Experts Can Now Analyze Smartphone Videos To Pinpoint The Location Of A Shooter

Complex microphones’ arrays can be handy in finding the source of gunfire by analyzing its sounds. However, recently, another method was uncovered by experts at Carnegie Mellon University. What they can use now is videos taken by smartphones.

VERA system (short for Video Event Reconstruction and Analysis) makes use of machine learning to gather and analyze videos taken around the time the shooting takes place. In theory, the more videos collected, the more accurate the estimation will be. When the synchronization is done, the system will determine the position where each of the videos is taken.

The next step is to studying the audios, with a special focus on the sound of the blast from the muzzle of the weapon and the shock wave’s crack made by the bullet when it flies. With the information collected from the audio, the location of the shooter can be pinpointed accurately.

In a test, VERA was fed with videos from the mass shooting in Las Vegas in 2017. The system then pinpointed the location of the shooter as the Mandala Bay hotel’s north wing. There was a margin of error, but the hotel was still the possible location.

This new tech is no substitute for the microphone array method as it can only reach a conclusion after the event has happened. So its most probable application is for forensic analysis.

Apart from locating shooters, VERA can be used to find the origin of some other sounds. A practical application, for now, is to use the system in places like Hong Kong to determine the people behind shootings, whether that was the protestors or local police.