An optical shooting accuracy indication system

Abstract

An optical shooting accuracy indication system, comprising a smart target that comprises a target board; a projector located at an edge of the target board, for illuminating the area before the target board; a first camera located at one end of the edge, and having a first FOV that covers the target area; a second camera located at the other end the edge, and having a second FOV that covers the target area; a processor and associate memory for processing data received from the first and second cameras and calculating the location of the hit point of a projectile shot by a shooter, to be transmitted to a display device, which may be an electronic terminal device of the shooter, such as a smartphone or on a tablet; a transceiver for receiving an activation signal and transmitting the processed data. The system also comprises a display device for displaying visual indications to the shooter regarding his firing accuracy; an activation unit comprising an acceleration sensor, a processor and a transmitter, for detecting recoil upon firing a projectile by the shooter to the target board and transmitting the activation signal to the smart target. The smart target is activated by the activation signal for a predetermined period during which, the projector illuminates the fired projectile and the cameras receive light originated from reflections of the illumination by the fired projectile. The processor is adapted to calculate the hit point by calculating the interception point of hit line angles for the first and second cameras.

Description

[0001] AN OPTICAL SHOOTING ACCURACY INDICATION SYSTEM

[0002] Field of the Invention

[0003] The present invention relates to the field of shooting target systems. More particularly, the invention relates to a single bar, cost-effective and power efficient, optical shooting accuracy indication system.

[0004] Background of the Invention

[0005] Training shooters to improve hitting accuracy and meet predetermined threshold accuracy is an important challenge. Various optical shooting accuracy indication systems are known in the prior art to avoid inconvenience and time consuming operations of having to physically approach a target after shooting, in order to measure the distance between a predetermined required bullet hit position on the target and the actual position of a projectile's impact point. This is even more difficult when a cluster of impact points should be measured.

[0006] Today, more than 50% of the time spent for training shooters to improve hitting accuracy is lost due to time consuming operations, such as accessing the targets and marking hits on each target. Accessing the shot targets may also raise safety challenges, which should be addressed by instructors in any shooting range. In addition, many times shooting to long distances is conducted without tracking the hitting rates. Also, tracking the hitting score for shorter distances is conducted manually. All these drawbacks lead to a situation where training of shooters is conducted in an inefficient manner.

[0007] It is an object of the present invention to provide a cost effective optical shooting accuracy indication system that reduces the spent time while increasing the training efficiency.

[0008] It is another object of the present invention to provide a cost effective optical shooting accuracy indication system that saves consumed energy and does not require expensive hardware. Other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent as the description proceeds.

[0009] Summary of the Invention

[0010] An optical shooting accuracy indication system, comprising: a) a smart target comprising: a.l) a target board; a.2) a projector located at an edge of the target board, for illuminating the area before the target board; a.3) a first camera located at one end of the edge, and having a first FOV that covers the target area; a.4) a second camera located at the other end the edge, and having a second FOV that covers the target area; a.5) a processor and associate memory for processing data received from the first and second cameras and calculating the location of the hit point of a projectile shot by a shooter, to be transmitted to a display device, which may be an electronic terminal device of the shooter, such as a smartphone or on a tablet; a.6) a transceiver for receiving an activation signal and transmitting the processed data; b) a display device for displaying visual indications to the shooter regarding his firing accuracy; c) an activation unit (that may be implemented as a bracelet that is worn on the shooter's firing hand) comprising an acceleration sensor, a processor and a transmitter, for detecting recoil upon firing a projectile by the shooter to the target board and transmitting the activation signal to the smart target, wherein the smart target is activated by the activation signal for a predetermined period during which, the projector illuminates the fired projectile and the cameras receive light originated from reflections of the illumination by the fired projectile, wherein the processor is adapted to calculate the hit point by calculating the interception point of hit line angles for the first and second cameras. The location identification of each hit on a target is calculated based on light reflection from an impinging projectile upon reaching the target.

