Audience: Mining engineers, shotfirers, QA technicians in energetic material manufacturing
Reading time: 5–7 minutes
Last updated: 25 August 2025
Overview
ShotTrack VoD uses digital time domain reflectometry with standard coaxial cable. Compared with analogue resistive-wire recorders, ShotTrack provides cleaner traces, simpler setup and faster reporting through ShockAi.
Summary: fewer but accurate samples are more informative than many noisy samples. With 16 bit resolution and low noise, ShotTrack delivers trustworthy VoD without heavy filtering.
Who this is for
Production blasting in mining
Energetic material manufacturing and batch validation
Product selection and geology or confinement studies
Key benefits
Clean data - continuous traces with minimal noise
Simple workflow - one button start, no need to short cable ends
Lower consumables - standard coaxial cable only
Instant reporting - data is sent to ShockAi and a preliminary report is available immediately
Digital calibration - select cable type in the ShockAi mobile app
Higher resolution - 16 bit capture versus typical 14 bit in resistive-wire recorders
How it works
ShotTrack sends time domain reflectometry pulses along coaxial cable laid beside the charge. Reflections from the open (or shorted) cable end provide timing information to calculate velocity of detonation.
Field setup
Lay standard coaxial cable along the charge. Leave the far end open.
Connect the cable to the ShotTrack VoD unit.
Start recording with one button.
Reporting in ShockAi
Data is sent to ShockAi as soon as recording completes.
The VoD is available immediately and a preliminary report is auto generated.
Edit metadata later to add hole ids, depth and diameter.
Tip: select the coaxial cable length in the ShockAi mobile app. This is a one tap action.
Bit depth and dynamic range
Most resistive-wire recorders use 14 bit analogue to digital conversion. ShotTrack records at 16 bit.
Levels: 14 bit equals 16384 levels. 16 bit equals 65536 levels. Four times more.
Quantisation SNR: about 6.02 times N plus 1.76 dB. 14 bit is about 87.8 dB. 16 bit is about 99.8 dB. About plus 12 dB.
Impact: cleaner edge detection on reflections and more stable least squares velocity estimates.
Sampling rate versus measurement quality
Some resistive-wire systems sample faster, but this is often negated by analogue noise and lower resolution. Clean, accurate samples produce a better VoD fit than many noisy points that require filtering and manual edits.
Note: noisy high rate data is highlighted in the chart above. Clean low rate data produces a better VoD fit.
Quick comparison
Criteria | ShotTrack TDR VoD | Resistive-wire VoD |
Data fidelity | Clean, continuous traces with minimal filtering | Often noisy traces with drop outs |
Ease of use | One button. Open cable end ok. No short required | Needs shorted cable ends and careful setup |
Consumables | Standard coaxial cable | Specialised resistive wire or calibrated probe cable |
Reporting workflow | Auto upload to ShockAi with instant preliminary report. Edit metadata later | Manual download and heavy post processing |
Calibration | Digital device. Select cable type in ShockAi | Analogue instrument. Typically requires yearly calibration |
Resolution and dynamic range | 16 bit with about 65536 levels and about 100 dB theoretical quantisation SNR | Typically 14 bit with about 16384 levels and about 88 dB theoretical quantisation SNR |
Sampling rate versus quality | Moderate sampling with low noise. Fewer but accurate points yield reliable VoD | Often higher sampling but noisy. Many points need filtering and manual editing |
Example traces
Figure 1. ShotTrack TDR VoD trace recorded in ShockAi. Least squares VoD 5674.55 m/s.
Figure 2. VOD measurement of explosive mixture using the resistive wire technique.
Note: add your resistive-wire trace screenshot here. Crop or blur any branding. Add callouts for noise and drop outs.
FAQs
Does ShotTrack require the cable ends to be shorted?
No. ShotTrack works with an open or closed cable end.
Do I need to calibrate each time?
Only select the cable length in the ShockAi mobile app. Resistive-wire systems usually require yearly calibration.
Can higher sampling rate improve results?
Not when the data is noisy. Clean signals with accurate timing beat raw point counts for VoD fits.
References
Literature evidence from Scite.ai - keep your in text citations in the body and paste the exported bibliography here.
Resistive-wire vendor documentation - public operations manual.
ShotTrack knowledge base - VoD trace analysis and reporting.