Product category:
Design and Development Consultancy
News Release from: Advanced Design Consulting
Edited by the Engineeringtalk Editorial
Team on 02 March 2006
Odometer measure weapons fire
Electronic odometer for M4 and M16 automatic weapons keeps accurate maintenance records to reduce the possibility of backfires and jams in the heat of battle.
Advanced Design Consulting (ADC), of Lansing, New York, USA, has been awarded a contract by the Special Operations Forces to begin small-scale production of a device - the Shot Counter - that keeps soldiers safe It is an electronic odometer for the military's M4 and M16 automatic weapons
This article was originally published on Engineeringtalk on 23 May 2003 at 8.00am (UK)
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Whether working in desert, arctic, beach or urban conditions, Special Operations soldiers subject their weapons to high usage and stress levels.
Keeping accurate weapon maintenance records reduces the possibility of backfires and jams in the heat of battle.
The Shot Counter keeps track of the bullets the weapon has fired and this turns arms maintenance from an art to a science.
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Previously, the military serviced these weapons according to a timetable.
Instead the Shot Counter servicing is based on usage and it can be used on any type of firearm.
By May, ADC expects to deliver 160 shot counters to the military.
"This contract is clearly good news and confirms ADC is on the right track," said Alex Deyhim, President of ADC.
"This product is now ready to take off for large production and we are going to develop the manufacturing process".
Moving the Shot Counter from the laboratory workbench to the small-scale manufacturing process has created important jobs for skilled workers in the Ithaca area.
It has provided employment to engineers, machinists and those skilled at assembly and product testing.
Once the product goes to full production, more jobs will be created, said Deyhim.
The Shot Counter measures bullet expenditure by examining shock, vibration and barrel temperature.
It then calculates the number of shots the weapon fires, along with the firing cadence, and transmits that data to a hand-held device or a PC.
The information shows precisely how often the weapon has been fired and it describes firing conditions.
Aboard the tiny Shot Counter, storing important data is easy.
Instead of using multiple memory chips, which would increase the Shot Counter's bulk, ADC uses one microcontroller and stores important data in two histograms.
This reduces size and cost to the military, and it enables the Shot Counter to record hundreds of thousands of events on its memory.
Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, who serves on the Senate Armed Services Committee, congratulated ADC on its contract.
"ADC's contract is yet another important example of a central New York company playing a critical role in national security," Clinton said.
"In my role as New York's first senator to serve on the Senate Armed Services Committee, I will continue to work on behalf of New York companies who are supporting our national security".
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