Mobile Technology Innovation Keeps Security Guards and Emergency Personnel Informed
European Consortium Led by Appear Receives the Prestigious EUROSTARS Award in the Deployment of Context-Aware Mobile Services for Emergency Services and Security Personnel
Stockholm, 7 September 2009 – 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 €2.4 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.”
EsperantoXL, a systems integrator with offices and customers in the Netherlands, was the first company to join the CAMPUS partner programme and will introduce CAMPUS technology concepts to customers in the Transportation and Law Enforcement Industry.
About Appear: www.appearnetworks.com
Appear is the leading provider of context-aware software infrastructure designed to power the next generation of mobile applications and services. Using situational information (context), the AppearIQ suite of products transforms ordinary wireless data networks into rich multimedia channels that deliver information, voice, video and messages to mobile computer users. By collecting and sharing context, Appear’s solutions eliminate information overload and ensure users have exactly the information they need, when and where they need it. Industry leaders in transportation, retail, telecommunications and government use AppearIQ. Appear has an extensive partner network including industry leaders Motorola, Cisco, SITA, Orange Business Services, Thales and Logica in order to deliver innovative, end-to-end wireless and mobile solutions. The company is privately held and headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden and with offices across Europe.
About Page Up: http://www.pageup.fr
Page Up is a French mobile solutions integrator focusing on the development of mobile business applications, tracking systems, sensor technologies and the provisioning of rugged mobile devices. Page Up’s clients include leading defense and security companies such as EADS and Oberthur Technology as well as major industry manufacturers such as Canon, De Dietrich and Airbus. Page Up has recently gained new contracts with EDF (Electricité de France) for the development of a mobile surveillance application to secure nuclear site interventions. In addition, Page Up has initiated a new product development to address ports facilities requirements in terms of security and traceability.
About Wireless@KTH: www.wireless.kth.se
Wireless@KTH is a research center in “Mobile Systems for Mobile Services” that together with researchers at The Royal Institute of Technology (KTH) and its industry partners is developing this key field for Sweden and the Stockholm area. We engage in interdisciplinary research projects in collaboration between academia and industry. An important role of the center is to bridge the gap between the design of services and systems and their commercial deployment. The center is located in the "Wireless Valley" of Kista just north of Stockholm and was originally inaugurated in 2001 with KTH, Ericsson, TeliaSonera, Microsoft and Nokia as founding partners.
About EUROSTARS: www.eurostars-eureka.eu/
The EUREKA initiative enables industry and institutes across Europe and beyond to collaborate in a bottom-up approach to developing and exploiting innovative close-to-market technologies. The Eurostars Programme now offers ambitious and innovative SMEs a single access point at national level to both national and European research funding. It provides a fast-track application procedure, harmonised evaluation and synchronised funding timetables, leading to fast results that can be brought to market rapidly.
Press Contact:
Angela J. Hepburn
Be-SR SARL Media Relations
+33 6 84 81 51 56
angieh@beseenandread.com
Appear and Page Up are exhibiting at The 4th European Security Research Conference, SRC09, Sept 29-30th in Stockholm.
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