[0011] The projector may emit light in a wavelength in the range of 800-1000 nm. The emitted light strikes the projectile and the reflected light may be detected by one or more sensors of each camera.

[0012] The exact hitting point at the target may be calculated, based on the most illuminated sensor of each camera, where the coordinates of the hitting point are then transmitted wirelessly to the display device, which has dedicated software for displaying the hitting point on the target.

[0013] The display device may further comprise a processor for processing the transmitted data to obtain insights regarding shooting patterns, shot grouping and hitting clusters.

[0014] The detection hardware of each smart target may be confined in an elongated housing, which is installed at the top edge or at another edge of the target board and may comprise:

[0015] - two cameras that are located at the edges of the elongated case;

[0016] - a LED projector at the center of the edge;

[0017] - a processor for processing the images received from the cameras and generating signals representing an image of the shooting hits;

[0018] - a wireless transceiver for transmitting the signals required for generating the image of the shooting hits to an electronic terminal device each shooter;

[0019] - a battery for powering the hardware components.

[0020] The target board may be held in an essentially vertical position.

[0021] The minimal time until receiving the activation signal at the smart target may be less than 1.3 mS. The cameras may be activated to photograph the area being lit by the projector, to capture reflected light from a projectile upon entering their FOV.

[0022] The reflected light illuminates a specific sensor in a row or column of sensors in each camera, the specific sensor being converted by the processor to a location relative to the absolute location of the target and the Field Of View (FOV) of each camera.

[0023] Both the FOV of the camera and the camera's sensor matrix are used to calculate the hit point of each projectile, where the hit point location (X0;Y0) on the target board may be calculated by calculating the interception point of the two hit line angles (paand Pb) for the two cameras.

[0024] In one aspect, the projector is located at the upper center of the target board; the first camera is located at the upper-left corner of the target board; and the second camera is located at the upper-left corner of the target board.

[0025] Brief Description of the Drawings

[0026] In the drawings:

[0027] - Fig. 1 shows a perspective view of a smart target;

[0028] - Fig. 2 is a side view of the smart target;

[0029] - Fig. 3 shows an acceleration graph during firing a projectile;

[0030] - Fig. 4 shows the duration of each frame and the modes of the electronic shutter;

[0031] - Fig. 5 shows the FOV of a line-camera covered by a column of sensors;

[0032] - Fig. 6 shows the camera's sensor matrix;

[0033] - Fig. 7 is a front view of the smart target; and

[0034] - Fig. 8 illustrates an example of the calculation steps of the hit point.

[0035] Detailed Description of the Invention

[0036] The optical shooting accuracy indication system of the present invention provides smart targets which allow efficient training of shooters, without requiring postponements between groups of shootings, in order to detect and mark hits for each shooter. Each smart target detects the accurate 2D location of each hit and transmits the locations (X0;Y0) to corresponding shooters that remain on their mutual shooting line. The shooting hits are displayed in real-time to each shooter on an electronic terminal device, such as his smartphone or on a tablet. Each smart target is implemented using electro-optical hardware that is realized in the form of a rigid construction and therefore, is adapted to all ranges and environmental conditions. This way, the training of shooters is performed very efficiently and drastically improves the shooting accuracy in a relatively short training time.

[0037] Generally, the location identification of each hit on a target is based on light reflection from an impinging projectile upon reaching the target. When the shooter fires a projectile from his firearm to the target, the firing recoil is exploited to generate and transmit an activation signal to the smart target (for example, a dedicated bracelet with an accelerometer, a processor and a transmitter that is worn on the shooter's firing hand), which is most of the time at a power saving standby mode. The smart target comprises a projector which emits light in a wavelength in the range of 800-1000 nm and two detection cameras.

