Good Thinking

Wireless Yardarm Sensor monitors firearm use in real time

Wireless Yardarm Sensor monitors firearm use in real time
The Yardarm Sensor fits into the grip of a firearm to monitor use in real time
The Yardarm Sensor fits into the grip of a firearm to monitor use in real time
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The Yardarm Sensor sends alerts when the firearm is drawn
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The Yardarm Sensor sends alerts when the firearm is drawn
The Yardarm Sensor is aimed at law enforcement, security services, and the military
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The Yardarm Sensor is aimed at law enforcement, security services, and the military
The Yardarm Sensor uses a Bluetooth link to send alerts
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The Yardarm Sensor uses a Bluetooth link to send alerts
The Yardarm Sensor is inductively charged
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The Yardarm Sensor is inductively charged
The Yardarm Sensor is designed to enhance police officer safety and improve public confidence
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The Yardarm Sensor is designed to enhance police officer safety and improve public confidence
Diagram of the Yardarm system
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Diagram of the Yardarm system
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The Yardarm Sensor fits into the grip of a firearm to monitor use in real time
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The Yardarm Sensor fits into the grip of a firearm to monitor use in real time
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Anytime a police officer draws their weapon, it's likely to be a tense, confusing situation where split second decisions can be the difference between life and death. In an attempt to reduce some of the confusion, Yardarm has developed a wireless sensor that allows firearms to be tracked and monitored in real time thanks to a small electronics package that fits into the weapon's grip.

Developed by Capitola, California-based Yardarm Technologies, the Yardarm Sensor is billed as the "world’s first wireless sensor for firearms,” and is designed not just for the law enforcement market, but also private security firms and the military. The company says the device’s purpose is to not only improve the safety of officers on duty, but also build public confidence that weapons are being used responsibly.

The induction-charged sensor sits in the bulge in the weapon’s handgrip behind the magazine. The streamlined unit contains a programmable microcontroller, a magnetometer, accelerometer, and gyroscope. These feed into a Bluetooth transmitter that pairs the device with the user's smartphone, which is turn connects to the device to the Yardarm Cloud where it is encrypted before being sent on to the user's superior or the organization's command center.

Diagram of the Yardarm system
Diagram of the Yardarm system

According to Yardarm, the Sensor integrates with existing systems and connects to computer aided dispatch (CAD) centers, real-time crime centers (RTCC), smartphones, tablets, or laptops.

The purpose of the Yardarm Sensor is to send real-time alerts whenever an incident involving an officer’s firearm occurs; even if the officer is incapacitated. The device lets the command center know when the firearm leaves its holster, where it is, when it is fired, and when the firearm leaves the officer's person. It can even record the direction of the weapon’s fire and provide evidence for crime scene investigations.

The Yardarm Sensor is actually an evolution – or devolution – of the company's Yardarm Safety First system unveiled in prototype form at the 2013 CTIA Conference in Las Vegas in May of last year. This technology allowed gun owners to remotely engage or disengage the trigger safety on their firearms from anywhere in the world. Like the Yardarm sensor, it also provided the current location of the weapon and sent an alert if it was handled or moved.

However, with "smart gun" technology falling foul of the National Rifle Association (NRA), which argued that they could infringe second amendment rights and eventually lead to a government ban of all guns that didn't posses smart gun technology, Yardarm was forced to rethink its strategy. This is why the company is targeting the law enforcement, private security and military markets rather than private gun owners.

The company says its Yardarm Sensor will complete field testing this year and will undergo final market trials early next year, with the first deliveries to follow shortly after. The price of the system has not yet been released.

The video below introduces the Yardarm Sensor system.

Source: Yardarm

Yardarm Technologies

View gallery - 9 images
8 comments
8 comments
SpotandJerome
I sure hope this technology isn't going to interfere with my right to have superior firepower, regardless of my education, upbringing, and mental state. It's my right!
Well, we're stupid enough to believe it is, anyway.
Threesixty
This serves no purpose other than remote gun control.
Those who really need a gun for a good purpose will find this development disturbing.
windykites
I don't think the British Police Force will be very keen to use this. It might incriminate certain officers. I suspect they would say it wasn't turned on at the time. Rather like the surveillance cameras that don't happen to be working at crucial times (mainly involved in terrorist incidents). Strange how often that happens. The London Tube bombings spring to mind. A few dubious images have been released, which appear to have altered date stamps. I have digressed.
Cyndysub
This is a great idea and ALL Police Officers should be required to have this as well as video cameras in order to help eliminate unwarranted shootings by police.
Mark Keller
Very interesting.
moreover
It would be doable to install voice recorders in hand guns, activated along with the safety. No more "shoot first, ask questions later".
With lethal gun power should come responsibility and accountability.
Until the 1970s the NRA actively supported restrictive gun control laws, even drafting and promoting state laws curtailing the concealed carry of firearms. Those days of sanity are long over...
Playability
Wire up the police and the criminal with this technology and it's a bit like Microsoft Kinect but with realism at a WHOLE NEW LEVEL. Phillip K Dick could have had a ball with this!
nutcase
a glorified aprs for firearms. Put aprs in your gun in case it gets stolen! electronic tracking should be mandatory for all firearms and needs to be integrated with the chamber.