On Feb 5, 8:24*am, Bob wrote:
On Feb 5, 5:57*am, Robin wrote:

I've imagined that birds detect thermals in part with superior vision.
They can see the little bits of stuff in the air that show motion. Now
it looks like America's Cup sailors will be lighting up the little
bits with lasers.http://www.catchthewindinc.com/

There was a fascinating presentation at the SSA convention that showed
where we are now with laser thermal detecting (lidar). *Thermals were
shown very nicely in some of the photos presented. *The machinery is
still a bit bulky and overly consumptive of energy for use in gliders,
but a hint of the future was seen.

This device is handheld like binoculars, so I guess it's self-
contained, but probably limited in the number of shots. The good news
is that it costs only $149,500.