Development of acoustic sniper localization methods and models

David Grasing; Benjamin Ellwood

doi:10.1117/12.850119

7 May 2010 Development of acoustic sniper localization methods and models

David Grasing, Benjamin Ellwood

Proceedings Volume 7693, Unattended Ground, Sea, and Air Sensor Technologies and Applications XII; 769312 (2010) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.850119
Event: SPIE Defense, Security, and Sensing, 2010, Orlando, Florida, United States

Abstract

A novel examination of a method capable of providing situational awareness of sniper fire from small arms fire is presented. Situational Awareness (SA) information is extracted by exploiting two distinct sounds created by small arms discharge: the muzzle blast (created when the bullet leaves the barrel of the gun) and the shockwave (sound created by a supersonic bullet). The direction of arrival associated with the muzzle blast will always point in the direction of the shooter. Range can be estimated from the muzzle blast alone, however at greater distances geometric dilution of precision will make obtaining accurate range estimates difficult. To address this issue, additional information obtained from the shockwave is utilized in order to estimate range to shooter. The focus of the paper is the development of a shockwave propagation model, the development of ballistics models (based off empirical measurements), and the subsequent application towards methods of determining shooter position. Knowledge of the rounds ballistics is required to estimate range to shooter. Many existing methods rely on extracting information from the shockwave in an attempt to identify the round type and thus the ballistic model to use ([1]). It has been our experience that this information becomes unreliable at greater distances or in high noise environments. Our method differs from existing solutions in that classification of the round type is not required, thus making the proposed solution more robust. Additionally, we demonstrate that sufficient accuracy can be achieved without the need to classify the round.

Citation Download Citation

David Grasing and Benjamin Ellwood "Development of acoustic sniper localization methods and models", Proc. SPIE 7693, Unattended Ground, Sea, and Air Sensor Technologies and Applications XII, 769312 (7 May 2010); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.850119

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