Rounds counter remotely located from gun

Abstract

A rounds counter for a weapon mount is disclosed. The rounds counter is mounted on the mount in a remote location from the weapon itself, such as to a pedestal supporting a gimbal rotating the weapon mount in azimuth, inside an elevation drive housing, or to other structure. The mounting location is selected to be one where shock loads are relatively high, as compared to other locations on the mount. The rounds counter includes a sensor which senses shock due to the firing of the weapon, such as an accelerometer or strain gauge. The sensor could also be an acoustic transducer. Analog and digital circuitry for processing the sensor signal and to count the firing of the gun is also disclosed. The rounds counter is particularly useful as a common, single rounds counter unit for a weapon mount is adapted to receive and fire a variety of weapons, such as remotely operated weapon mounts mounted to military vehicles and patrol watercraft adapted to receive and fire four different types of guns.