Tracking Weapon Health and Maintenance

Abstract

A system for tracking weapon health includes a low frequency networked radio tag coupled with a firearm, said radio tag configured to receive and send data signals; a reader configured to be in operative communication with the tag antenna; and a display configured to display data relating to weapon health. The radio tag includes a shot sensor, a shot count register for tracking the number of shots fired and cadence registers for tracking the intervals between shots.

1 . A system for tracking weapon health, the system comprising:
 a low frequency networked radio tag coupled with the firearm, said radio tag configured to receive and send data signals, the radio tag comprising:
 a modem, 
 a tag antenna operable at a low radio frequency not exceeding  300  kilohertz, 
 a transceiver operatively connected to the tag antenna, said transceiver configured to transmit and receive data signals at the low radio frequency, 
 a data storage device configured to store data comprising identification data for identifying the firearm and shot count data, 
 a processor configured to process data received from the transceiver and the data storage device and to transmit data to cause said transceiver to emit an identification signal based upon the identification data stored in said data storage device, 
 a shot count register operatively coupled with the processor for tracking a number of shots fired, wherein the shot count register is incremented each time a shot is fired, 
 a plurality of cadence registers operatively coupled with the processor for tracking an interval between shots, 
 a shot sensor for detecting when a shot has been fired from the firearm, 
 a timing mechanism for recording time used to determine shot cadence, and a connector for a power source to power the processor and the transceiver; 
   a reader configured to be in operative communication with the tag antenna; and   a display configured to display data relating to weapon health.   
     
     
         2 . A system according to  claim 1 , wherein data is displayed graphically. 
     
     
         3 . A system according to  claim 1 , wherein data is displayed as a histogram. 
     
     
         4 . A system according to  claim 1 , wherein data relating to weapon health includes shot count and interval history. 
     
     
         5 . A system according to  claim 1 , wherein each shot fired is assigned a wear value based on the number of the shot. 
     
     
         6 . A system according to  claim 1 , wherein each shot fired is assigned a wear value based on the cadence of the shot. 
     
     
         7 . A system according to  claim 1 , further comprising a weapon health calculator configured to calculate weapon health based on usage of the firearm. 
     
     
         8 . A system according to  claim 7 , wherein the weapon health calculator calculates barrel temperature. 
     
     
         9 . A system according to  claim 8 , wherein the heat differential of each shot fired is a temperature gain, and the temperature gain decays at a rate dependent upon the different between a barrel temperature and ambient temperature over time. 
     
     
         10 . A system according to  claim 7 , wherein the weapon health calculator is further configured to calculate Mean Kinetic Shot (MKS). 
     
     
         11 . A system according to  claim 7 , wherein the weapon health calculator is further configured to calculate weapon health based on characteristics of the firearm. 
     
     
         12 . A system according to  claim 7 , wherein the display is further configured to graphically display the calculated weapon health. 
     
     
         13 . A method for determining firearm health, comprising:
 assigning a wear value to each shot fired from a firearm based on;   graphically displaying the wear value of each shot over a selected time; and   analyzing the display to determine whether performance of the firearm changed over the selected time.   
     
     
         14 . A method according to  claim 13 , wherein the wear value is assigned based on cadence. 
     
     
         15 . A method according to  claim 13 , wherein the wear value is assigned based on barrel temperature. 
     
     
         16 . A method according to  claim 15 , wherein barrel temperature is calculated based on shot count and cadence. 
     
     
         17 . A method according to  claim 13  wherein the wear value is assigned based on shot count.