[0038] When the fired projectile reaches the field of view of each camera, the emitted light strikes the projectile and the reflected light is detected by the sensors of each camera, which may be for example, a line-camera (a camera in which the sensors are arranged in a column of 1024x1 sensors, rather than a 2D matrix). Since in a line-camera each sensor in the column corresponds to a specific angle in the Field Of View (FOV) of the line-camera, there is a direct detection of the angle from the line-camera to the hitting point. The exact hitting point at the target is therefore detected, based on the location of a specific sensor (or a small group of neighboring sensors) which received the most intense reflected light. The coordinates of the hitting point are then transmitted wirelessly to a display device, which has dedicated software for displaying the hitting point on the target. The transmitted data can be processed to obtain insights regarding shooting patterns, shot grouping, hitting clusters, in order to meet the required shooting accuracy and to improve the quality of training.

[0039] Fig. 1 shows a perspective view of a smart target, according to an embodiment of the invention. The detection system of each smart target 10 is confined in an elongated case (housing) 11 which is installed at the top edge of the target board 12. The elongated case 11 may be made from a rigid material such as wood, plastic, cardboard, etc. The elongated case 11 comprises the following hardware components of the detection system:

[0040] - two cameras that are located at the edges of the elongated case 11;

[0041] - a LED projector at the center;

[0042] - a processor for processing the images received from the cameras and generating signals representing the location of the shooting hits;

[0043] - a wireless transceiver for transmitting the signals required for generating the image of the shooting hits to an electronic terminal device each shooter (which has a dedicated software application for displaying the generated image of the shooting hits;

[0044] - a battery (which may be a rechargeable battery) for powering the preceding hardware components. The target board 12 is held in an essentially vertical position, for example, by a stand 13. Alternatively, the target board 12 may be hanged.

[0045] When the shooter fires a projectile toward the target board 12, the dedicated bracelet detects the firing recoil and the transmitter inside the bracelet transmits an activation signal to the transceiver of the smart target, for activating the detection system. The minimal typical time until receiving the activation signal at the smart target is less than 1.3 mS.

[0046] Fig. 2 is a side view of the smart target 10, according to an embodiment of the invention. Upon receiving an activation signal from an activation unit (not shown), the LED projector 14 inside the elongated case 11 emits intense light in a wavelength of about 940 nm (for example) downwardly. The two cameras are also activated and start photographing the area 15 being illumined by the LED projector 14 before the target board 12, from the expected arrival direction of the fired projectile, in order to capture the reflected light from the projectile 16, upon entering area 15. The reflected light illuminates a specific sensor in the row of sensors in each line-camera, depending on the location of the projectile 16 in area 15. The location of the most illuminated sensor (or a group of adjacent sensors) in the column is then converted by the processor to a location relative to the absolute location of the target and the Field Of View (FOV) of each camera. The accurate strike (hit) point location (X0;Y0) on the target board 12 is then calculated by the processor, by calculating the interception point of the two hit line angles (paand Pb) for the two cameras.

[0047] The activation unit, which may be for example, bracelet that is worn on the shooter's firing hand, comprises an acceleration sensor, a processor and a transmitter, for detecting recoil upon firing a projectile by the shooter to the target board 12 and transmitting the activation signal to the smart target 10. The smart target is activated by the received activation signal for a predetermined period during which, the projector illuminates the fired projectile and the two cameras receive light originated from reflections of illumination by the fired projectile.

[0048] Triggering of the detection system by transmitting the activation signal allows reducing the power consumption, since the system remains in a standby mode most of the time, unless firing recoil is detected. This way, the electronic components are activated only for a short time after each projectile is fired, starting from the generation of the activation signal, until the detection process is completed. For example, a firing round for aligning the firearm sight includes 5 shots and last 5 minutes, during which a conventional system should operate. In contrast, by using the firing recoil as a trigger, the smart target 10 of the present invention reduces the activation period for the same firing round to only 5 seconds.

