Acoustic Sensor for the Viper Infrared Sniper Detection System

摘要

An acoustic muzzle blast sensor has been developed and integrated with the Viper sniper detection system. The system uses an infrared (IR) camera and digital signal processing to detect the muzzle flash of a sniper's weapon. The IR detection is essentially instantaneous and gives the bearing to the target within 70 milliseconds of the shot. However, a single camera IR method can not reliably give a range to target. An acoustic sensor and associated signal processing algorithm have been developed to act as a simple filter to detect the acoustic signature of a rifle shot. The difference in the time of arrival between the infrared and the acoustic signatures is used for range determination. In addition to the ranging function, acoustic detection can be used to reject false IR muzzle flash detection caused by phenomena such as sun glints. A verification method is used where each IR detection opens a range gate and if there is an acoustic detection before the gate closes the IR detection is verified.