buy?

The laser will be attached to the camera's flash shoe so where the camera will be pointing the laser will also!

Thanks so much!
 

Teej

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Apr 16, 2014
Messages
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Dear Teej,
what do you mean with "telemetry based switch"? Is that something that I have to make myself or there are some solutions ready to buy?

The laser will be attached to the camera's flash shoe so where the camera will be pointing the laser will also!

Thanks so much!

Stuff like this:

Simple Radio Telemetry - Smart Radio Modules from RF Solutions

Wireless Remote Control, Telemetry, Wireless Switch, RF Switching, Remote Control Technology, Wireless Switching


BTW - Can you see what the laser is pointed at before firing it, etc?

You REALLY want to make sure you won't fly across a line of sight that the laser will hit before you have time to react, etc.
 
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gnagna

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The Bravo is very interesting! What I would have to do is basically give power to the laser through the Bravo so I can remotely control it?

Yes, where the camera will be watching the laser will be fired. I'll se that from the video downlink on the ground!
 

Teej

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Apr 16, 2014
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Either that, or, the switch for it....whatever makes the most sense once you're installing it all.

If the laser SWITCH is "Always On", so as soon as power flows to it, the beam is fired, then you could power it directly.

If you want to activate the switch itself, you make that switch work form a solenoid or whatever, controlled from the ground.
 

gnagna

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Dear Teej,
I have to admit that I'm getting kinda confused :) Sorry but I have no experience at all in this field as you probably already understood!

What would you suggest in my situation? I was reading about solenoids also that look like could work well to press the power button on the laser...

Cheers!
 

Teej

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Apr 16, 2014
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Dear Teej,
I have to admit that I'm getting kinda confused :) Sorry but I have no experience at all in this field as you probably already understood!

What would you suggest in my situation? I was reading about solenoids also that look like could work well to press the power button on the laser...

Cheers!

This is all a conceptual discussion.

I have used telemetry devices for remote sampling and other functions, but not to activate an airborne laser.

Knowing the specifics of what needs to be done would require laying out all the parts that need to interact, in the rig that it would be used in.

Again, my largest concern is that once activated, with the beam playing across the terrain in flight, that the beam could intersect/reflect to a problem target before you would have time to recognize and react to inactivate it.

That can change the control strategy, as different methods have different response times.

One UI feature for example might be a dead man type switch. For example, lets say you activate the laser in flight, and, lose radio control...the beam stays live if the switch is under active control (on/off by you)...but a dead man switch means that a signal to hold the circuit open is required to run the laser, and that if signal is lost, the beam goes off.

Similarly, loss of camera signal could mean flying blind under activated conditions, so a loop to cut the laser power if the camera signal was not active, and so forth.

The radio controlled coptors and planes, etc, use the same type of telemetry controls for many functions, and, operate these functions with different frequencies on a hand held controller for example. You would need to ensure your laser's frequency would not be triggered by a garage door opener or other operator in your range, etc.

And so forth.

I worry that if you are unable to account for all of the issues that may arise, that it might be overly ambitious for you to be designing and operating a flying weapon platform.

If I make some guesses and you build the system, I worry that I would not know enough about the context to account for the myriad issues that could arise.

:can:
 

gnagna

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Dear Teej, I totally see your point.

What makes me more relaxed is that I will use the laser 50km offshore and only the boat where I will work from will be there. So I can just wear safety glasses for protection again accidental interferences and general problems. Am I right?

What I would like to build or have someone build it for me is a as simple as possible little system to be able to turn on or off the laser beam so that once pointing the surface I have to shoot if the camera has problems focusing I can activate the beam, focus, shoot the picture and turn it off.

Does it make sense? :)

THANKS!
 

Teej

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Apr 16, 2014
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Dear Teej, I totally see your point.

What makes me more relaxed is that I will use the laser 50km offshore and only the boat where I will work from will be there. So I can just wear safety glasses for protection again accidental interferences and general problems. Am I right?

What I would like to build or have someone build it for me is a as simple as possible little system to be able to turn on or off the laser beam so that once pointing the surface I have to shoot if the camera has problems focusing I can activate the beam, focus, shoot the picture and turn it off.

Does it make sense? :)

THANKS!

It makes sense, albeit I'm not sure why you'd want to spend that much on turning on a laser, over open water with no targets, but, that's just me.

I'd probably need to put something I could shoot AT in the water as targets, to make it more fun.

:D
 

gnagna

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I'll need to turn it on when the camera is having a hard time focusing because of no contrast... I have some targets, but they are in the middle of nowhere :D
 




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