Shooter localization in wireless acoustic sensor networks

Abstract

This paper introduces a feasibility study of a low cost and power effective wireless acoustic sensor network for shooter localization. Currently deployed sensors for this application use a time domain gunshot signal analysis and high sampling rates, in the order of MS/s. We investigate an alternative Short Time Fourier Transform with a lower sampling rate (250 kS/s). We focus on a single channel single sensor approach for shooter ranging and we provide new experimental data. We implement a centralized gateway on top of the open and programmable board named ZedBoard. Our approach localizes the shooter with a distance error that ranges between roughly half and three meters, so the results are encouraging for further studies.