A New Handle on Smart Gun Tech

Feb. 3, 2005 — -- It's been the stuff of science fiction for ages: a high-tech gun that works only in the hands of "the good guys." And for a decade, various gun makers and researchers have been trying with mixed results to turn fantasy into reality.

But researchers at the New Jersey Institute of Technology in Newark think they may have a good grasp -- literally -- on developing a firearm that will fire only in the hands of authorized users.

When the group started working on the project five years ago, they focused on a biometric-based system -- technology that identifies a person based on unique physical traits. But rather than focus on common characteristics such as fingerprints, Michael Recce, associate professor of information systems at NJIT, discovered a novel biometric: grip.

Chips Get a Grip

"When you hold a gun -- or a pen or a golf club or whatever -- you grip it in a unique, consistent way," says Recce. "It becomes ingrained in your mind -- the so-called 'muscle memory' effect -- and we've developed a way to measure that."

Embedded in the handle of NJIT's conceptual "personalized gun" are 32 sensors with the diameter of a pencil eraser. The circular devices contain a piezoelectric material -- crystals that produce electricity when they come under pressure -- sandwiched between two thin layers of copper.

When the gun is gripped, each sensor receives a tiny variation of pressure that creates a distinct electrical signal in the piezoelectric material. Each signal is sent to a microprocessor, which creates a digital map of the grip using software developed by Recce and his team.

Once a digital grip pattern is created, it can then be stored in a database. Every time the gun is gripped, the microprocessor and software can measure the grasp and compare it with patterns previously stored. What's more, it can perform this digital recognition feat in about one-tenth of a second -- roughly the time it takes for a shooter to pull the gun's trigger.

And Recce says since the system works so quickly and unobtrusively, the technology can be used for more than just controlling firearms. A grip recognition system embedded in vehicle controls, for example, might prevent terrorists' commandeering a jumbo jet in-flight or carjackers from stealing expensive automobiles.

Silent, Swift and True?

"The technology has to be something that will be acceptable to the end user," says Donald Sebastian, senior vice president for research and development at NJIT. "The idea here is to detect who you are at the moment you fire."

And in lab tests so far, NJIT's technology seems to perform with a high rate of accuracy.

In demonstrations, researchers equipped a 9-mm Beretta handgun with the sensor-studded handles tethered to a laptop computer. Every shot initiated by a shooter with a registered grip pattern was acknowledged with a green light on the laptop's display. Every shot from a non-registered shooter still fired. However, the laptop produced a red light, indicating that the software did not recognize the shooter's grip pattern.

"We're working only on the recognition part, not how to 'turn off' the gun," explained Recce. That part, he says, will have to come from cooperative work with gun manufacturers.

A Troubled Past and Sticky Present

And gun industry insiders say arms makers have been quietly working on such technologies. But so far, the actual results have been disappointing.

"The firearm industry is not opposed to the development of authorized user recognition technology. Several companies have been doing research and development on this technology ... for about 20 years," says Lawrence Keane, senior vice president and general counsel for the National Shooting Sports Foundation, the industry's trade group. But, he says, "All studies on the issue have concluded that the technology is immature. There is no commercially available [smart gun] on the market."

In the mid 1990s, Colt's Manufacturing in Hartford, Conn., developed a pistol that would fire only if the shooter was wearing a special ring. But the project was dropped when costs and legal liability issues outweighed interest from prospective buyers -- mainly law enforcement agencies who hoped the technology would protect officers from being shot with their own service weapon.

And the technology may be an even tougher sell among the millions of private firearm owners in the United States, who may view the developments as unreliable -- and unwanted.

"When you fire a gun there's a tremendous amount of pressure and heat and vibration that occurs. We feel that such a volatile atmosphere is not conducive for a high-tech device to operate effectively for prolonged periods," says Andrew Arulanandam, director of public affairs for the National Rifle Association. "The very worst scenario is that someone tries to use a high-tech firearm to protect themselves and it malfunctions. These are very real concerns."

Future Aims

Researchers such as Recce believe that such arguments may be legitimate -- and all the more reason why the industry should help scientists work out the remaining rough edges of the technology.

For example, while the NJIT team has shown that their technology works with a real gun, firing real bullets, they still need to improve the accuracy of the grip recognition beyond 90 percent. To do that, researchers will have to test the gun in simulated life-or-death situations where emotional and physical stress might affect a shooter's grip on the gun.

What's more, the researchers still need to prove the recognition system works without being connected to an external computer. And to fit all the sensors, chips and software inside a gun -- say in place of two or three bullets in a pistol's magazine -- NJIT will need the help of actual gun makers and designers.

Recce and Sebastian are optimistic that such hurdles can be overcome. The team was recently granted an additional $1.1 million from the Department of Justice to continue their research. And NJIT has also signed up several gun makers for additional help. One significant agreement is with Metal Storm, an Australian company with designs for a futuristic gun that fires bullets using electrical impulses rather by mechanical means.

If all goes well, Sebastian says NJIT may have a stand-alone prototype for testing at the U.S. Army Armament Research, Development and Engineering Center in Picatinny, N.J., within a year.

"Our whole approach as researchers is to push the envelope," says Sebastian. "With an untethered gun, we should be able to test in real-life experiences and settings that will be able to push all the limits. If we can't meet those challenges, then we shouldn't out it. We're not rushing this out to the market."