Anyone who’s ever picked a flea off a dog’s back with an automated weapon knows there’s a good line between a crushed bug and a bloody mutt. Fortunately for flea-bitten K9s, a team of researchers are engaged on a laser-packing fiber-optic sensor system to assure that your rifle’s crosshairs are always dead on. Known simply because the Reticle Compensating Rifle Barrel Reference Sensor, the setup enlists the outside grooves, or flutes, on a customary rifle as a receptacle for glass optical fibers. These fibers direct beams of sunshine along the pinnacle and side of the weapon to exactly measure just how far flung the gun’s sights are from the barrel’s actual position. a group of algorithms and sensor inputs are then employed to regulate for distance and other factors that affect a bullet’s trajectory, providing the shooter with crosshairs that change to environmental changes in real time. Unsurprisingly, the system is being targeted at military and law enforcement, this means that it probably won’t make it into the hands of anyone who uses firearms in its place to Advantage. Sorry, Rover. Full PR after the break.
ORNL rifle sighting system uses sensors to attain bull’s-eye
Crosshairs automatically adjust for conditions in real timeA laboratory prototype of Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s Reticle Compensating Rifle Barrel Reference Sensor allows Slobodan Rajic to fine-tune the technology. The system precisely measures the deflection of the barrel relative to the sight after which electronically makes corrections.
Military and police marksmen could see their rifle sights get closer the 21st century with a fiber-optic laser-based sensor system that automatically corrects for even tiny barrel disruptions.
The system, developed by a team led by Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s Slobodan Rajic, precisely measures the deflection of the barrel relative to the sight after which electronically makes the mandatory corrections. The lifesaving results are lethal.
“For military snipers, missing the objective could allow high-profile terrorists to flee,” Rajic said. “For police marksmen, missing the kidnapper could endanger the lives of hostages after which pose subsequent danger to law enforcement officials and the general public.”
The Reticle Compensating Rifle Barrel Reference Sensor takes the guesswork out of shooting by shifting the load of knowing the relative position between the barrel and the weapon sight axes from the shooter to an electronic sensor. The system precisely measures the deflection of the barrel relative to the sight after which electronically realigns the moving reticle, or crosshairs, with the real position of the barrel, or bore axis.
“When a weapon is sighted in, the aim point and bullet point of impact coincide,” Rajic said. “However, within the field, anything that comes into contact with the barrel can cause perturbation of the barrel and induce errors.”
With modern high-caliber rifles boasting ranges of up to two miles, even very small barrel disruptions can cause a shooter to miss by a wide margin. That makes this technology indispensable from a marksman’s perspective, Rajic said.
From a technological standpoint, the approach is straightforward.
The typical barrel of a high-power rifle has exterior grooves, called flutes, to reduce weight and create more surface area to enable the barrel to cool faster. The barrel heats up as a result of the hot expanding gases inside the barrel and the friction from the bullets which are propelled by these hot gases along a helical path contained in the barrel.
With the ORNL technology, glass optical fibers are placed into the flutes. These flutes are either produced by the barrel manufacturer or subsequently retrofit. The sensor system encompasses a laser diode that sends a signal beam into the optical fibers parallel to the bore axis of the barrel.
“The optical fibers are designed to separate the laser beam twice, sending one beam along the head of the rifle barrel and another light beam along the side of the barrel,” Rajic said. “Thus, we will be able to measure both the vertical and horizontal barrel deflection.”
Through a mixture of algorithms, optics and further sensor inputs, the system can keep in mind distance and other factors affecting the bullet trajectory. Ultimately the shooter is left with crosshairs that automatically adjust for conditions in real time.
After all, the resolution of ORNL’s Reticle Compensating Rifle Barrel Reference Sensor is 250 times better than that of traditional reticles, that can normally be manually adjusted by one-fourth minutes of angle whereas the ORNL sensor can sense angular displacement and shift the reticle by 1/1,000th of a minute of angle, Rajic said.
Rajic and associates also are developing a laser-based bullet tracking system to offer the shooter even better odds of succeeding by providing specific information regarding the bullet flight path.
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