Danish pentathletes’ new shooting system – Intelligent Infrared technology

Det nye skydesystemDanish pentathletes already now change to electronic shooting, to a similar system as the one tested at the Youth Olympic Games last weekend in Singapore. The image here shows the system that Denmark has purchased from the Finnish manufacturer Eko Aims.

Eko Aims has 20 years experience with equipment and weapons for Biathlon shooting and who provides a similar system, based on exactly the same technology for use during the Paralympic Winter Games, last time less than 6 months ago in Vancouver, Canada.

The acquired system is thus thoroughly tested and performance demonstrated under the most extreme conditions, and we have not been able to identify any significant technical shortcomings. Compared to the laser system tested in Singapore the Finnish system is based in infrared (IR) technology.

In addition to the shown pistol, which is built as a standard airpistol, also fulfilling the measure and weight requirements for standard pistols, a target unit corresponding to the center spot of the standard target and a mini-display are delivered as one system, together with each pistol.

The system is as said based on IR technology, which eliminates any potential problem relating to safe of use of the light source (an aspect that has to be clearly certified and carefully controlled when a laser is used) as an IR LED cannot be made emitting more light power than it is designed to, regardles of how much electrical power is given to it. Above a certain level it will simply ‘burn’ of and stop working.

The small display offers a number of advantages in addition of the evident task of indicating if it has been hit: Not only does it inform of whether the black spot has been hit or not, which according to the current rules is the main information needed in a pentathlon competition – it also gives high resolution accurate placement of the shot, corresponding to an entire standard target of 25 x 25 cm. Further it indicates the statistics of the shooting session, such that a count of each shot and a ‘running total’ is provided, and the display unit can even be set to ‘talk’ to the shooter. Immediately after each shot a voice announces the value of the shot (any language can be programmed in), even giving the value with one digit after the comma, in this manner “you hit, 9.2” or ÿou missed, 7.3”. Finally, because the shot placement is registered as on a standard target, this system can immediately be used for standard precision shooting and training of same.

The pistols purchased are of the so-called ’entry level’ – a more economical version than the version to be used internationally. For that purpose any of the high-level standard pistols is equipped with what is called a Barrel Replacement Unit or BRU, that contains the needed camera/light unit. That version is indicated in the earlier communication on this site. The full version even allows the shooter in the cocking action to choose to load the air barrel or not, such that upon triggering, air is released as if a pellet were driven trough the barrel. This gives basically a 100 % identical shooting experience compared to standard air pistol shooting.

Another very handy arrangement is, that the built-in software (SW) allows shooting on distances between 5 and 15 meters (standard distance is 10 meters) which eliminates the requirement to always stand at a distance of exactly 10 meters from the target. When using a different distance the SW adjusts the ‘size’ of the target so to speak, with the effect that the difficulty is maintained as if you were shooting on a distance of 10 meters.

All entities communicate with Bluetooth or LAN cable and a coding is established between pistol, target and display before each shooting session, so that no cross firing is possible. But the pistol always comunicates wirelessly.

The background in the image illustrates the directly accessible media connection with this system, that makes it possible to present all details of the shooting on any display of choice. As indicated, travelling of the pistol – the hand and arm movements basically – can be displayed as well, also with the possibility of using colour coding.

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