TrackingPoint is an applied technology company based in

Austin, Texas Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the county seat, seat and largest city of Travis County, Texas, Travis County, with portions extending into Hays County, Texas, Hays and Williamson County, Texas, Williamson co ...

. In 2011, it created a long-range

rifle A rifle is a long-barreled firearm designed for accurate shooting, with a barrel that has a helical pattern of grooves ( rifling) cut into the bore wall. In keeping with their focus on accuracy, rifles are typically designed to be held with ...

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 The .338 Lapua Magnum (8.6×70 mm or 8.58×70 mm) is a rimless, bottlenecked, centerfire rifle cartridge. It was developed during the 1980s as a high-powered, long-range cartridge for military snipers. It was used in the War in Afghanistan and ...

and

.300 Winchester Magnum The .300 Winchester Magnum (also known as .300 Win Mag or .300 WM) (7.62×67mmB, 7.62x66BR) is a belted, bottlenecked magnum rifle cartridge that was introduced by the Winchester Repeating Arms Company in 1963. The .300 Winchester Magnum is a m ...

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 land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cl ...

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 The M2010 Enhanced Sniper Rifle (ESR), formerly known as the XM2010 and M24 Reconfigured Sniper Weapon System, is a sniper rifle developed by PEO Soldier for the United States Army. It is derived from and replaced the M24 Sniper Weapon System, an ...

for military testing. In 2018 TrackingPoint introduced the ShadowTrak 6 bolt-action rifle with 6.5mm 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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VentureBeat ''VentureBeat'' is an American technology website headquartered in San Francisco, California. It publishes news, analysis, long-form features, interviews, and videos. History The ''VentureBeat'' company was founded in 2006 by Matt Marshall, a ...

''. 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" is an acronym for "light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation". The fir ...

reference. *Guided Trigger: The rifle's

trigger Trigger may refer to: Notable animals and people ;Mononym * Trigger (horse), owned by cowboy star Roy Rogers ;Nickname * Trigger Alpert (1916–2013), American jazz bassist * "Trigger Mike" Coppola (1900–1966), American gangster ;Surname * Bru ...

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 is a set of computer programs and associated documentation and data. This is in contrast to hardware, from which the system is built and which actually performs the work. At the lowest programming level, executable code consists ...

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

wind Wind is the natural movement of air or other gases relative to a planet's surface. Winds occur on a range of scales, from thunderstorm flows lasting tens of minutes, to local breezes generated by heating of land surfaces and lasting a few hou ...

, reticle, video storage gauge, zoom, and

battery Battery 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 *Automotive battery, a device to provide power t ...

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 local area networking of devices and Internet access, allowing nearby digital devices to exchange data by radio wave ...

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 portable computer device that combines mobile telephone and computing functions into one unit. They are distinguished from feature phones by their stronger hardware capabilities and extensive mobile operating systems, whic ...

tablet Tablet may refer to: Medicine * Tablet (pharmacy), a mixture of pharmacological substances pressed into a small cake or bar, colloquially called a "pill" Computing * Tablet computer, a mobile computer that is primarily operated by touching the s ...

from the scope and transmitted via

email Electronic mail (email or e-mail) is a method of exchanging messages ("mail") between people using electronic devices. Email was thus conceived as the electronic ( digital) version of, or counterpart to, mail, at a time when "mail" meant ...

social media Social media are interactive media technologies that facilitate the creation and sharing of information, ideas, interests, and other forms of expression through virtual communities and networks. While challenges to the definition of ''social medi ...

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

Popular Science ''Popular Science'' (also known as ''PopSci'') is an American digital magazine carrying popular science content, which refers to articles for the general reader on science and technology subjects. ''Popular Science'' has won over 58 awards, incl ...

''. Retrieved Jan. 20, 2013. In 2017 computer security experts

Runa Sandvik Runa Sandvik is a computer security expert, known as a proponent of strong encryption. She worked as ''The New York Times'' senior director of information security between March 2016 and October 2019. As of 2021, she is a senior advisor for the N ...

and Michael Auger demonstrated that naive software design left the rifle's aiming computer wide open to remote hacking, when its WiFi capability was turned on. Malicious third parties could disrupt the rifle's accuracy by altering parameters like bullet weight. They showed they could change the bullet weight from to , which would be counted on to make the rifle inaccurate. A skilled hacker would be able to 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 t ...

, after which they could totally

brick A brick is a type of block used to build walls, pavements and other elements in masonry construction. Properly, the term ''brick'' denotes a block composed of dried clay, but is now also used informally to denote other chemically cured cons ...

the computer, in various ways, like erasing all the computer's software.

References

External links

TrackingPoint
website. * * {{cite document, url=http://www.arl.army.mil/arlreports/1999/ARL-TR-2065.pdf, 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 U.S. Army's foundational research laboratory. ARL is headquartered at the Adelphi Laboratory Center (ALC) in Adelphi, Maryland. Its largest singl ...

Companies based in Austin, Texas Software companies based in Texas Companies established in 2011 Firearm manufacturers of the United States Software companies of the United States