The TASER X3 revolutionizes law enforcement with multi-shot capabilities and enhanced firepower.

The single X26 was a hit, but could’ve been improved. Enter the X3 — with the opportunity to perform ergonomic studies, incorporate industrial development design and pay attention to details previously dubbed insignificant. The X3 is a revolutionary new multi-shot electronic control device (ECD) that can engage multiple targets with a less destructive charge while simultaneously logging analysis and data management to improve accountability.

The Scottsdale, AZ-based TASER hired an extensive external consulting team based out of Phoenix to look at the ergonomics as well as the aesthetic detail. “The X3 has very many subtle details that you would never catch individually,” says Gish, “but I think the overall sum total is that it looks like a well thought out, well designed product. It doesn’t look like anything was put together; we thought this through.”

The Rule Of Three

With time on its side, the consulting team was able to play on the X3’s name. On top of the selector switch at the top of the unit, three little cuts into the design detail reflect the X3’s three-shot capability.

Three little slices are also located on the backside of the enhanced power magazine (EPM) — the high-capacity energy source that supplies enough energy to fire more than 300 five-second firings across all bays.

Moreover, above the graphical user interface (GUI), three round impressions are visible in the rail (the plastic piece atop the GUI). Such subtle detail on the X3 is pervasive, whether or not anyone notices it.

“The industrial design guys and our mechanical engineers put a lot of thought into adding those little touches that make it a family product,” adds Gish.

TASER’s core team was made up of five individuals. The company also hired an industrial design team of five to six individuals (at any one time) and brought in several consultants, as well as its extended supply base for critical functions.

“We really pulled out the stops on this,” says Gish. “About  50 people from the organization were involved in some way. Back when we were developing the X26, they were bringing on people as the need arose; we were trying to walk as they ran. Now that we have a full organization, we actually brought in trainers and a lot of our simulated customer base to get feedback on how the X3 performed. The X26 was an industry-changing product that we came up with from scratch; the X3 is a leap in technology from that.”

Structural Improvement

The X26 was created on a 2D extrusion by building a 2D structure and then changing the features to give it shape. On the X3, TASER used the barometric technologies of Solidworks on the mechanical design. The X3 has a solid-surface modeled skin that was designed around ergonomic studies based on the 80th percentile human (male, female, hand size).

One concern that was rampant in the industry with the X26 is that it is a single-shot pony. As effective as it is, if the officer misses, he/she has to quickly replace the cartridge or move to another option.

“We wanted to increase the user’s level of functionality with multiple-target capability or multiple shot into the same target capability in the case of a miss or an unforeseen circumstance.”

Five years ago, the X26 was a state-of-the-art taser that still stands true today, but technology has been developed and subsequently incorporated into the more powerful X3.

While TASER attempted to shrink the design, the team ran into the law of physics. “Generally, with high-voltage electricity, you just can’t get around some things,” Gish states. “One of the biggest hurdles in developing the X3 was the three high--voltage coils.”

The single-shot X26 is about a third of the X3’s 8.2” (L) x 4.1” (H) x 2.1” (W) size because it only uses one high-voltage coil. The width of the unit is defined by the number of plastic-encased coils. 

“We went through a design shrink; it just wasn’t substantial because of physics,” says Gish. "It takes so many Teflon-coated wire wrappings to generate the kind of voltage we need to create the necessary arcing.”

The team was also able to beef up the intelligence system. The X26 includes one large microprocessor, but because of cut costs and slimmer specs, they were able to put a couple of microprocessors into the handle.

In the original product requirements document, TASER wanted the cartridges that were also static sensitive. Over a two-year period of time, the company performed extensive research and looked at every conceivable option to make the cartridges robust in a static environment.

The X3 additionally has an independent fire control system that allows the high-voltage energy to be completely disassociated from what makes the unit fire, whereas the X26 fires off of a high-voltage, low-energy, low-charge event.

