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Acoustic gunshot sensors help speed treatment of shooting victims
Acoustic gunshot sensors have been pinpointing shooting scenes and victims for years. The tech can be found in around 90 US cities in total. Meanwhile, the American military has been using it to track down the source of gunshots on the battlefield since 2011. But, the effectiveness of the sensors in saving the lives of ordinary citizens has never been quantified. That's all changing, courtesy of a new study by surgeons at the University of California, San Francisco-East Bay. The key finding from the analysis of shooting victims (identified through the sensors) is that the tech is potentially beneficial for those who have suffered serious injuries.
A sponge-filled syringe could save you from bleeding out
RevMedx's sponge-filled syringe, the XSTAT 30, was approved for military use in treating gunshot wounds last year. Now, the FDA says paramedics and other first responders can use the device to treat civilian injuries as well. The syringe is filled with tiny sponges that are designed to control severe bleeding from wounds in places a tourniquet can't be used. Each syringe contains 92 compressed sponges that expand to fill the wound to block blood flow for up to four hours.
US Army to deploy Individual Gunshot Detector, essentially a radar for bullets
Latest in our series of "when video games turn real," here's the US Army's newest addition to the wargadget arsenal. The Individual Gunshot Detector, produced by QinetiQ, is an acoustic monitor attuned to tracking down the source of gunshots just by their sound. It has four sensors to pick up the noise of incoming fire, and its analysis of those sound waves produces a readout on a small display that lets the soldier know where the deadly projectiles originated from. The entire system weighs just under two pounds, and while it may not be much help in an actual firefight -- there's no way to distinguish between friendly and hostile fire -- we imagine it'll be a pretty handy tool to have if assaulted by well hidden enemies. 13,000 IGD units are being shipped out to Afghanistan later this month, with a view to deploying 1,500 each month going forward and an ultimate ambition of networking their data so that when one soldier's detector picks up a gunfire source, his nearby colleagues can be informed as well.
