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Old 10-06-2005, 07:28 PM   #7
MNBoxster
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Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota, USA
Posts: 3,308
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tool Pants
This type of device is true. My city has it.

About 4 years ago I had a client who worked for the fire department. I noticed that some of our traffic lights had some type of sensor.

I thought back then it was for speed.

He drove his fire truck to my office and showed me a flashing strobe light on the front bumper, that changed the light to green. The traffic light has to have a sensor or the strobe light will do nothing.

The strobe light points up to the sky.
TP,

It's called OptiCom, made by 3M, my Dad worked on it. Have had it here in St. Paul for more than 20 years, as it was the Beta Test Site (which my dad arranged), 3M wired half the lights in the City, and half the emergency vehicles (ParaMedic, Police, Fire) for Free as long as the City agreed to do the rest, which they did. It works with either an Optical Light Pulse or an IR Pulse, coded for Frquency so as not to activate from False Alarms, the Setting Sun or simply someone shining a light toward the sensor.

There is a competing system out there as well, but it is inferior and has a very small piece of the Market. It essentially works identically to OptiCom...

Happy Motoring!...Jim'99
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