[0049] Fig. 3 shows an acceleration graph during the firing of a projectile. It can be seen that the highest peak 30 that corresponds to firing recoil is clearly distinct from other local peaks that correspond to random movements of the shooter's hand.

[0050] The lens of each of two cameras has a FOV of about 60-75°, for example, while each camera is adapted to operate at a frame rate of 120 fps (frames per second). The duration of each frame is about 8.3 mS. Each camera is configured such that its electronic shutter remains open for 7.5 mS and closed for 0.8 mS. This can be further improved by using an FPGA that rapidly scans the column of sensors, so during each reading cycle, the shutter is closed only for Ips. This time period is required to read the frame data before deletion and proceeding to the next frame, as shown in Fig. 4. Generally, the lens of the camera captures the area which is closer than 80 cm to the target board 12. Considering the fact that the velocity of the fastest projectile is at most 1000 m / S, such a projectile passes the 80 cm before the target board 12 within 0.8 mS. This way, no projectile can be missed by the system.

[0051] Fig. 5 shows the FOV of the camera and the coverage of this FOV by a column 50 of sensors. In this example, 1024 sensors in column 50 cover a FOV of 75°, so each sensor corresponds to an angle of 0.073°.

[0052] Fig. 6 shows the camera's sensor matrix (in this embodiment, a column of 1024x1 sensors), according to an embodiment of the invention. Both the FOV of the camera and the camera's sensor matrix are used to calculate the hit point of each projectile. Accordingly, each pixel in the sensors' matrix of each line-camera can be translated into a specific angle in the camera's FOV. By cross-checking the lines obtained from each line-camera, it is possible to obtain their intersection point and to calculate the hit point based on the intersection point (Xo;Yo).

[0053] Fig. 7 is a front view of the smart target 10, according to an embodiment of the invention. The LED projector 14 is located in the middle of elongated case 11 and the two cameras 17a and 17b are located at the edges, such that FOVa and FOVb cover the entire target area 18.

[0054] Fig. 8 illustrates an example of the calculation steps of the hit point, according to an embodiment of the invention. The hit line that is created by the projectile's light reflection on the camera sensor's column is analyzed and the hit line angle (pafor camera 17a and pbfor camera 17b) is calculated. Each camera is placed in a specific position and oriented so that its FOV (aafor camera 17a and abfor camera 17b) covers an area starting from the edge of the target. In this example, ab= FOVb = 75°. pbis the sought angle, such that pb= the angle from the edge of the target to the pixel on the hit line 21. W is the target size on X axis (50cm, 1200 pixels). The location (0;0) is at the bottom left corner of the target board 12. In this example, the hit location (cm) is: X=30 Y=30. X (in pixels) = 30*(1200 / 50) = 720. Therefore, Pb = otb / W-X = (75° / 1200) -720 = 45°. The hit location is calculated by repeating the above calculation for camera 17a to obtain pa. Since the location of each camera ( [Xa;Ya] and [Xb;Yb]) is known, as well as the slope of each line (maand mb) that defines the anglesaand b, it is possible to calculate the functions yl and y2 that represent line 21 and line 22, respectively, as follows:

[0055] Line 21: y = ma(x- Xa) + Ya

[0056] Line 22: y = rrib(x- Xb) + Yb

[0057] Once the two lines 21 and 22 are obtained, it is possible to calculate the intersection point between them and get the location (Xo;Yo) 19 of the hitting point:

[0058] At the hitting point (the interception point between lines 21 and 22) the y values are the same. Therefore: ma(X0- Xa) + Ya= mb(X0- Xb) + Yb(ma- mb)X0= maXa- mbXb+ Yb-Ya

[0059] Xo= (maXa-mbXb+ Yb-Ya) / (ma- mb)

[0060] Yo= mb(X0- Xb) + Yb

[0061] While some embodiments of the invention have been described by way of illustration, it will be apparent that the invention can be carried out with many modifications, variations and adaptations, and with the use of numerous equivalents or alternative solutions that are within the scope of persons skilled in the art, without exceeding the scope of the claims.

