Scientist Develop Self Correcting Sniper Rifle

A team of scientists from the Oak Ridge National Laboratory developed a process which makes use of fiber-optic laser-based sensor that automatically corrects minute barrel disruptions & allows snipers to score bull's-eye more basically.

The new process was developed by a team led by Oak Ridge National Laboratory's Slobodan Rajic, in order to measure the deflection of the barrel relative to the gun sight & then electronically perform electronic corrections.

The Reticle Compensating Rifle Barrel Reference Sensor automatically calculates the position between the barrel & the weapon sight axes from the shooter to an electronic sensor. The process exactly measures the deflection of the barrel relative to the sight & then electronically realigns the moving reticle, or crosshairs, with the true position of the barrel, or bore axis.

Modern sniper rifles can reach a range of about miles. In this range even the tiniest barrel disruptions may cause the sniper to miss its target. This fact makes the new expertise valuable.

A typical barrel of a high-power rifle has exterior grooves made to reduce weight & permit the barrel to icy faster. The new expertise makes use of optical fibers which are placed inside the grooves produced by the barrel manufacturer or retrofitted later on. The process contains a laser diode that sends a signal beam in to the optical fibers parallel to the bore axis of the barrel.

Accroding to Slobodan Rajic : "The optical fibers are designed to split the laser beam two times, sending beam along the top of the rifle barrel & another light beam along the side of the barrel. Thus, they can measure both the vertical & horizontal barrel deflection."
Using a mix of optics, algorithms & even more sensor input, the process can take in to account distance & other factors affecting the bullet trajectory. Ultimately the sniper gets crosshairs that automatically adjust for changing conditions in actual time.

The resolution of ORNL's process is said to be 250 times better than that of traditional sniper rifle equipment, which can normally be by hand adjusted by one-fourth minutes of angle whereas the ORNL sensor can sense angular displacement by 1/1,000th of a minute of angle.

Rajic & his team are also developing a laser-based bullet tracking process to give snipers even better chances of succeeding by providing specific information about the bullet flight path.