Sensors for Public Safety in Mass Shooting Events

Sensors for Public Safety in Mass Shooting Events

mass shooting

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In mass shooting events, first responders often lose precious minutes trying to determine the location of the shooter. In the scramble to get out the doors, some people tragically run into the path of the assailant. Intelligent devices and data analytics from existing sensor infrastructure may play an important future role in minimizing casualties in events such as these.

Armored Things Inc. hopes to give organizations real-time visibility into the movement of people and things by tapping into and federating networks of smart devices.

Parameters such as the location of smartphones can be tracked by Wi-Fi routers, even if the phones aren’t connected. Aggregating and interpreting that data could, for example, enable security administrators to detect such anomalies as a crowd forming or people moving more rapidly than usual through a public space, which might indicate a threat.

Armored Things has been working with developers of devices such as cameras and sound sensors to build algorithms that can pick up abnormal movement caught on video or loud sounds and alert human operators to a potential problem. Ultimately, the company wants to tie in smart devices such as emergency lighting, public-address systems and access control equipment to enable security administrators to define automated responses to emergency situations.

The company wants to correlate and connect the data across existing motion sensors, access control systems and wireless infrastructure. For example, an audio gunshot sensor could pinpoint the location of a shooter and instantaneously send the information to emergency responders. Automatic door locks could be engaged to minimize the assailant’s movements while lighted guidance systems could quickly escort people to safe exits.