Laser Safety Smartphone App

[White-Light]

James I noticed from the picture on the app page that it seems to calculate for single colour lasers only, or at least single colour at a time.

Are there any plans to produce an app that calculates in one hit for an RGB laser? ie. You enter the parameters for all 3 beams then it calculates the overall hazard in 1 go?

Also, is it possible to produce this as a widget for non smart phones?

[dsli_jon]

Hey Sir James -

Nice to see you here... ..and, I'm 'posting' here, vs emailing you, for the benefit of the answers, for all...

Any idea if / when you'll be doing one specifically that can address the various Airspace-zone calcs, as-with ScanGuard Pro? I think you'll have a watershed of interest from Co's, over here, if you guys can work-in 'advanced-capabilities' like that, since the famed 'SkyZan' is no longer available (direct from RLI, anyway.. )... especially if you can also-include calc'ing for the FAA's 'Slant Range'... and yes, we'd also need calc'ing for pulsed-lasers (..although, just a fairly-narrow 'range' of types..) and for divergence-ranges up-to maybe 15mRad, ie: for those that are running 'KTP' systems and/or Copper-vapors, etc..

..Or, perhaps there is something I am not seeing, in those versions / it's already there? Lemme know...

j

[norty303]

Thanks James, I wasn't going nuts then.

I didn't actually know it was you who'd done the application actually, otherwise I would've responded directly in-app. I even asked if anyone knew on the forum in a thread a little while back.

http://www.photonlexicon.com/forums/...w-calculations

Regarding training courses, I was thinking about this today. Would you be able to offer a special PL group discount if we could organise a course at a LEM for example? I think they did something similar for one of the US LEMs.
Maybe book the hall for an extra day on Monday or Thursday or something. Don't know how that would work with hall booking, etc, but it is a thought.

[JStewart]

Hi GT500, the next course has been set for Monday March the 5th at our usual venue near Watford. We’ve gone with this venue for a while now as it’s in a great location for the road network (M25/M1/M40/M4) as well as central London via public transport, and provides excellent hospitality and surroundings (no one goes hungry at lunchtime, that’s for sure!). The course has been attracting a bit of an international following over the past year, with people having flown in from Sweden, Denmark, and Canada. And as something new for 2012, we have plans for a new additional effects design-measure-assess practical workshop for those that have attended, (including previous attendees), the initial one-day course. …More on this in the new year.

Al, the wavelength setting doesn’t actually have any real significance in this version of the app. But it is there for three reasons at the moment; 1) to get people thinking about wavelength, 2) in preparation for additional features in the next release, and 3) to balance the UI in the meantime

Jon, the Laser Show app as it stands does have an increased range of divergence (and power) over the free-bee version, so it can be used to work out the NOHD for most show lasers, …for single beams and for scanned effects. (I figured that for people with serious power lasers, or users of lasers that expose them, or put them in the vicinity of the public, the cost of large cup of coffee wouldn’t be too much of an obstacle, for the convenience, and to support further development). I am aware of the need in the US to calculate slant range etc for the FAA, which might just link into point 2 above . All calculation parameters and results can currently be emailed from the app for inclusion into show reports etc.

Given the interest there has been in this app, I’m sure you will see some very useful additions as time moves on…

Norty, as for running a discounted PL LEM safety course, it is something I’d have to give careful thought to. One of the problems we have in the UK is that there is only a limited market of laser show providers. (I’d estimate around 6 fulltime show companies, then perhaps a few more that provide lasers along with other special effects or lighting, and the rest is almost a cottage industry of people that provide lasers as a sideline to their main income stream or day job – The prices I see some people charge for laser shows is heartbreaking, with massive underselling for a business that, even with recent falls in technology costs, is still a business requiring high capital investment, but with a service that is often undersold – But that’s maybe a discussion (and can of worms) for another thread!).

Anyway the point I’m getting to is that there is only a limited number of people interested in laser safety in the UK, and if I were to offer the same laser safety training course for £25, as has been suggested in the past by some PL members, it would devalue the course, (and probably not be too favourably received by those that paid the going rate - which is still priced very favourably compared to other one-day courses).

That said, there may be some scope for some sort of a basic training session, and I may be able to link this is with a workshop on using the new version of Scanguard. ...We’ll have to see what interest there is.

