General Motors Corp. researchers are working on a windshield that combines lasers, infrared sensors and a camera to take what’s happening on the road and enhance it, so aging drivers with vision problems are able to see a little more clearly. More at CNN.com
Category Archives: Cool Application
Passenger plane flies with laser system that repels missiles
The first passenger plane equipped with a system to repel shoulder-fired missiles successfully completed its flight, a British defense and aerospace company announced Wednesday.
The system aims to protect against fire from missile launchers like these, which were used to fire at an Israeli plane.
Defense system was tested on an American Airlines flight that took off July 11, according to a statement from BAE Systems.
The plane flew from New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport to Los Angeles International Airport in California, the company said.
The JetEye system works by detecting the heat-seeking missiles and then firing a laser, which diverts the missile.
American Airlines refused to make the system mandatory on all trips but agreed to cooperate with the tests.
The flight represents the final phase of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Counter-Man-Portable Air Defense System program, designed to test the suitability of missile-protection equipment for commercial aircraft.
VIa: CNN.com
Laser illuminates fragile dinosaur footprints
HOW do you study several thousand dinosaur footprints spread across 2 kilometres of a soft-rock outcrop at a slant of 60 degrees? Zap them with a laser.
The footprints, at the Fumanya site in the southern Pyrenees in Spain, record the passage of huge long-necked dinosaurs called titanosaurs across a muddy area about 70 million years ago. The problem is that the footprint layer is soft and crumbling, and climbing the steep surface could damage the tracks.
So Phil Manning of the University of Manchester, UK, and his team scanned the surface with LIDAR - a laser technique that maps features in a similar way to radar. The scanner and allied software generated a detailed 3D contour map of the surface and prints (Palaeontology, DOI: 10.1111/j.1475-4983.2008.00789.x).
Via: NewScientist
Laser-Based Speed Enforcement to Create Safer Roads in Lithuania
Twelve fixed PoliScanspeed systems designed by VITRONIC are to begin operation on state trunk and regional roads in summer 2008. The LIDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) technology and digital imaging technology provides speed enforcement on up to 3 lanes of traffic. The target of the Lithuanian authorities is to reduce the number of deaths caused as a result of unsafe speeds by 25% before 2010. Read more…
Laser Light Show Replaces Fireworks
Laser Light Show Replaces Fireworks In Vienna. It appears to be a trend, since laser show is safer and possibly greener. More atWRC | Washington
Exploring the Paul Revere House by laser
Researchers at the Paul Revere House are using three-dimensional laser techniques to study the historic site. More at The Boston Globe
Green laser to scare birds :)
Green laser technology that sweeps airport runways to scare away birds could help regional civil aviation authorities to combat a large threat to aircraft safety during take off and landing. Bird and wildlife strikes to aircraft costs the US civil aviation industry more than US$600 million annually, while 220 people have been killed world-wide as a result of bird strikes in the last 20 years. More at Lord Ingenierie
Apple Patents Laser Head-Mounted Display
A new series of patent filings by Apple outlines attempts to modernize head-mounted displays (HMDs) that can be plugged into iPods or iPhones by decoupling the image generation components from the headsets themselves, which would pave the way for more lightweight and comfortable designs. via: AppleInsider
Here is the link to the filed patent.
Abstract: A head mounted display system is disclosed. The head mounted display system includes a remote laser light engine that generates laser light associated with a display signal. The head mounted display system additionally includes a head mounted display apparatus that is separated from the laser light engine and comprising a display unit that displays laser images. The head mounted display system further includes an imaging device coupled between the remote laser light engine and the head mounted display apparatus. The imaging device creates laser images from the laser light transmitted through an optical cable in accordance with the display signal. The laser images are delivered to the display unit in order to create display images that can be viewed by a user of the head mounted display apparatus.
So one day I may have a chance to work for Apple. 
See discussions on Gizmodo also.
Laser scanning robot used to map mines
A UK-based company, 3D Laser Mapping, has developed robots equipped with lasers to automatically scan mines. Its latest mission was to create a 3D map of the San Jose silver mine in Mexico. More at ZDNet
Bach’s face recreated with the help of laser
Forensic artists at the University of Dundee, led by Dr. Caroline Wilkinson, used laser-based scanning to recreate the face of Johan Sebastian Bach.
Wilkinson and her team have considerable expertise in the area of facial reconstruction and have worked on everything from criminal investigations to historical projects. In this case they were provided with a bronze cast of Bach’s skull from the Bachhaus Museum and asked if they could then “build” the composer’s face from this.
“We carried out a laser scan of the skull that allowed us to recreate the musculature and skin of the face on our computer system,” Wilkinson says. “By assessing the bone structure we can determine facial morphology and produce an accurate picture of his facial appearance.”
via: Bio Optics World