Claims

CLAIMS1. An optical shooting accuracy indication system, comprising: a) a smart target comprising: a.l) a target board; a.2) a projector located at an edge of said target board, for illuminating the area before said target board; a.3) a first camera located at one end of said edge, and having a first FOV that covers said target area; a.4) a second camera located at the other end said edge, and having a second FOV that covers said target area; a.5) a processor and associate memory for processing data received from said first and second cameras and calculating the location of the hit point of a projectile shot by a shooter, to be transmitted to a display device; a.6) a transceiver for receiving an activation signal and transmitting the processed data; b) a display device for displaying visual indications to said shooter regarding his firing accuracy; c) an activation unit comprising an acceleration sensor, a processor and a transmitter, for detecting recoil upon firing a projectile by said shooter to said target board and transmitting said activation signal to said smart target, wherein said smart target is activated by said activation signal for a predetermined period during which, said projector illuminates said fired projectile and said cameras receive light originated from reflections of said illumination by said fired projectile, wherein said processor is adapted to calculate said hit point by calculating the interception point of hit line angles for said first and second cameras.

2. An indication system according to claim 1, in which the display device is an electronic terminal device of the shooter.

3. An indication system according to claim 2, in which the display device is a smartphone or on a tablet.

4. An indication system according to claim 1, in which the location identification of each hit on a target is calculated based on light reflection from an impinging projectile upon reaching said target.

5. An indication system according to claim 1, in which the activation unit is implemented as a bracelet that is worn on the shooter's firing hand.

6. An indication system according to claim 1, in which the projector emits light in a wavelength in the range of 800-1000 nm.

7. An indication system according to claim 1, in which the emitted light strikes the projectile and the reflected light is detected by one or more sensors of each camera.

8. An indication system according to claim 1, in which the exact hitting point at the target is calculated, based on the most illuminated sensor of each camera.

9. An indication system according to claim 1, in which the coordinates of the hitting point are then transmitted wirelessly to the display device, which has dedicated software for displaying the hitting point on the target.

10. An indication system according to claim 1, in which the display device further comprises a processor for processing the transmitted data to obtain insights regarding shooting patterns, shot grouping and hitting clusters.

11. An indication system according to claim 1, in which the detection hardware of each smart target is confined in an elongated housing, which is installed at the top edge or at another edge of the target board and comprises:- two cameras that are located at the edges of the elongated case;- a LED projector at the center of said edge;- a processor for processing the images received from the cameras and generating signals representing an image of the shooting hits;- a wireless transceiver for transmitting the signals required for generating the image of the shooting hits to an electronic terminal device each shooter;- a battery for powering said hardware components.

12. An indication system according to claim 1, in which the target board is held in an essentially vertical position.

13. An indication system according to claim 1, in which the minimal time until receiving the activation signal at the smart target is less than 1.3 mS.

14. An indication system according to claim 1, in which the projector emits intense light in a wavelength of about 940 nm.

15. An indication system according to claim 1, in which the cameras are activated to photograph the area being lit by the projector, to capture reflected light from a projectile upon entering their FOV.

16. An indication system according to claim 1, in which the reflected light illuminates a specific sensor in a row or column of sensors in each camera, said specific sensor being converted by the processor to a location relative to the absolute location of the target and the Field Of View (FOV) of each camera.

17. An indication system according to claim 16, in which the hit point location (X0;Y0) on the target board is calculated by calculating the interception point of the two hit line angles (paand pb) for the two cameras.

18. An indication system according to claim 1, in which both the FOV of the camera and the camera's sensor matrix are used to calculate the hit point of each projectile.

19. An indication system according to claim 1, in which: the projector is located at the upper center of said target board; the first camera is located at the upper-left corner of said target board; the second camera is located at the upper-left corner of said target board.

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