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Military and Defense
Today’s army operates in urban environments -- as has every commercial ShotSpotter system ever fielded. ShotSpotter has rapidly moved to the top of the agenda for several military purchasing vehicles. ShotSpotter deployed alongside UAVs (unmanned flying vehicles) and other “extended awareness” tools provide far enhanced “Situational Awareness” to military customers. Situational Analysis has proven a key driver in early adoption of ShotSpotter technology within the military.
ShotSpotter's success in gaining traction in this market is due primarily to its hard-won experience in urban environments and its ability to integrate with Situational Awareness systems. This experience allows the Company to demonstrate its technology in terrain and under circumstances which present insurmountable obstacles for technologies designed for non-urban battlefield use and thus confound our competition.
Field Tested
US Joint Forces Command announced in December 2005 that they had conducted a test of unmanned aerial vehicle, gunshot detection and interoperation capabilities in urban environments as part of a U.S. Marine Corps exercise in Louisiana. “One of the primary goals for the experiment involved the testing of the ShotSpotter system, an acoustic locating system that cues a UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle) sensor to locate an enemy when he fires a weapon, whether on a battlefield or in an urban environment," said Cdr. James Joyner, US JFCOM.
In field-testing, the ShotSpotter wireless systems “provided improved awareness of the intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) data – in near real-time with less than a ten-second delay,” according to Joyner. In addition, the integration of “ground-based sensors with UAV sensors made it possible to visualize the shooter’s location within seconds.”
Three Layers of Protection
The ShotSpotter Military system consists of three overlapping “layers” of protection. Each layer works equally effectively whether deployed independently or in concert with other layers. The dynamic nature of modern military combat motivated ShotSpotter’s decision to develop multiple protection layers which can interact with one another when available, or fall back to single layer performance when operating in standalone mode. ShotSpotter sends vitally important information on gunshot location to command and control centers, enabling the military to observe or take out the threat. ShotSpotter thus provides a critical element that is sorely lacking in current command and control systems.
Layer 1: Soldier-worn (Rapidly Deployable Systems)
Available now, this highly sophisticated soldier-worn gunshot location system allows troops on the move to detect and locate gunshots and sniper fire. Sensor devices weigh less than half a pound and are about the size of a PDA. The system immediately tells the small unit leader where a shot or multiple shots were fired from, and can deliver that information to others in the field. In one recent test performed by US Joint Forces Command, for example, ShotSpotter sensors successfully located weapons fire and immediately transmitted that information to a Scan Eagle UAV, thereby providing realtime video of the shooter.
Layer 2: Vehicle-mounted
A second layer of protection provided by ShotSpotter is designed specifically for convoy and/or vehicle protection, whether on the move or stationary. These sensors are capable of locating a solo vehicle or detecting sniper fire. The system works seamlessly with both soldier-worn systems and fixed, installed sensors, so that as the convoy moves, the vehicle-mounted sensors blend in with other grids. These sensors can also be integrated with cameras mounted on the vehicles and aimed at the source of enemy fire or used in concert with UAVs for aerial spotting of hostile fire.
Layer 3: Fixed installations
A third layer, for deployment around temporary or fixed locations, consists of a rapid-deployment wireless version of the time-tested ShotSpotter Gunshot Location System sensor that has been deployed in cities across the US for more than twelve years. Sensors can be quickly and easily installed on walls, posts and rooftops to form a complete grid that detects and locates gunfire and instantly relays that information to a visual display. The ShotSpotter technology is proven in difficult urban environments, and can be taken down and re-deployed as needed.
ShotSpotter gunshot detection and location systems, developed using intellectual property acquired during ShotSpotter’s merger with Centurist Systems, are covered by US patents, both issued and pending. All three layers use the same core ShotSpotter technologies to filter out the echoes which are common to urban environments. Using ShotSpotter’s patented spatial filter architecture, the system can identify“non-threat” events (such as firecrackers, car backfires, etc.).
For more information about ShotSpotter Military solutions, contact:
Riley Repko
Vice President, Military Sales
Tel: 1-703-268-0796
Fax: 1-703-991-0252
rrepko@shotspotter.com
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