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Mobile Technology Innovation Keeps Security Guards and Emergency Personnel Informed

Posted on: Monday, 7 September 2009, 02:00 CDT

STOCKHOLM, September 7 /PRNewswire/ --

- European Consortium Led by Appear Receives the Prestigious EUROSTARS Award in the Deployment of Context-Aware Mobile Services for Emergency Services and Security Personnel

The Context-Aware Mobility Platform for User Security (CAMPUS) project, developed by Appear and Wireless@KTH in Sweden as well as Page Up in France, has recently been awarded the EUROSTARS label.

A part of the second call for proposal of the EUROSTARS Framework Programme, CAMPUS is a EUR2.4 million project which began in June 2009. Using context-aware mobile technology, intelligent handheld devices can receive alerts, connect to surveillance cameras or environmental sensors, thus providing complete situation-awareness to field security and emergency personnel.

Existing mobile solutions are usually based on simple walkie-talkies or GSM phones, equipped with very limited positioning or data capabilities. Most often, the agent called for intervention has a limited knowledge of the events unfolding, based on audio communication with his command centre. As a result, field agents lack the situation-awareness required to make the right decisions under the pressure of an emergency call.

On the other hand, stationary personnel inside the command and control centre have access to a wealth of information, collected through SCADA systems (sensors) and CCTV solutions (video surveillance). This information is often vital to personnel deployed in the field.

The CAMPUS project brings a wealth of situational (context) information to the fingertips of field agents, using existing technologies including GSM/HSDPA, TETRA, Wi-Fi, RFID, as well as more recent technologies such as Augmented Reality. Field agents are now able to receive large quantities of relevant information from the command centre in real time and gather data from nearby sensors directly to their personal mobile devices, whilst positioned outdoors, indoors or even underground.

Xavier Aubry, CEO Appear says, "Imagine a handheld device able to locate your colleagues, access live video feeds, connect to fire detection sensors and overlay all that information to the live picture of your nearby environment. This solution will lead to faster incident resolution, fewer false alarms, and improved security for everyone."

"We have already started pilot deployments with organizations such as the Rotterdam Police," adds Alexander Throm, Regional Manager, Appear. "We are calling for contributions from public or private agencies interested in participating in the project as technology partners or users."

SOURCE Appear Networks Systems AB

Source: PR Newswire

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