What Is a Laser-Based Security System?

Are you considering a laser-based security system for your home? If so, you're likely wondering what these systems are and how they work. This post will provide an overview of laser security systems, including what they are, how they work, and some of their benefits. We'll also discuss some of the factors you should consider when choosing a laser security system for your home. Read on to learn more! 

What Is A Laser Security System?

If you've ever seen Get Smart, Ocean's 12, or any other spy or heist movie, you are probably familiar with the trope of a security system that utilises laser beams. The hero usually needs to navigate his way through the lasers by using a combination of yoga and crazy ninja moves. This is possible because he can see exactly where the lasers are, as they are a combination of crisscrossing red lines.

In real life, laser beams are not fully visible red lines, and many are invisible. Insecurity alarm systems, lasers serve the purpose of stealth. Depending on the alarm system you set up, the intruder may or may not even realise that he has triggered an alarm, which will allow more time for the authorities to catch him.

Security System FAQs

What Are Some Features Of A Secure System?

System security includes the development and implementation of security countermeasures. These include firewalls, data encryption, passwords and biometrics. A firewall consists of software and hardware set up between an internal computer network and the Internet to filter unwanted intrusions.

Why Is Security Measure Important?

For organisations to maintain a high level of information integrity and minimise risk, it is highly recommended to implement security measures. If there are any threats or attacks to the organisation, the measures help mitigate any risks and quickly implement them.

What Is Security Mechanism?

Security mechanisms are technical tools and techniques used to implement security services. A mechanism might operate by itself or others to provide a particular service. Examples of common security mechanisms are as follows: Cryptography. Message digests and digital signatures.

How Does Cctv Reduce Crime?

The reviews suggested that CCTV might reduce crime by Increasing offenders' perception of the risk of getting caught. They were increasing the actual risk of getting caught. They encouraged the public use of an area, thus affecting the criminals' perceptions of risk (by increasing informal surveillance by the public).

Does Cctv Solve Crime?

Does CCTV reduce crime? Surveys show that video monitoring can reduce certain types of crime. For example, the College of Policing's Crime Reduction Toolkit suggests that CCTV prevents an average of 16 crimes for every 100, and for vehicle crimes, this rises to an average of 26.

What Is A Laser?

The word "laser" is "Light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation". Essentially, a laser concentrates light to create a straight and bright beam. Lasers have multiple uses, including hair removal, eye repair, and cutting. Nowadays, some dentists even use lasers instead of drills when filling small cavities. And as we are discussing in this post, they can also be a huge part of home security.

Lasers are made up of three main components:

• A pump, or pump source, provides energy to the laser system. This can also be referred to as a power supply. This can be anything from a lamp to a chemical reaction. Without an energy source, the laser would not have anything to amplify.
• The laser medium is the medium through which the energy is filtered and determines the wavelength of light that the laser will emit. This is also referred to as the gain medium. The gain medium can be solid, liquid, or gas, depending on the type of laser.
• The optical resonator (or the optical cavity) consists of mirrors that concentrate the light or energy by reflecting it into the gain medium, amplifying the total light emitted by the laser.

Some lasers use multiple small mirrors to reach the amount of concentration necessary for their use. For a security system, lasers don’t need to be particularly strong; they need to create a beam that will be broken when someone tries to cross it. By contrast, in medicine, more concentrated levels are needed to perform eye surgery or dental surgery.

Components Of A Laser Alarm

Laser security systems used to be difficult to install and rarely available to anyone other than the super-rich. However, there are dozens of different home security systems on the market that utilise lasers and can effectively protect everything from small apartments and businesses to large areas of the property. Most home laser security systems consist of a basic alarm unit and an infrared motion detector.

Laser security systems of the past relied on connections wired to a keypad, requiring the customer to use special codes to arm and disarm the system. However, since most laser security systems are now wireless, the units can be turned on or off with a wireless remote or, in some models, by touch-tone phone from anywhere in the world.

How Laser Security Systems Function

The basic sensing component of a modern laser security system is an infrared motion detector. The motion detector contains four parts: the laser, the mirrors, the detector and the sensing electronics. An infrared motion detector works by projecting a beam of light that shoots across a space into a series of mirrors and finally into a detector, emitting a particular voltage into the sensing electronics as long as the laser hits it. When the beam of light is broken, the detector changes its voltage output into the sensing electronics, triggering an alarm.

If infrared sensors are placed strategically, the light beams will make it impossible for an intruder to come into the area without the sensor being alerted. The sensor, connected to the basic alarm unit through a wireless connection, then triggers the basic unit to alert the monitoring service through which the customer purchased the security plan. The monitoring service will contact the home and, if no response is received, will contact the police. In most models, the basic unit also sounds a loud alarm, though some systems use a silent alarm that contacts the police without notifying the suspected criminal.

