Verification and Analytical Validation of a Virtual Shooting Performance System. Comparing Accuracy and Shot Location Estimates

The introduction of decimal scoring in Olympic 10-m air rifle shooting has increased the need for highly precise shot-location measurement. Although the SCATT MX-02 is widely used to assess aiming behavior and estimate virtual shot locations, its validity against certified electronic scoring targets remains unclear. Therefore, this study examined inter-sensor agreement between 2 co-mounted SCATT MX-02 units and agreement between SCATT-derived virtual shot locations and SIUS-measured impact coordinates. For inter-sensor agreement, 2 identically configured SCATT MX-02 sensors were mounted on the same rifle during 20 shots. For analytical validation, 3540 synchronized shots from 46 air-rifle athletes across 177 sessions were analyzed. SCATT-derived shot locations were compared with SIUS coordinates using a sequential workflow including custom shot detection, linear extrapolation, and ballistic forward simulation. The 2 co-mounted sensors showed high agreement, with intraclass correlation coefficients of .994 and .999 for the horizontal and vertical axes, respectively, and a mean absolute error of 0.266 mm. However, SCATT-derived virtual shot locations did not achieve practical agreement with SIUS under any processing step. Linear extrapolation produced lower error than ballistic forward simulation, but the best mean validation error remained 0.99 mm, exceeding the predefined threshold of 0.25 mm. Sensitivity analyses indicated that velocity-related inputs were a major source of error. These findings indicate that the SCATT MX-02 provides highly consistent aiming-trajectory data and is suitable for process-oriented training analysis. However, SCATT-derived virtual shot locations should not be considered interchangeable with certified measurements of actual shot impact.