Systems and Methods Related to Identifying and/or Locating Weapon Fire Incidents

Abstract

A system and method for detecting, identifying, and fixing the location of the source of an acoustic event. The inventive system includes: a plurality of sensors dispersed at somewhat regular intervals throughout a monitored area; a communication network adapted to deliver information from the sensors to a host processor; and a process within the host processor for determining, from the absolute times of arrival of an event at two or more sensors, a position of the source of the event. Acoustic events are detected and analyzed at each sensor so that the sensor transmits over the network: an identifier for the sensor; an identifier for the type of event; and a precise absolute time of arrival of the event at the sensor. In a preferred embodiment, the system also identifies the type of weapon firing a gunshot.

Description

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS[0001]This is a continuation of application Ser. No. 10 / 905,788, filed Jan. 20, 2005, published as publication No. 2005 / 0237186A1, which claims priority to Provisional Application No. 60 / 481,922, filed on Jan. 20, 2004, and is a continuation-in-part of application Ser. No. 10 / 248,511, filed Jan. 24, 2003, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,847,587, all of which are incorporated herein by reference in entirety.BACKGROUND[0002]1. Field[0003]The present invention relates to a system and method for identifying and locating an acoustic event. More particularly, but not by way of limitation, the present invention relates to a system for identifying an explosive event, such as a gunshot, at a remote location, reporting the event including a precise time of arrival to a host system, and calculating a location of the source of the event in the host system.[0004]2. Description of Related Art[0005]Generally speaking, there is a long felt need for a system and method to ...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

"The present invention provides a system and method for detecting, identifying, and fixing the location of the source of an acoustic event. The system includes a plurality of sensors dispersed at regular intervals throughout a monitored area, a communication network, and a host processor. Each sensor has a microphone for detecting acoustic events, a synchronized clock, and an interface to the communication network. The sensors continuously monitor the environment and detect events. The system can identify the type of event and its source based on the time of arrival at multiple sensors. The sensors can be hung from existing power lines or powered by a battery. The system can also be used in a wearable device for detecting and locating the source of gunfire or other acoustic events. The technical effects of the invention include improved accuracy in identifying the source of an acoustic event and improved efficiency in detecting and locating multiple sources."

Problems solved by technology

In many large cities, gun-related violence has become a plague of epidemic proportions.

Unfortunately, prior art solutions have been either inadequate or too costly to gain wide acceptance in the field.

While the Showen system radically reduces the sensor density compared to prior art systems, as high as 80 sensors per square mile, each sensor, nonetheless, still requires a dedicated phone line.

As one can see, to effectively monitor a large metropolitan area, an outrageous number of telephone lines would be required, resulting in a substantial investment in infrastructure, not to mention large on-going costs.

Such systems can often take months to install.

In addition to the large number of dedicated phone lines required by prior art systems, such systems transport audio information over comparatively long distances.

The signals, as such, are subject to a number of degrading factors such as noise, crosstalk, inadvertent disconnection, and the like.

Such factors may cause gunshots to go undetected.

Latency in one or more communication channels will cause the system to produce and erroneous location.

Unfortunately, such systems suffer from limited accuracy in the determination of the radial angle, which in turn, translates into significant errors in the positional accuracy of the source of the noise when triangulation of two or more sensors is performed.

Since errors in the radial angle result in ever increasing position error as the distance from the sensor to the source increases, the reported position will be especially suspect toward the outer limits of the sensor's range.

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