Tuesday, December 10, 2013

OnTarget News

The OnTarget Precision Calculator has had a couple small improvements. If you have trouble printing from the program Email Me and I will provide a download link to v2.16.

The latest release of OnTarget TDS is v3.78 which includes, metric support, better printing, and several new targets. You can download the latest version here: OnTarget TDS.

I've been working to add a shot velocity field to both OTPC and TDS. For now the values are entered manually, but my plan is for TDS to communicate directly with the chronograph to get the velocity string, and automatically associate the data with the correct shot.

Lastly, for the past few months I've been working on a prototype of an electronic target frame. The target frame would detect the location of a shot and send the information directly into TDS. Each of the major components of the system have undergone initial development and testing. A few days ago I did the first end-to-end test of the system and created this video Target Frame Test. The target frame works by detecting the sound of the impact, in this case the tap of the pencil on the target, at each corner. A high resolution timing circuit calculates the time difference of the sound reaching the corners. That timing information is sent into TDS which calculates the location of the impact on the target and displays it as a shot on the screen.

The system shown in the video is designed as a test of the concept and is made up of breadboard circuits that are basically cobbled together. The test went very well. The shot locations are accurate and repeatable considering the lack of calibration in the system. The communication between the target and TDS was stable. My next test will be to detect an Airsoft pellet impact on a target and display the position.

Watch the video and Email Me your thoughts.

- Jeff

Saturday, April 20, 2013

OTPC Update News

Version 2.10 of the OnTarget Precision calculator was released in February 2011 and has proven to be very stable with few problems. Over the last two years I have made several changes to the program to correct problems with the target printing and data export functionality, along with some general improvements.

Until now I have only passed the new version, OTPC v2.14, along to a select few users that were having specific problems with v2.10, and it has performed as expected. At this time I would like to expand testing of v2.14. If you are a registered user of OTCP v2.10 and would like to test v2.14 please Email Me and I will send the download link. I would like to have about 50 users do the update so I can track the process and correct any issues that crop up.

After successful testing I will be releasing the new software with an updated help system and full list of improvements.

- Jeff

OnTarget TDS v3.78 Released

OnTarget TDS v3.78 has been released. Visit the OnTarget TDS Website to download the installation package. Improvements include, full metric units support, improved project printing, and the addition of several WRABF targets and scoring schemes simulations. Download the new package and let me know what you think of the improvements.

- Jeff