Does anyone know of a source of information on the Valentine One's wire protocol? Has anyone tried reverse engineering it?

I'm curious because I see the potential for a smart radar being created using a Valentine One and say an off the shelf Palm Pilot or PocketPC (or even a laptop) equipped with a GPS receiver.

If you connected a device to the Valentine One to receive the signals, much like Valentine's remote display and sound units, you could store and analyze the location of detected radar signals.

Once you map the locations of permanent signals by learning them over time, you could completely eliminate false alerts from those sources on your daily route. You could also experiment with truly "Advanced Logic" where the computer does some post analysis of the signals to determine whether to alert you based upon advanced rules. Or you could simply add voice to the radar detector with the addition of verbal statements like "Strong KA signal Ahead: Strength: 70% Source likely a cop".

And, should you design the software, you could have the GPS radar mapping program upload your observations to a central site where others could download the full database for better accuracy.

It sounds like a really fun, and potentially profitable project, but reverse engineering the control signals would take some patience and expertise. It would be easier if someone else has already documented it.

Byron

 

Yeah, I have been thinking about the same things. It seams like the next logical step, GPS and V1 as a single unit. Good luck and keep us update.

 

You might try contacting Mike Valentine and get his input. It's a great idea and seems very feasible.
You could even input the locations of false alarms yourself into the GPS and then come up with a way to interface with the V1 so it would recognize 1 signal at coordinates XX/YY as a known false.

 

There's already a detector on the market that does just this...it has GPS and "learns" - though I don't know if it's automatic or not - the locations of false emiters. I think it's a Cobra unit.

 

I have noticed on a number of locations both local police and state police that have learned to set up radar traps under the cover of door openers/alarm equipment (setting radar traps in areas that normally are prone to radar detector false alarms).

In your code you would probably want to record the count from the bogey counter in order to reduce this threat.

Kind Regards, Chris

 

bg,

Nothing too difficult here if you're talking a 1-off, or even a 2- or 3-off, type of unit. No need to worry heavily about what's going on in the unit itself, just link to the LEDs on a bastardized remote unit. You get bogey count, signal strength, signal type and direction, all for about $35 and some extra wire + programming.

This is an interesting idea, and if time permitted, I would consider working on it myself.

 

If anyone is interested in a V1 remote display for this project, I have one that I can spare for pretty damn cheap.

 

I don't think it would be as desirable to wire into the LED's from the remote display as it wouldn't let you design a plug compatible device/adapter. If you wanted to make something others could use, it would be best to make it plug compatible.

Also, if you open up the device, it violates some of the clean-room reverse engineering principles. If something has an interface, its usually completely legit to decypher the protocol it speaks. But if you have to break something open, then you begin to infringe upon hardware engineering secrets (as some of the mod-chip shops are finding out now).

Either way, I see the ultimate goal being to make a device that plugs into your palm/laptop or ce device and then hooks into the standard RJ11 cord.

I'm not really sure how Mike Valentine would respond to such a query, but I have a feeling it would involve a letter from a lawyer. At another company I worked for, I once approached Blizzard Entertainment about a piece of software we were developing to allow people to play the old Warcraft and Diablo games (as well as others from other companies) over our gaming service. Bad idea- they simply forwarded my message to the legal department and we got a nasty letter in response. Its only natural for them to want to defend their future options with their products. Often, they have similar ideas in development already.

Byron