How Are Lasers Used In Home Security?

Laser Tripwire

You may already be familiar with this concept, but a tripwire is a wire that is stretched taut across a path and triggers an alarm when it is disturbed. Laser tripwires follow a similar concept. The beam of laser light is shined across the path into some receiver on the other side of the path. When the laser beam is broken, the alarm is triggered. This alarm can be located inside the house or even a text message sent to your cell phone.

Laser Fence 

Laser fences are essentially big nets of laser tripwires. They are set up around the perimeter of a home. Having a laser fence ensures that you are notified whenever someone breaks through the perimeter of your home. Depending on the strength and concentration of the lasers, a laser fence can cause physical damage to someone who tries to cross it.

The Advantages Of A Laser Security System

We’re going to look at the benefits of this type of burglar alarm system. After all, you want to know why you should even consider it for your family and why you should think that it’s a viable option.

There are several benefits and several reasons that it could be something you enjoy using and that you can trust to keep your family safer and more prepared for anything that might come your way during the night or when you’re away from home.

Build It Yourself

The first benefit is that you will have the freedom to build the system yourself. That’s not just to say you get to put up all the pieces and get it running on your own.

Rather, you’re going to have the ability to choose the pieces that you want and completely customise the system that you’re getting. This is great because it means you’re not going to have a one size fits all type of security system.

Every home and family is different, and with this type of system, you’re going to have all the freedom that you could want to get the system just like you need it. This is great because it means your system isn’t going to be exactly like the one that your neighbour has or anyone else, which makes it more difficult for an intruder to figure out the system and use it to their advantage.

Beam Travels A Long Distance

Next, the laser beam is what’s going to create your security system effectively. If something breaks the beam as it travels, it will signal the system that something is happening that shouldn’t be.

That laser beam is going to travel a very long distance without degrading or breaking down, which means that you’re going to have a very secure perimeter for your household, and you’ll have a decent distance to it as well.

You won’t have to worry about protecting your house far enough out because that laser beam will travel further than you might think. It’s also able to reflect and bounce around several times in that distance, meaning a single beam can cover more distance than you might think.

Cost Starts Low

Another benefit is that you can get started on one of these systems for a relatively low cost. That means you won’t have to worry about forking over a whole lot of money in startup costs and then keep it running.

You’ll be able to spend just a little to get started and make sure that your family will be safe and comfortable staying in that house or even leaving it for an extended period.

The system can start to go up in cost as you start adding on other pieces, but we’ll get to that a little later. So keep in mind at this point that you can start out setting up a system that will protect you at a lower cost.

The Disadvantages Of A Laser Security System

When you’re looking at anything, it’s always important to look at the disadvantages. You want to make sure that your advantages and benefits will outweigh the disadvantages that go along with it. That means you’re going to want to look at these things and see if they’re going to be okay for you to work with.

While there aren’t very many disadvantages, for some people these can be bigger problems and more important ones that need to be considered, which is why we’ve chosen to focus on these two areas rather than anything else. Only you can decide if this is a problem for you or if this will be just fine to protect your family.

Easily Visible System

The first negative is that this type of security system is very visible. There are cameras, boxes, reflectors and a whole lot more that need to be set up, and each of those things is likely going to be easily spotted by someone that wants to cause trouble or break into your home.

That means they’re going to know the system is there, and they’re going to know where each unit is as well. For some, this can be a deterrent, and you may not mind the system is easily noticed, but other people want their security system to be more hidden, which could be a compromise.

Cost Can Get Very Expensive

Next, the cost can get quite extensive when looking at this type of security system. So while you can get started at a low cost and you won’t have to worry too much about that, the more sophisticated the system that you want, the more money you’re going to have to spend.

You may want to upgrade the system, and as you continue to do this, you’re going to have added costs that you may not have been counting on. This can start to become a problem as you keep building.

No matter what you’re looking for in a system, you want to make sure that you’re getting something to protect your family and keep everyone safe. If you’re not careful, you could end up with problems, and you may find that the system you’ve chosen isn’t going to do what you want it to do.

That means you could end up spending more than you expected, or you could end up with a system that doesn’t work quite the way you wanted. With a laser system, you’re getting a good quality system, but only you can decide if it’s what you need.

Homemade Laser Security

There are also some fairly easy do-it-yourself alarm systems that you can put up just about anywhere. YouTube is full of DIY project tutorials on making simple security systems out of a laser pointer.

Creating your own homemade laser security alarm is fairly easy using something as simple as a laser pointer. These are created by setting up the laser pointer and reflecting it against a light sensor. This sensor is hooked up to a circuit board of some kind, which then talks to a computer that has been coded to do an action (whether that means sounding a buzzer or sending you a text message). When the laser pointer's beam is broken, a switch will flip on the circuit board, which will then trigger the computerised response, notifying you of any intruders in the area.

