15B-2.0082. Minimum Design Criteria for Radar Units

(1) Radar speed measuring devices shall meet the design criteria as set forth in Chapter 3, Subpart A (s. 1221.1 – 1221.4) and Subpart B (s. 1221.11-1221.24) of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Technical Report, January 1994, D.O.T. HS 808-69, entitled, “Model Minimum Performance Specifications for Police Traffic Radar Devices,” which is incorporated by reference. Copies of this material may be obtained by contacting the Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles (DHSMV), Division of Florida Highway Patrol, Neil Kirkman Building, Tallahassee, Florida 32399-0500, or the Office of Law Enforcement Standards, c/o National Institute of Standards and Technology, 100 Bureau Drive, Stop 8102, Gaithersburg, Maryland 20899-08102.

(2) All radar units used in this State on or after January 1, 1995, shall be designed to operate in one or both of the following frequency ranges as assigned by the Federal Communication Commission for operation of Doppler radar radiolocation units.

24.050 – 24.250 GHz	(K – Band)	(Common
33.400 – 36.000 GHz	(Ka – Band)	Referrals)

The radar must have a doppler audio operating in the range 300 Hz to 4.0 KHz.

(3) Antenna beam width, defined as the total included angle between 3 dB points on the main lobe of the emitted farfield microwave power beam in any axis perpendicular to the centerline of beam propagation, shall not exceed 12 degrees plus or minus 1.5 degrees for manufacturing tolerance and measurement error. Side lobes, as defined in s. 1221.4 of the Model Minimum Performance Specifications for Police Traffic Radar shall be of relative gain of at least 20 dB less than the main antenna beam.

(4) All radar units furnished for vehicular-mounted use which have antennas designed to permit external mounting, shall be weather resistant.

(5) Each radar unit shall be designed to incorporate no speed lock function, manual or automatic, for patrol or target speeds displayed on the primary readout; a secondary target speed window, capable of manual lock-in target speed only, is permissible providing that lock-in of the secondary target speed window display has no effect on the continuous tracking of target and patrol speeds indicated by the primary readout and provided that the secondary target speed window display, if furnished, is automatically cleared within a period not to exceed fifteen (15) minutes after locking of any speed indication or when reconnected to the primary readout element. The secondary target speed window display, if furnished, must exactly duplicate the target speed on the primary readout at the instant of manual lock-in and must have its own lock-release control for clearing prior readings when the operator does not connect the secondary target speed window display.

(6) Each radar unit, shall be equipped with a control capable of adjusting its nominal range of acquiring and displaying the speed reading of a full-size automobile between 300 feet minimum and 3,000 feet maximum from the radar antenna. This range control is optional on a handheld radar unit.

(7) Signal Processing Channel Sensitivity.

(a) Stationary Mode Target Channel Sensitivity. When the radar unit is operated in the stationary mode, its signal processing channel sensitivity shall not vary more than 10 dB for targets traveling at speeds of 35 to 90 mph (56 to 144 km/h) nor more than 5 dB for targets traveling at speeds of 60 to 90 mph (96 to 144 km/h).

(b) Moving Mode Target Channel Sensitivity. When the radar unit is operated in the moving mode at 25 mph (40 km/h), its signal processing channel sensitivity shall not vary more than 10 dB for targets traveling at speeds of 40 to 90 mph (64 to 144 km/h). When operated at 50 mph (80 km/h), its sensitivity shall not vary more than 5 dB for targets traveling at speeds of 60 to 90 mph (96 to 144 km/h).

(8) Patrol channel dynamic range; for moving mode operation. The patrol channel shall be capable of accurately displaying patrol car speed within plus or minus one (1) mph (1.6 km/h) or less from 15 mph to 70 mph (24 to 112 km/h) or greater and of maintaining proper performance while the patrol car changes speed at a rate of up to 3 mph (4.8 km/h) per second.

(9) The internal circuit test function required by s. 1221.21(d) of the Model Minimum Performance Specifications for Police Traffic Radar shall operate automatically upon turn-on of the radar unit, and automatically thereafter at intervals not exceeding fifteen minutes. Failure of the radar unit to display correctly any reading produced by the internal test function shall inhibit any further target signal processing and shall provide a visible display indicating this condition to the operator. A control switch or pushbutton shall be provided for operator use to initiate the internal test function at any time between automatic test sequences.

(10) For the purpose of avoiding possible erroneous target speed displays caused by radio frequency interference (RFI) signals in excess of those specified in s. 1221.22(c) and (d) of the Model Minimum Performance Specifications for Police Traffic Radar Devices, each radar unit will be equipped with a RF sensor capable of detecting the presence of such interfering RF signals and of inhibiting any speed display when such signals are present.

(11) To accommodate digital counting circuits and to assure that no target vehicle driver is penalized, target channel circuits for moving and stationary operation shall be designed to truncate, or round-off, to the next lower digit. In the moving mode operation, the radar counting circuits shall round-off to the next lower digit in all computations.

(12) Power density shall not exceed applicable RF emission standards recognized by the American National Standards Institute C95.1, which is incorporated by reference. The actual reading shall be recorded on form HSMV 61070 (Rev. 10/04), incorporated by reference. Blank forms are obtained by contacting the Department at the address described in subsection 15B-2.008(1), F.A.C.

(13) When an Average Speed Calculator (ASC) is installed and used as a separate feature of a RSMD, the ASC feature must be certified separately and in addition to the RSMD under paragraph 15B-2.008(2)(d), F.A.C.

Rulemaking Authority 316.1906 FS. Law Implemented 316.1906 FS. History–New 7-12-82, Formerly 15B-2.082, Amended 1-1-90, 10-18-94, 5-23-04, 5-15-05.