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