TrackingPoint is an applied technology company based in

Austin, Texas Austin ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Texas. It is the county seat and most populous city of Travis County, Texas, Travis County, with portions extending into Hays County, Texas, Hays and W ...

. In 2011, it created a long-range

rifle A rifle is a long gun, long-barreled firearm designed for accurate shooting and higher stopping power, with a gun barrel, barrel that has a helical or spiralling pattern of grooves (rifling) cut into the bore wall. In keeping with their focus o ...

system that was the first precision guided firearm. Formed by John McHale in February 2011, the company created its first PGF prototype in March 2011. The company offered its first product in January 2013 and a second, the AR Series semi-automatic smart rifle, in January 2014. Variants of the company's bolt-action rifles use .338 Lapua Magnum and .300 Winchester Magnum ammunition. Semi-automatic variants are available in 7.62 NATO, 5.56 NATO and .300 BLK. In September 2016, the company began selling the M1400, a squad-level .338 Lapua bolt-action rifle that can hit targets out to . It can also acquire and hit targets traveling at within 2.5 seconds. The rifle is long with a barrel, weighing . It can be used with the company's ShotGlass wearable glasses that transmits what the scope is seeing to the shooter's eye. In January 2014, the

U.S. Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of the United Stat ...

purchased six TrackingPoint fire control systems to begin exploring purported key target acquisition and aiming technologies. The Army has integrated the system onto the XM2010 Enhanced Sniper Rifle for military testing. In 2018, TrackingPoint introduced the ShadowTrak 6 bolt-action rifle with 6.5 mm Creedmoor cartridge that can hit targets out to , and can hit targets traveling at in 1 second. Weighing , it can fire Hornady ammunition; the 147gr ELD-M (a match type bullet) or the 143gr ELD-X (designed for hunting). In November 2018, Talon Precision Optics, of Jacksonville, Florida, bought TrackingPoint.

Technology

Precision Guided Firearm Heads Up Display

TrackingPoint's precision guided firearms system uses several component technologies: *Networked Tracking Scope: The core engine that tracks the target, calculates range and the ballistic solution, and works in concert with the shooter and guided trigger to release the shot.Takahashi, Dean (Jan. 13, 2013)
“TrackingPoint’s Wi-Fi Networked Sniper Scope Can Lock on Targets From Afar and Stream Gun Sight Video.”
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''. Retrieved Jan. 20, 2013. *Barrel Reference System: A fixed reference point that enables the networked tracking scope to make adjustments and retain zero over time. The barrel reference system is factory calibrated to a

laser A laser is a device that emits light through a process of optical amplification based on the stimulated emission of electromagnetic radiation. The word ''laser'' originated as an acronym for light amplification by stimulated emission of radi ...

reference. *Guided to Trigger: The rifle's

trigger Trigger may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Fictional entities * Trigger (''Only Fools and Horses''), in the TV sitcom * Trigger Argee, in science fiction short stories by James H. Schmitz * Devil Trigger, a transformation ability of ...

is hard-wired to the networked tracking scope. The networked tracking scope controls the trigger weight to eliminate trigger squeeze and shot timing errors. *Field Software Upgradeable:

Software Software consists of computer programs that instruct the Execution (computing), execution of a computer. Software also includes design documents and specifications. The history of software is closely tied to the development of digital comput ...

can be uploaded to the scope to add capability. * Heads Up Display (HUD): The HUD indicates range,

wind Wind is the natural movement of atmosphere of Earth, air or other gases relative to a planetary surface, planet's surface. Winds occur on a range of scales, from thunderstorm flows lasting tens of minutes, to local breezes generated by heatin ...

, reticle, video storage gauge, zoom, and

battery Battery or batterie most often refers to: * Electric battery, a device that provides electrical power * Battery (crime), a crime involving unlawful physical contact Battery may also refer to: Energy source * Battery indicator, a device whic ...

life, plus LRF icon,

Wi-Fi Wi-Fi () is a family of wireless network protocols based on the IEEE 802.11 family of standards, which are commonly used for Wireless LAN, local area networking of devices and Internet access, allowing nearby digital devices to exchange data by ...

on/off icon, compass icon, cant wheel, inclination wheels and off-screen indicators. *Recording: An integrated camera captures video and still images from the networked tracking scope and heads up display. Recorded images can be downloaded to a

smartphone A smartphone is a mobile phone with advanced computing capabilities. It typically has a touchscreen interface, allowing users to access a wide range of applications and services, such as web browsing, email, and social media, as well as multi ...

or tablet from the scope and transmitted via

email Electronic mail (usually shortened to email; alternatively hyphenated e-mail) is a method of transmitting and receiving Digital media, digital messages using electronics, electronic devices over a computer network. It was conceived in the ...

social media Social media are interactive technologies that facilitate the Content creation, creation, information exchange, sharing and news aggregator, aggregation of Content (media), content (such as ideas, interests, and other forms of expression) amongs ...

.Dillow, Clay (Jan. 10, 2013)
“The 'Intelligent' Rifle, Now With iPad App, Wi-Fi, Infallible Accuracy.”
''

Popular Science Popular science (also called pop-science or popsci) is an interpretation of science intended for a general audience. While science journalism focuses on recent scientific developments, popular science is more broad ranging. It may be written ...

''. Retrieved Jan. 20, 2013.

Vulnerabilities

In 2017, computer security experts Runa Sandvik and Michael Auger demonstrated that naive software design left the rifle's aiming computer open to remote hacking when its Wi-Fi capability was turned on. They showed that third parties could alter operating parameters; for example, making the computer think the bullet weighed from to , which would make the rifle fire inaccurately. A skilled hacker could acquire

root access In computing, the superuser is a special user account used for system administration. Depending on the operating system (OS), the actual name of this account might be root, administrator, admin or supervisor. In some cases, the actual name of the ...

and

brick A brick is a type of construction material used to build walls, pavements and other elements in masonry construction. Properly, the term ''brick'' denotes a unit primarily composed of clay. But is now also used informally to denote building un ...

the computer.

References

External links

TrackingPoint
website. * * {{cite web, url=https://discover.dtic.mil/results/?q=ARL-TR-2065, title=Sniper Weapon Fire Control Error Budget Analysis, author1=Raymond Von Wahlde, author2=Dennis Metz, date=August 1999, publication-date=September 9, 1999, publisher=

United States Army Research Laboratory The U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command Army Research Laboratory (DEVCOM ARL) is the foundational research laboratory for the United States Army under the United States Army Futures Command (AFC). DEVCOM ARL conducts intramural an ...

Companies based in Austin, Texas Software companies based in Texas Electronics companies established in 2011 Optics manufacturing companies Electronics companies of the United States 2011 establishments in Texas American companies established in 2011