Shotspotter, Inc.

Robert Showen

Robert B Calhoun

James G Beldock

Jason W Dunham

Gary Mark Lauder

Gregory Lincoln Stone

Murphey L Johnson

Remigius G Shatas

Scott M Manderville

Peter C Sarna, Ii

Gary Holladay

Systems and methods are disclosed for reliably detecting gunfire in enclosed spaces having significant acoustic reverberation. Implementations are configured to quickly and reliably report the room or portion of a room where gunfire is located. Innovations herein may ensure low false alarm rate by thresholding, pattern recognition and/or detecting the muzzle optical flash. In some embodiments, a review center with trained personnel may evaluate the incident before reporting to local authorities. The indoor system can be incorporated into an outdoor gunshot location system to better protect a local area such as a campus or a transportation hub. Systems and methods herein may involve features and functionality associated with additional resources, such as intercoms, cellphones, and access control, to provide mitigation of harm in case of a shooting.

Systems and methods associated with detection of indoor gunfire

A survey method giving improvements in weapons fire location systems is disclosed. In an urban system with a distributed array in the midst of many buildings that block signal paths or create echoes, methods are provided to measure signal propagation. A survey or tour of the covered region uses a moving signal source to probe propagation inside the region. Survey results may indicate where more or fewer sensors are needed. Survey results plus current measured noise gives prediction of instantaneous system sensitivity. In addition, multipath propagation may be used to determine a location even when only one or two sensors detect the signal. In such exemplary cases, triangulation may be replaced or augmented by pattern recognition. Further, signals of the survey need not be acoustic impulses such as gunfire, but may be RF signals, or coded continuous signals so that gunfire-like sounds would not disturb citizens in the area.

Acoustic survey methods in weapons location system

Systems and methods are disclosed for processing information associated with monitoring persons/devices and weapon fire location information. In one exemplary implementation, a weapon fire location system is used to characterize and locate impulsive events and these locations are correlated with the positions of monitoring persons or devices, such as monitoring anklets placed on offenders or other persons of interest. Further, various information can be plotted on map, display, or for other graphical output to assist in the process of handling a weapon fire event. For example, when a monitoring device, whose position can be provided by GPS or alternate methods is found nearby a gunshot location, then associated graphical information can be presented on the output of the weapon fire location system or an associated display used by those monitoring the offenders.

Systems and methods of automated correlation of weapon fire data with monitored persons-of-interest/location data

Acoustic survey methods in weapons location systems

Systems and methods are disclosed for locating a weapon fire incident such as an acoustic transient from a gunshot, explosion, weapons launch, etc. In one exemplary implementation, there is provided a method of locating the incident from a combination of propagation phenomena including a discharge time of the weapon fire incident. Moreover, the method may include obtaining a first propagation parameter of the incident from one or more first sensors, obtaining the discharge time from another sensor, and processing the data to determine a location using a common time basis among sensor measurements. According to further exemplary implementations, the discharge time may include a transient event that has a different propagation velocity than that of sound in the atmosphere.

Systems and methods of locating weapon fire incidents using measurements/data from acoustic, optical, seismic, and/or other sensors

Systems and methods are disclosed for processing weapon fire information such as gunfire. In one exemplary implementation, there is provided a method of processing gunshot information to determine source location information involving echo/reflection processing features. Moreover, the method may include processing gunshot information received from a source at a sensor having a reflecting surface at a given distance, processing direct arrival time and echo arrival time information, and determining source location information as a function of a virtual sensor calculated behind the surface.

Systems and methods for augmenting gunshot location using echo processing features

Systems and methods are disclosed for processing information associated with weapon fire. In one exemplary embodiment, there is provided a method of processing information associated with weapon fire, including identifying a weapon fire incident, determining positional information regarding a source location of the weapon fire, and processing positional information regarding a device within a particular proximity of the source location of the weapon fire. Moreover, exemplary methods may include providing information for displaying the positional information of the source location of the weapon fire and the device together on a display. Other exemplary embodiments may include performing processing that provides one or more of source location of the weapon fire, device location information and/or other information related to the device for various uses.

Weapon fire location systems and methods involving mobile device and/or other features

Systems and methods are disclosed for determining location of a weapon firing incident. In one exemplary embodiment, there is provided a system for determining the location of a weapon firing incident in proximate position to a region traversed by vehicles. The system includes a first set of sensors associated with a first sub-region of the region, for detecting the weapon firing incident and for generating an output, and a processing component that determines a location of the weapon firing incident based upon the output. Moreover, the system may also include a second set of sensors arranged to detect the weapon firing incident along the travel path traversed by the vehicles and for generating a second output. Other exemplary embodiments may include arrangements of the sensors in patterns is associated with sub-regions and/or travel path as well as weapon fire location processing features.

Acoustic detection of weapons near transportation centers

A gunshot location system computes candidate gunshot locations [] from angle-of-arrival information [] and time-of-arrival information [] provided by acoustic sensors []. In addition to an angle, each sensor calculates an angular uncertainty [] from impulses received at four or more microphones having rotational symmetry. An intersection of one or more time-of-arrival hyperbolas with one or more angle-of-arrival beams [] is used to determine a candidate gunshot location. In simple environments, a location can be confirmed with just two sensors allowing sensor density to be significantly reduced, while in complex environments including reflections, blocking, and interfering acoustic events, the additional angle-of-arrival information improves location accuracy and confidence, allowing elimination of candidate locations inconsistent with the combined time-of-arrival and angle-of-arrival information.

Acoustic location of gunshots using combined angle of arrival and time of arrival measurements

A gunshot location system computes candidate gunshot locations [from angle-of-arrival information [and time-of-arrival information [provided by acoustic sensors [. In addition to an angle, each sensor calculates an angular uncertainty [from impulses received at four or more microphones having rotational symmetry. An intersection of one or more time-of-arrival hyperbolas with one or more angle-of-arrival beams [is used to determine a candidate gunshot location. In simple environments, a location can be confirmed with just two sensors allowing sensor density to be significantly reduced, while in complex environments including reflections, blocking, and interfering acoustic events, the additional angle-of-arrival information improves location accuracy and confidence, allowing elimination of candidate locations inconsistent with the combined time-of-arrival and angle-of-arrival information.

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Los Altos, CA, United States of America

Robert Showen