Wearable inertial sensors to recognize wrist movements and other signals corresponding to firearm usage 

Individuals serving their sentences in the community are responsible for nearly half of gun violence incidents in the US. Released offenders are often required to wear GPS monitoring devices, but there is currently no way to track if these individuals are using firearms in violation of their terms of release.

Dr. Charles Loeffler at the University of Pennsylvania has developed a wearable gunshot detection system which could detect when individuals fire a weapon. This new system extends the functionality of wearable monitoring devices by using accelerometers to identify the distinct accelerations and movements associated with firing a gun. When combined with existing GPS monitoring systems, an individual could be linked to a crime scene and identified as a shooter.

A prototype device was tested by police officers firing guns at a firing range, the general public going about everyday activities, and construction workers involved in work that could produce shocks or accelerations (sledgehammering, jackhammering, etc.). In these trials, the device was able to discern gunshots correctly 99.7% of the time and not identify other events as false positives.  

• Provides evidence that a monitored individual has fired a weapon in connection with a crime or in violation of his or her terms of release.
• Engineered to detect the unique signature of a gunshot and not be set off accidentally by everyday activities, or even high-impact activities such as heavy construction work
• Could be linked with existing GPS monitoring to provide evidence that the person was at a given location and fired a weapon