Electric-Field (E-field) Gunshot Detection System (GDS)

Soldiers and Marines manning the Objective Gunner Protection Kit (OGPK) need an accurate, real-time notification system to detect small-arms threat locations even in complex firefight environments involving multiple shooters, different weapons (single fire to full automatic, silenced guns, subsonic bullets), background detonations and explosions, and man-made noise/interference. Existing first-shot detection systems based on acoustic sensing may lose effectiveness because of reverberation and multipath propagation, multiple threat scenarios, and high levels of acoustic noise. Gun-fired bullets and projectiles passing through open-air regions carry electric charges which can be sensed by an electric field (E-field) sensor to determine the direction of travel. QUASAR Federal Systems (QFS) has demonstrated a new class of E-field sensor with significantly reduced size and adequate sensitivity for detection of gun-fired bullets. In this Phase II SBIR project, QFS proposes to develop and test an E-field Gunshot Detection System prototype optimized for mounting on the OGPK, but with the potential to be extended to dismounted and human-wearable applications. The technical feasibility (sensor and detection algorithm) of this project was established in Phase I. In Phase II, we will develop an integrated scientific prototype, mount it on an OGPK, and demonstrate its performance through gunshot tests in real-time.