James

[nuphotonix]

Ill go if you have one!

Thanks James, I wasn't going nuts then.

I didn't actually know it was you who'd done the application actually, otherwise I would've responded directly in-app. I even asked if anyone knew on the forum in a thread a little while back.

http://www.photonlexicon.com/forums/...w-calculations

Regarding training courses, I was thinking about this today. Would you be able to offer a special PL group discount if we could organise a course at a LEM for example? I think they did something similar for one of the US LEMs.
Maybe book the hall for an extra day on Monday or Thursday or something. Don't know how that would work with hall booking, etc, but it is a thought.

[Jem]

Nice work James :-)

[GT500]

Hi GT500, the next course has been set for Monday March the 5th at our usual venue near Watford. We’ve gone with this venue for a while now as it’s in a great location for the road network (M25/M1/M40/M4) as well as central London via public transport, and provides excellent hospitality and surroundings (no one goes hungry at lunchtime, that’s for sure!). The course has been attracting a bit of an international following over the past year, with people having flown in from Sweden, Denmark, and Canada. And as something new for 2012, we have plans for a new additional effects design-measure-assess practical workshop for those that have attended, (including previous attendees), the initial one-day course. …More on this in the new year.

Thanks James,

i will book a place on the on the course and look forward to meeting you.

Geoff

[White-Light]

Anyway the point I’m getting to is that there is only a limited number of people interested in laser safety in the UK, and if I were to offer the same laser safety training course for £25, as has been suggested in the past by some PL members, it would devalue the course, (and probably not be too favourably received by those that paid the going rate - which is still priced very favourably compared to other one-day courses).

That said, there may be some scope for some sort of a basic training session, and I may be able to link this is with a workshop on using the new version of Scanguard. ...We’ll have to see what interest there is.

James

Hi James,

I think that was probably my suggestion somewhere along the line.

What I thought was that maybe such a course at a LEM for a very low price could be restricted to none commercial users only. That way you preserve your commercial market and the happiness of your commercial customers whilst increasing safety amongst hobbyists.

...and maybe one way to ensure everyone at a LEM could participate would be to offer a 2 tier pricing structure, one very low price for pure hobbyists and another more usual (but possibly slightly discounted) price for those who do commercial shows.

Just a thought.

BTW Jem's show lem at Wakefield would be the idea venue for a course I would have thought. It's centrally located in the country making it ideal for everyone as no-one has to travel the entire length of the country to get there. It's also close to airports at Leeds / Bradford and in the past has attracted quite a few Dutch / International laserists over as well.

One last thing, I think you might have missed by other question about the app above. Is it possible this might also be released in the future as a widget for non smart phones?

[norty303]

Norty, as for running a discounted PL LEM safety course, it is something I’d have to give careful thought to. One of the problems we have in the UK is that there is only a limited market of laser show providers. (I’d estimate around 6 fulltime show companies, then perhaps a few more that provide lasers along with other special effects or lighting, and the rest is almost a cottage industry of people that provide lasers as a sideline to their main income stream or day job – The prices I see some people charge for laser shows is heartbreaking, with massive underselling for a business that, even with recent falls in technology costs, is still a business requiring high capital investment, but with a service that is often undersold – But that’s maybe a discussion (and can of worms) for another thread!).

Anyway the point I’m getting to is that there is only a limited number of people interested in laser safety in the UK, and if I were to offer the same laser safety training course for £25, as has been suggested in the past by some PL members, it would devalue the course, (and probably not be too favourably received by those that paid the going rate - which is still priced very favourably compared to other one-day courses).

Hi James

I wasn't suggesting you cut your own throat on this. I was simply working on the basis of my experience of other training companies whereby if they can supply x number of candidates, and the training is on-site, then the cost per head is reduced.
So PL as a collective is saying, how much to train 10 of our guys, or similar...

If I was coming to you as a company and wanted 10 guys trained, I'd be looking for some discount. Just some simple economies of scale really. I know I and others who struggle to make the second job pay, have to count the pennies closely. Between laser and PAT training, I could blow 20% of my income for the year.

That said, the money saved by not going all the way to Lincolnshire and the LEM would go a long way to making up the difference in price anyway (for me at least - just thinking out loud here...)

Cheers