The X3’s new SMART cartridge includes a printed circuit board that identifies the cartridge type and probe firing length, and communicates that with the handle. The cartridge can also identify when it has been fired or misfired, and communicates with the fire control system within the X3. The information is then displayed in color icons on the central information display in the GUI.

Hold That Pose

The primary system of the multi-shot capability is a normal high-voltage generating engine. TASER uses a silicon-controlled rectifier (SCR) to switch the electricity to each high-voltage coil.

“In the X26, we used a spark gap, a pretty limited device, but it was the one that controlled the arc jump,” says Gish. “On the X3, the SCR does it faster with the ability to provide feedback to change the way it delivers its charge.”

The X3 has the ability to deliver a constant 63 microcoulombs into the subject in any target condition. If both plated steel darts are in (each cartridge fires two), if one is loose or even if one is only on the skin, the SCR monitors itself and tries to maintain 63 microcoulombs into the target at all times. The 5-second discharge — 19 pulses per second — begins when the trigger is pulled. It automatically shuts itself off, but the user can re-administer the discharge.

In probes of the past, a wire was tied on the end of the probe and the spark would jump from the end into the metal and then travel down the metal into the subcutaneous tissue. On the charge diffusion probes in the X3, TASER designed the wire to go through to the end of the probe body and then hang out at the end it.

This way, the spark jumps from the end of the wire to the outside of the skin, defuses into the epidermis and then saturates into the muscle tissue. The new design diffuses the charge into the subject faster rather than soaking deeper into the subcutaneous tissue.

After extensive medical testing, it is suggested that this process it both safer and more effective.

Accountability & Analysis

From the get go, the X3 was designed to have Internet connectivity via Trilogy Logs — connecting to Evidence.com, a virtual evidence warehouse offering digital storage in a highly secure, accessible environment. The Trilogy Logs record events, the characteristics of the pulses emitted and sub-system performance.

“We went from a self-contained X26 to a systematic ECD that connects to Evidence.com and downloads the weapon’s log so that it can be analyzed at different levels,” says Gish.

Rather than having the data only available to the officer or whoever had limited access, at Evidence.com, a user can look at system-wide behavior and performance, as well as the health monitoring of the X3.

This functionality also allows users to perform arsenal maintenance and see what errors (minor, major, critical) may have happened in the field. It records and reports every event, time change, USB sync, etc. into the system because TASER considers all of the information as part of the evidence.

“We want the users to be able to present the information in court and say that the unit was performing exactly as it was supposed to – we want a fully accountable system,” Gish attests.

The TACOM digital power magazine communicates wirelessly with an AXON tactical computer for time synchronization, event triggering and logging, and wireless Trilogy Log uploads.

Harsh Weather Resistance

The X3 survives dust, humidity, salt fog, etc. It’s designed for actual law enforcement officer environments.

“The officers are going to be in rain, snow and who knows what else,” says Gish. “Battling the weather was a huge product hurdle for us. It required sealing, temperature testing, humidity, salt fog and more. We’re still battling that.”

The X3 does have a new splash drop retrieval and if dropped in water, it can be dried off and still function, an upgrade for the X26, which will simply shut itself off.

From a battery life perspective, environment is always a challenge. “Our basic minimum specifications have to be met in all weather environments,” adds Gish. “In Wisconsin, for example, the cold and snow is just hard on batteries. Having to get this thing to work in all of those environments, we have to think about how much our power consumption is, at what temperatures, but that’s just engineering. That’s why we have engineers on staff.”

TASER is sticking to the truth.

“We believe in what we’re doing,” Gish exclaims. “We have the research and the background to believe that we’re making a safe and effective product, and we’ve tried to increase that level with the X3. We want to monitor every single pulse. We want to make the law enforcement agencies accountable for what they’re doing, and at the same time, we want to make sure that we have a safe product. We delivered that with the dual lasers that inform the user on the trajectory of the top and bottom dart so that they can make better targeted and more effective shots. We’ve made it safer by adding multi-shot capability so that if an officer is facing two or three people, he has a primary system without having to draw his firearm.”