Snipers Cannot Hide From Laser Sensor

By Grace Jean

Until recently, the only way to detect snipers was after a shot had been fired.

A new laser sensor can detect shooters before they pull the trigger, and can provide information on the shooter’s location.

The Mirage, a hand-held binocular device provided by the San Diego-based company Torrey Pines Logic Inc., sends out a defocused, eye-safe laser up to 1.2 kilometers. The laser bounces off all objects in view, but when it hits the layered optics of a gun scope or other similar devices, it sends back an image in real-time that highlights the exact location of the shooter or observer.

“If you pick up an optic, it literally blooms in this view. It looks like a light shining back at you, even though it’s not a light. It’s really the reflection of the diffused laser,” says Mike Konrad, co-owner of 4ISR LLC, a business partner of Torrey Pines.

Technology embedded in the Mirage provides discrimination of eyeglasses, windows and other everyday objects from possible targets of interest, says David Copenhaver, 4ISR co-owner.

A sniper hidden a mile away is picked up easily, he says.

The technology was developed in response to a need for detecting snipers targeting U.S. troops in Iraq.

“Sometimes a camera can be worse than a gun scope,” says Konrad. For example, when insurgents place roadside bombs, they must watch or record the subsequent explosion so they can take credit for it.

“If we can find where those optics are, we know in general what area these IEDs might be,” says Konrad.

Mirage can measure the distance between the operator and the detected optic and will display the parameters in the viewfinder.

“That’s important, because how I’m going to handle that may be determined by the distance,” says Copenhaver.

With its capabilities to “see” through smoked glass, the device can transfer easily to the homeland security arena where it could be employed for dignitary protection, says 4ISR co-owner David Williams.

The company is preparing to release the technology in a vehicle-mounted configuration to allow 360-degree detection.