Apple Watch Ultra mounted on a DJI Mavic Air drone to help detect gunshots

The Norwegian software company Triangula has come up with a unique way to find where gunshots are coming from. It uses an Apple Watch Ultra mounted on a DJI Mavic Air drone.

Marius Marents, the chief commercial officer at Triangula, recently posted a picture of an Apple Watch Ultra mounted on top of a DJI Mavic Air drone using only a standard Apple Watch band.

“We can use the Apple Watch as a sensor in our Gunshot Detection System,” Marents said in a LinkedIn post. “Today we mounted an Apple Watch Ultra on a drone. This is so cool.”

The technology developed by Triangula uses the sensors found in mobile phones in order to identify and locate gunshots made by handguns and other similarly sized firearms, with the assistance of Artificial Intelligence (AI).

For the Gun Detection System to function properly, a minimum of three mobile devices must have the Triangula Scout app installed. The deployment of the system only takes a few minutes.

As the picture shows, Triangula realized that its system didn’t just work with smartphones but could also work with smartwatches if it had the right sensors.

Because the system depends on being able to recognize the unique sound of a gunshot, a microphone is needed as a sensor. The Apple Watch Ultra has three microphones.

Distinguish the sound of DJI Mavic Air drone from gunshots

When you mount an Apple Watch onto a flying drone, it begs the question: how can you tell the difference between the sound of spinning propellers and the sound of a gunshot?

But it seems that the sound profile that a drone makes, which is pretty consistent, can be filtered out.

Multiple devices, such as tablets like the iPad and a variety of mobile devices running Android and iOS, can be used simultaneously to detect gunshots.

You can read more stories about how drones are used for good here on DroneXL.