Intermarkets' Privacy Policy
Support


Donate to Ace of Spades HQ!


Contact
Ace:
aceofspadeshq at gee mail.com
Buck:
buck.throckmorton at protonmail.com
CBD:
cbd at cutjibnewsletter.com
joe mannix:
mannix2024 at proton.me
MisHum:
petmorons at gee mail.com
J.J. Sefton:
sefton at cutjibnewsletter.com


Recent Entries
Absent Friends
Bandersnatch 2024
GnuBreed 2024
Captain Hate 2023
moon_over_vermont 2023
westminsterdogshow 2023
Ann Wilson(Empire1) 2022
Dave In Texas 2022
Jesse in D.C. 2022
OregonMuse 2022
redc1c4 2021
Tami 2021
Chavez the Hugo 2020
Ibguy 2020
Rickl 2019
Joffen 2014
AoSHQ Writers Group
A site for members of the Horde to post their stories seeking beta readers, editing help, brainstorming, and story ideas. Also to share links to potential publishing outlets, writing help sites, and videos posting tips to get published. Contact OrangeEnt for info:
maildrop62 at proton dot me
Cutting The Cord And Email Security
Moron Meet-Ups






















« Bugger | Main | Former Clinton Officials: Tomahawk the NORK Missile
Correction: Op-Ed from 2006 »
March 26, 2009

Neato: Tiny Accoustic Sensors in Soldiers' Helments May Be Linked into Sound-Capturing Network, Able to Triangulate Positions of Enemy Shooters (and even Identify Their Weaponry)

The last part would be a boon, because if the AK-47 can be successfully differentiated from friendly weapons, finding the bad guys is that much easier.

Very cool stuff.

Vanderbilt University's inhouse Exploration mag reported last week on the gunshot-locator net developed by the uni's Institute for Software Integrated Systems (ISIS). It involves mounting a small electronics package on each soldier's helmet, running on four AA batteries.

In each package is a wireless network node, of a type dubbed a "smart-dust mote" for its small size and cheapness. There are also four separated microphones, for picking up the acoustic signatures of flying bullets, and a GPS satnav location system. The GPS isn't accurate enough to act as a basis for properly pinning down opposing gunmen, so the Vanderbilt boffins added a crafty radio interferometry enhancement system of their own - apparently of such cunning that it has attracted as much interest as the rest of the system on its own.

I don't like that part -- I thought that GPS was deliberately sabotaged a bit to prevent enemies from taking full advantage of it. If these smarty-pants have figured out a way to engineer and math their way around the built-in inaccuracy, that software is going to be highly sought after by enemies.

I don't like that it's possible, mind you. Not that I hold it against these guys for trying to figure a way around it.

The system works by picking up the distinctive conical shockwave trailing behind a passing supersonic bullet...

But then various special sauces developed by ISIS prof Akos Ledeczi (http://www.isis.vanderbilt.edu/akos/) and his team kick in. All the smart-dust node hats in the squad or platoon net pass their information back and forth, and a special patented filter strips out false muzzle-blast reports - the great bugbear of such technology. The supersonic bullet-booms are very distinctive, it seems, but the muzzle blasts are much harder to distinguish from random banging sounds or echoes - especially with lots of guns firing at once in a built-up area.

As every node has a good idea exactly where it is, owing to its embedded radio-interferometry-enhanced GPS, the combined reports can thus be boiled down to locate all the guns firing nearby within a metre or two - enough to pinpoint which window, corner or whatever each enemy is shooting from. Apparently it still works even in the case of crafty snipers lurking well back from windows - the usual method favoured by the pros. Nor is the system bothered by guns firing out of line of sight - hidden behind walls or buildings or whatever.

Thanks to Arthur.

Wrong: GPS No Longer Sabotaged. Yeah, that's why I said "I thought;" I thought I remembered something like this, but couldn't be sure.

When GPS was first released to the public, we got the dumbed down version. It was still an order of magnitude better than "legacy" systems like loran. But after a couple years they let the good stuff out.

I think what they are talking about hear is sort of GPS plus because despite the accuracy of GPS, and it is amazingly accurate, it still probably isn't good enough to do what they are talking about.

Correction thanks to JackStraw.


digg this
posted by Ace at 05:06 PM

| Access Comments




Recent Comments
JackStraw: ">>Bay State Road, lol. Yea, I figured. Beacon S ..."

Deplorable Ian Galt: " I know some younger ones who don't like to drive ..."

Scarymary: "I know some younger ones who don't like to drive a ..."

Tammy-al Thor: "I think there's some sort of cabal bent on destroy ..."

runner: "Teleportation would make things more efficient. ..."

Deplorable Ian Galt: ">>My frat was near there, one block from where the ..."

runner: "I don't like to drive. Waste of time. ..."

Deplorable Ian Galt: "Son was complaining that the tounger generation do ..."

JackStraw: ">>My frat was near there, one block from where the ..."

publius, Rascally Mr. Miley (w6EFb): " I've screamed at the TV, "Run lady, run! It's ..."

Scarymary: "I'll believe that 20% of Xers can muddle their way ..."

Deplorable Ian Galt: "Right in the middle of Kenmore Square around the c ..."

Recent Entries
Search


Polls! Polls! Polls!
Frequently Asked Questions
The (Almost) Complete Paul Anka Integrity Kick
Top Top Tens
Greatest Hitjobs

The Ace of Spades HQ Sex-for-Money Skankathon
A D&D Guide to the Democratic Candidates
Margaret Cho: Just Not Funny
More Margaret Cho Abuse
Margaret Cho: Still Not Funny
Iraqi Prisoner Claims He Was Raped... By Woman
Wonkette Announces "Morning Zoo" Format
John Kerry's "Plan" Causes Surrender of Moqtada al-Sadr's Militia
World Muslim Leaders Apologize for Nick Berg's Beheading
Michael Moore Goes on Lunchtime Manhattan Death-Spree
Milestone: Oliver Willis Posts 400th "Fake News Article" Referencing Britney Spears
Liberal Economists Rue a "New Decade of Greed"
Artificial Insouciance: Maureen Dowd's Word Processor Revolts Against Her Numbing Imbecility
Intelligence Officials Eye Blogs for Tips
They Done Found Us Out, Cletus: Intrepid Internet Detective Figures Out Our Master Plan
Shock: Josh Marshall Almost Mentions Sarin Discovery in Iraq
Leather-Clad Biker Freaks Terrorize Australian Town
When Clinton Was President, Torture Was Cool
What Wonkette Means When She Explains What Tina Brown Means
Wonkette's Stand-Up Act
Wankette HQ Gay-Rumors Du Jour
Here's What's Bugging Me: Goose and Slider
My Own Micah Wright Style Confession of Dishonesty
Outraged "Conservatives" React to the FMA
An On-Line Impression of Dennis Miller Having Sex with a Kodiak Bear
The Story the Rightwing Media Refuses to Report!
Our Lunch with David "Glengarry Glen Ross" Mamet
The House of Love: Paul Krugman
A Michael Moore Mystery (TM)
The Dowd-O-Matic!
Liberal Consistency and Other Myths
Kepler's Laws of Liberal Media Bias
John Kerry-- The Splunge! Candidate
"Divisive" Politics & "Attacks on Patriotism" (very long)
The Donkey ("The Raven" parody)
Powered by
Movable Type 2.64