| Nick -> Projects -> Laser Snooper |
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Introduction:
This project was based on the project by Chuck Clark and
Sam Ralston last Fall. I have been interested by this
project when I saw this in the ADSL Open House. I also
noticed that their project didn't work. I remembered that
I have seen something like this on TV on one of those shows
devoted to science and technology. They were showing how
intelligence/reconnaissance has turned to laser for information
gathering - or more accurately, eaves dropping.
After looking at the Fall's semester's design I decided to start from scratch. I had an alternative design in mind which I have found from an electronic hobby enthusiast magazine. Here's the design of the circuit and the step down transformer for the audio device.
Project Goal:
By reflecting any type of laser (with no modification of the
emitted light) off of a thin media (like a window plane) the
Laser Snooper is able to capture the reflected beam. The
reflected beam is modulated by the vibrations in the pane
from noises on the other side of the window. The receiver
detects this modulation and reconstructs the noises and
conversations. Also, the device in mind was made with parts
that are very cheap and easily obtainable.
The Circuit:
In this circuit, the design achieved the objectives of
reconstructing the reflected laser beam into real sounds via
an audio output port (HEADPHONE JACK).
The design also included a way of detecting
(METER JACK) the strength of the laser signal
received. This was to be used to align the receiver if an
invisible laser beam was used. The meter jack port wasn't
used in this project since a bright red Helium Neon laser
was used.
CIRCUIT THEORY:
The heart of the circuit is a sensitive photo transistor (Q1).
Varying light levels across R2 produce a changing voltage level
at (Q1) collector. That is capacitively coupled thru (C4) to
the base of preamplifier transistor (Q2). Resistor R3 bias
the base and sets the gain of Q2. Emitter bias is obtained
via R5 with signal current being bypassed by C5. The above
combination provides a voltage gain of approximately 40 for
this stage. The amplified signal developed across R4 is
capacitively coupled by C7 to gain control pot R6. Capacitor
C6 and C9 stabilizes the circuit by bypassing any unwanted
oscillations that could occur. The arm of R6 is now capacitively
coupled by C8 to the base of Q3. The gain of this second
amplifier is to 40 by resistor R8 and R10.
Output of Q3 is capacitively coupled to Q4 by C11. The gain of this stage is also set to 40 by resistors R13 and R14. R12 provides a small amount of degenerative feedback for the system. The output of Q4 is capacitively coupled by C13 to output jack J1 for driving the head phones as shown in the schematic. The output is intended to couple a 1000 to 8 ohm step-down audio transformer. The 8 ohm winding drives a standard 8 ohm monophonic headsets or a small speaker. The output of Q4 is also coupled to amplifier Q5 via capacitor C12. This stage has a gain of x10 set by resistors R15 and R16. The output is now rectified and integrated onto capacitor C15 and C16. This DC level drives the external meter via jack J2. Resistor R7 limits the output current to 1/2 mAmps.
Use the chart below as a guide to see if the circuit is working properly.
| Battery | A | B | C | D | E |
| 9V | .5DC | 4.5DC | 3.3DC | 1.1DC | 6DC |
NOTES:
Factors Affecting the Design:
First, make sure, when building the circuit, the parts are
of exact values. On the first circuit built, the resistors
were of approximate values and the circuit left all sorts
of cut-off currents disabling the device. Going by the
bands and printed values on the parts should be sufficient.
Second, I have found that when the receiver was centered in
the brightest spot (middle) of the reflected laser beam the
circuit worked poorly compared to when the receiver was placed
off-centered. This probably indicates that the circuit was
saturated when the receiver was centered on the hot spot.
Then, when it was placed off-centered, the circuit was able
to analyze the weaker (less saturated) laser signal much better.
This seems to indicate that the lower energized laser beam
was a better at being modulated when the when contacting the
sound source.
So it may be possible that the laser sent at longer distances
will work even better. The thickness of the plane where the
sound source is located also affects the performance of the
receivers ability to detect any changes in the signal.
The thinner the plane, the easier it will vibrate and thus
a better situation for the laser beam to be modulated.
Future Design Considerations:
Although greater distances between the laser and sound source
would result in the laser to diverge into a larger radius
yielding a weaker signal (which prevents the over-saturation
of the circuit) there will come limitations to this process.
So, using lenses to converge a larger area of the reflected beam to the receiver will help increase the range of the laser snooper even more. It was printed that the range may be as large as 300 feet versus the current 30 feet range. But that isn't an electronic solution. So one possible future design is to implement Jake Janovetz's Napoleon 56K DSP board to filter out background noise. Background noise was very noticable from the receiver, and using a DSP filter board might have helped out in making the receiver work even better than it was designed for.
Conclusion:
This project has helped me relearn the theories learned from
ECE342. Transistors were used to bias currents yielding
different voltage levels. And capacitors were used to couple
points on the circuit to stabilize.
Not only did this project help teach some fundamentals of
circuit theory, but it was fun to work on and see the results
of the project.
R1 1 100 Meg 1/2 Watt Resistor R2,4,10,15 4 10 K 1/4 Watt Resistor R3,8 2 390 K 1/4 Watt Resistor R5,14,16 3 1K 1/4 Watt Resistor R6/S1 1 10 K Pot and 12 V Switch R7 1 2.2 K 1/4 Watt Resistor R12 1 5.6 Meg 1/4 Watt Resistor R13 1 39 K 1/4 Watt Resistor R17 1 22 K 1/4 Watt Resistor R9,11 2 220 Ohm 1/4 Watt Resistor C1 1 470 Pfd Disc Cap C2,10 2 100 Mfd 25 V Elect Cap C3,9 2 1000 Pfd Disc Cap C4 1 .05 Mfd Mylar Cap C5 1 10 Mfd 25 V Elect Cap C6 1 .01 Mfd 25 V Disc Cap C7,8,11,12,13,14 6 2.2 Mfd 25 V N.P. Cap C15,16 2 1 Mfd 25 V Elect Cap Q1 1 L14G3 Ultra High Sen Phototransistor Q2,3,4,5 4 PN222 NPN Transistor D1,2 2 IN914 Diode J1 1 RCA Phono Jack P1 1 RCA Phono Plug CL1 1 9 V Battery Clip T1 1 1 K / 8 Ohm Mini Audo Transformer
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