Can Lasers Hurt You?

The short answer to this question is: it depends. It depends on the strength of the laser and where the laser is being directed. Lasers used in surgeries and other medical procedures are much stronger and much more dangerous than the lasers used in pointers and security. In addition, because the light is so concentrated, many lasers generate a good amount of heat.

The chief danger that can arise from lasers is damage to the eye, specifically the retina. The retina can thin and burn, causing permanent eye damage. You’ve probably heard that you shouldn’t shine laser pointers in your eyes, and this is part of the reason. Eye damage is much less likely from a low-level laser pointer than from a moderate- or high-level laser, but it can still occur.

Thermal damage can also occur to the skin, depending on the strength of the laser you are working with. Burns occur when the laser's concentrated heat causes the proteins in the skin to break down. Photochemical damage occurs in conjunction with thermal damage, but it results from the light from the lasers rather than the heat. Chemical changes happen in the skin due to prolonged or concentrated exposure to short wavelengths of light like ultraviolet and blue light.

So, what are some safety procedures you can use when working with lasers?

To protect your eyes, it is always a good idea to wear safety glasses. Some glasses are specifically designed for use against lasers. If you’re planning on installing or building a laser security system, some glasses would be a good idea. In-home security, most of the lasers that are in use are low-grade. Exposure to them is not likely to hurt you. The purpose of these lasers is to trigger an alarm when an intruder breaks the beam, not to hurt the intruder. A higher-grade laser security system would be too potentially dangerous for the residents of a building.

Should You Get A Laser Security System?

You might consider purchasing a security system with lasers incorporated for any of the following reasons:

• You are protecting a particularly important or valuable item that is on display. In this case, lasers are simple and effective, as long as they are paired with the rest of a security system. Motion sensors can tell you that someone is in the building. Lasers can tell you what they are after. For this reason, many museums incorporate laser systems into their security.
• You want an invisible perimeter. If you are hoping to protect your home, honestly, a fence or big wall can be a great deterrent to burglars. But if you do not want a large fence, a laser system can serve you well. It can’t physically prevent someone from crossing your perimeter, but it will notify you if someone does.
• You are protecting your area. Many people in apartments and offices use simple laser pointer security systems. A laser alarm is a great way to alert yourself when your boss approaches your office. A homemade laser system is also a great way to keep your roommates out of your food, or at least catch them in the act of taking it.

As we’ve already mentioned, an infrared motion detector can be just as helpful as a laser system; it just depends on what you are going for. Although more security systems sell motion detection technology than laser technology, both options are relatively cheap and easy to set up.

Other Parts Of Home Security Systems: Cove

Lasers are not the only important components of a home security system, and in fact, many security systems are effective without lasers. However, we understand if you'd like to have a laser-based system since those are pretty cool. The downside of a laser security system is the likelihood of false alarms. If anything breaks the light beam, the alarm will be triggered, which could become rather annoying after a while. Here are a few other features of our security system for you to explore.

• Central Control Panel: Cove's central control panel is the system's brain. From this panel, you can arm and disarm the system, contact security personnel, and often notify the authorities of any medical emergencies.
• Security Cameras: These can be placed in many locations throughout your home. These keep track of who is in your house, and some cameras can be set to run only when you are not at home. Cove's security cameras are especially great because they are backed up to the cloud rather than an SD card or similar technology. Our security cameras are for indoor use.
• Motion Sensors: The name is fairly self-explanatory. These track movement and notify you of any human motion on your property. Most motion sensors don’t just sense motion; they sense the heat signature of humans in the area. So a wind blowing through the curtains would not trigger a motion sensor. They are pretty similar to the laser alarms in this way.
• Window Sensors: A common entry point for trespassers and burglars can be a window. Window sensors monitor the movement of the windows in your home. Glass-Break detectors can also be placed on windows to sense when a broken window, indicating an attempt at forced entry.
• Door Sensors: These track the opening and closing motion of doors in your home. This is a key part of preventing burglary, as burglars will often need to go through one or more doors, even if their initial entry is through a window.

Conclusion 

The laser security system has many advantages over traditional home security systems. They are more effective at detecting intruders, have a higher level of accuracy in detection and can be installed with ease on most surfaces without the need for drilling holes or running wires.

In addition, they do not interfere with Wi-Fi signals nor emit any radiation that could endanger your family's health. However, there are some disadvantages to installing a laser-based security system in your home. You may find installation costs to be prohibitively expensive compared to other types of home alarm systems, so keep this in mind before deciding which type is best for you and your family members' safety needs.