Drizzt
February 24, 2003, 12:07 AM
Gunshot detection coming to a PDA near you
Name that calibre
By Elizabeth Biddlecombe in San Francisco: Friday 21 February 2003, 09:53
A FEW YEARS BACK the vogue was to cite location-based services as the killer application for the wonderful new world of wireless web. As with most marketing messages from 1999 or 2000 little substance emerged to fulfill the hype, largely because of the complexity of the technology.
But now with the help of a New Orleans-based company, you can truly put your smartphone or PDA to good use by using it to ascertain the location of something more interesting than the local restaurant – gunfire. Unless, of course, you happen to live in neighborhoods such as Oakland in California which has the dubious honour of suffering 113 murders in 2002. It's more likely that there and in other war zones around the world, your ears (though hopefully not your eyes) will suffice.
Most likely it won't be you who has access to the information but the local police officer or a soldier in a conflict. Proxity Digital Networks, the company behind the "On Alert" Gunshot Detection System is already preparing for trials with a couple of U.S. law enforcement agencies and the military, who will be able to use it to determine friendly or enemy fire.
At present On Alert is in beta testing. The system consists of acoustic sensors that can hang from power lines and street lighting or be mounted on building exteriors. The sensors are programmed to recognise a particular sound signature. They are connected to a central server via low frequency RF waves which dispatches the information to PDAs and smartphones used by officers in the field or to fixed terminals. The backhaul function will be provided by cellular or fiber optic networks. So far tests have yielded a 3-5 second round trip time.
Billy Robinson, CEO, of Proxity told The Inquirer that depending on the environment you will need one sensor every 400 yards, with each sensor likely to be around $2,500 a pop.
The system will alert you not only to the fact that one or more shots has been fired (telling you the exact number of course). Once Robinson and his colleagues have gone out and fired all the guns in the possession of participating law enforcement agencies ("the funnest part of the whole deal", said Robinson), the system will be able to identify the make and caliber of the gun because of the unique sound print each one possesses. Triangulation will enable pinpointing of the fired gun as well as the bullet's final landing place to within ten feet, is the claim.
And what's more, because of the nature of the sound of the bullet as it whizzes through the air, Robinson explained that the system will also be able to map the trajectory of the bullet.
Thanks to the advances in mobile communication your bobby on the beat will then be able to consult a grid map on their PDA or smartphone so that they can arrive at the scene with all haste. The client application can be used on any mobile device, though currently it is written in C++ for the Pocket PC environment. Ultimately the map will be presented in 3D.
The technology is being developed by Synchros Technologies. The latter originally developed it for a power grid management system but drawing their inspiration from the Sniper shootings that were terrorising Washington DC and Louisiana last October, Robinson and colleagues realised the system could be put to good effect in other ways.
In these days of terror,(largely perpetrated by the US government enjoining everyone to buy duct tape and plastic sheeting of course), we should be glad to have Proxity around. "Protection of railways, ports and borders using the Internet and hardware independent hand-held devices (PDA's) are Proxity's next highest priority after completing test on the current gunshot detection system prototype" reads the press release. "We are rushing it to market."
Robinson said the next project will be to adapt the system for other applications such as listening out for swimmers or boats in water locations, for car crashes or seismic activities. "Almost any event, which has a predictable acoustic, subsonic or ultrasonic signature could be detected and located by the gunshot detection system", he was quoted in the press release as saying.
First though what is expected to be three months of field trials are to be completed. Robinson hopes to announce some customers shortly – Proxity is currently talking to a number of law enforcement agencies in the U.S.
http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=7911
Name that calibre
By Elizabeth Biddlecombe in San Francisco: Friday 21 February 2003, 09:53
A FEW YEARS BACK the vogue was to cite location-based services as the killer application for the wonderful new world of wireless web. As with most marketing messages from 1999 or 2000 little substance emerged to fulfill the hype, largely because of the complexity of the technology.
But now with the help of a New Orleans-based company, you can truly put your smartphone or PDA to good use by using it to ascertain the location of something more interesting than the local restaurant – gunfire. Unless, of course, you happen to live in neighborhoods such as Oakland in California which has the dubious honour of suffering 113 murders in 2002. It's more likely that there and in other war zones around the world, your ears (though hopefully not your eyes) will suffice.
Most likely it won't be you who has access to the information but the local police officer or a soldier in a conflict. Proxity Digital Networks, the company behind the "On Alert" Gunshot Detection System is already preparing for trials with a couple of U.S. law enforcement agencies and the military, who will be able to use it to determine friendly or enemy fire.
At present On Alert is in beta testing. The system consists of acoustic sensors that can hang from power lines and street lighting or be mounted on building exteriors. The sensors are programmed to recognise a particular sound signature. They are connected to a central server via low frequency RF waves which dispatches the information to PDAs and smartphones used by officers in the field or to fixed terminals. The backhaul function will be provided by cellular or fiber optic networks. So far tests have yielded a 3-5 second round trip time.
Billy Robinson, CEO, of Proxity told The Inquirer that depending on the environment you will need one sensor every 400 yards, with each sensor likely to be around $2,500 a pop.
The system will alert you not only to the fact that one or more shots has been fired (telling you the exact number of course). Once Robinson and his colleagues have gone out and fired all the guns in the possession of participating law enforcement agencies ("the funnest part of the whole deal", said Robinson), the system will be able to identify the make and caliber of the gun because of the unique sound print each one possesses. Triangulation will enable pinpointing of the fired gun as well as the bullet's final landing place to within ten feet, is the claim.
And what's more, because of the nature of the sound of the bullet as it whizzes through the air, Robinson explained that the system will also be able to map the trajectory of the bullet.
Thanks to the advances in mobile communication your bobby on the beat will then be able to consult a grid map on their PDA or smartphone so that they can arrive at the scene with all haste. The client application can be used on any mobile device, though currently it is written in C++ for the Pocket PC environment. Ultimately the map will be presented in 3D.
The technology is being developed by Synchros Technologies. The latter originally developed it for a power grid management system but drawing their inspiration from the Sniper shootings that were terrorising Washington DC and Louisiana last October, Robinson and colleagues realised the system could be put to good effect in other ways.
In these days of terror,(largely perpetrated by the US government enjoining everyone to buy duct tape and plastic sheeting of course), we should be glad to have Proxity around. "Protection of railways, ports and borders using the Internet and hardware independent hand-held devices (PDA's) are Proxity's next highest priority after completing test on the current gunshot detection system prototype" reads the press release. "We are rushing it to market."
Robinson said the next project will be to adapt the system for other applications such as listening out for swimmers or boats in water locations, for car crashes or seismic activities. "Almost any event, which has a predictable acoustic, subsonic or ultrasonic signature could be detected and located by the gunshot detection system", he was quoted in the press release as saying.
First though what is expected to be three months of field trials are to be completed. Robinson hopes to announce some customers shortly – Proxity is currently talking to a number of law enforcement agencies in the U.S.
http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=7911
