GPS World

Tag: police

  • Seen & Heard: Earthquakes and high-speed chases

    Seen & Heard: Earthquakes and high-speed chases

    “Seen & Heard” is a monthly feature of GPS World magazine, traveling the world to capture interesting and unusual news stories involving the GNSS/PNT industry.

    Photo:
    Image: Dennis Laughlin/iStock/Getty Images Plus/Getty Images

    GNSS records Alaska earthquake data 

    Researchers in Alaska were able to compare the quality of GNSS and seismic station data when assessing the magnitude 8.2 Chignik earthquake near Dillingham, Alaska. Research recorded by Revathy Parameswaran and colleagues at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks, shows that GNSS and acceleration seismic data can be used interchangeably or in tandem to estimate rapid magnitude or ground motion. The research showed the Chignik earthquake velocity records were almost identical at co-located GNSS and seismic stations for observations at frequencies of less than 0.25 Hz.

    No more high-speed chases

    Photo:
    Image: Screenshot from CBS New York video

    The Old Westbury Police Department of Long Island, New York, has chosen a high-speed pursuit alternative — GPS-equipped darts that relay the current location of suspects, reported CBS New York. It took $36,000 to equip six patrol cars with the air-powered dart launcher, called StarChase, which can be activated from inside the patrol car. When the launcher is activated, it shoots onto the suspect’s vehicle a dart with a GPS receiver inside and an adhesive exterior. It is considered a safe alternative to high-speed chases and safe to use around pedestrians.

    TikTok CEO says app doesn’t track 

    Photo:
    Image: Marco_Piunti/iStock/Getty Images Plus/Getty Images

    Shou Zi Chew, CEO of the popular app TikTok, testified before Congress that TikTok does not collect precise location data from its users. During the hearing, which lasted for more than five hours, Chew assured committee members the app does not collect nor distribute location data. TikTok is under fire as a bipartisan Senate proposal is aimed at banning the social media app, arguing it poses cybersecurity risks. The House Committee interrogated Chew regarding the app’s algorithmic feed, policies for young users and — given TikTok’s Chinese ownership — the amount of access the Chinese government has to user data.

    Just some water, please 

    Photo:
    Image: Bob Douglas/iStock/Getty Images Plus/Getty Images

    Satellite mapping data analyzed at Graz University of Technology’s Institute of Geodesy has revealed long-term drought conditions in Europe, reported GIM International. The data confirmed groundwater levels have been low consistently since 2018. The drought situation was originally published by Eva Boergens in “Geophysical Research Letters” in 2020 when she noted there was a severe water shortage in Central Europe during the summers of 2018 and 2019. There has been no significant rise in groundwater levels since then, and groundwater levels have stayed constantly low. 

  • HxGN Connect adds AI capabilities for real-time alerts

    HxGN Connect adds AI capabilities for real-time alerts

    Photo:Hexagon’s Safety, Infrastructure & Geospatial division announced the addition of artificial intelligence to HxGN Connect, Hexagon’s real-time incident center as a service solution.

    HxGN Connect provides crime and operations centers with real-time views of different data sources, collaboration channels to coordinate across teams and the ability to add new participants and channels as needed. The AI capabilities autonomously analyze diverse data types from incidents, assets, cameras, units, alarms and more, issuing proactive notifications and alerts based on observed trends and deviations.

    Having access to diverse information and intelligence in real-time enables police, emergency management, transportation and other organizations to evaluate a situation and deploy resources faster, while continuing to coordinate and dynamically respond as situations change.

    “Some organizations operate in silos, without access to data or the ability to act on it,” said Kalyn Sims, Chief Technology Officer, Safety & Security, Hexagon’s Safety, Infrastructure & Geospatial division. “[HxGN Connect] breaks down silos within departments and across jurisdictions, and it mines data in real-time to deliver insights. The result is quicker and better responses to incidents and emergencies.”

  • PCTEL unveils public-safety antenna platform for police

    PCTEL unveils public-safety antenna platform for police

    PCTEL has launched its  Trooper TRP-20INT platform, featuring models with a purpose-designed footprint to allow seamless installation on the leading 2020 police sports utility vehicles.

    Photo: PCTEL
    Photo: PCTEL

    The Trooper TRP-20INT antenna platform supports the high-speed requirements of complex RF communication systems used for critical communications in FirstNet public safety and intelligent transportation systems (ITS).

    These antennas feature two 5G elements compatible with leading cellular routers supporting 600-MHz to 6-GHz frequencies. In addition, PCTEL’s proprietary high-rejection multi-GNSS technology is included for high-precision tracking and asset management.

    “In order to meet the communication demands of law enforcement, our Trooper TRP-20INT platform was specifically designed for installation on the raised ridges of police vehicle roofs. This method makes installation easier and optimizes RF performance,” said Rishi Bharadwaj, PCTEL’s chief operating officer.

    “PCTEL brings strong RF and mechanical design capabilities to develop high-performance antenna systems for deployments in harsh environments in mission critical applications,” added Bharadwaj.

    PCTEL also announced its new and improved PCTWSLMR-2 full-spectrum LMR mobile antenna, designed to support the leading OEM multi-band land mobile radios that enable interoperability among emergency management and response personnel. The new antenna incorporates a strong and ultra-flexible spring structure designed for maximum impact shock absorption, providing solid installation integrity even in low overhead-clearance situations.

    PCTEL will showcase its new antenna platforms at IWCE, Aug. 24-28, at the Las Vegas Convention Center, Las Vegas, Nevada, booth 1215. Contact PCTEL for more details on product specifications and availability.

  • Auterion enables Impossible Aerospace to launch new US-1 drone for first responders

    Auterion enables Impossible Aerospace to launch new US-1 drone for first responders

    Photo: Impossible Aerospace
    Photo: Impossible Aerospace

    Auterion and Impossible Aerospace are collaborating to bring to market the US-1 UAV, which has a two-hour flight time.

    Auterion is the provider of Auterion Enterprise PX4, an open-source-based, enterprise operating system for drones. Impossible Aerospace is Silicon Valley, California-based drone manufacturer on a mission to assemble the highest performance electric aircraft.

    “During critical public safety incidents, real-time intelligence from a UAV is extremely important. This is why the two-hour flight time of the US-1 is a clear necessity.” said Spencer Gore, CEO of Impossible Aerospace. “We turned to Auterion for software because their operating system is auditable and trusted for government applications.”

    “Public safety organizations can now field a drone with government solicited, cyber-secure and trusted software that enables the drone to stream real-time footage to a command center,” said Kevin Sartori, co-founder of Auterion. “Choosing Auterion and its open-source, open-standards approach will greatly simplify the integration of the US-1 into the IT-infrastructure of public safety organizations.”

    Thousands of professional drone pilots and businesses around the world count on open-source flight control software PX4, which was created by Auterion co-founder Lorenz Meier in 2011 and has evolved into a global developer community. Similar to Red Hat, Auterion builds the open-source infrastructure so that drone manufacturers can go to market faster with new products flying trusted software.

    The US-1 quadcopter made its public safety debut in February with a California-based police force. The drone gives police agencies a new category of assets that sit between lower-end drones and police helicopters. This enables a wider usage of aerial imagery and reduces the cost for first responders at the same time.

  • UASTrakker to showcase search-and-rescue drone system at AUVSI Xponential

    UASTrakker LLC is offering a new guidance system to enable first responders and maritime rescue units to use fully autonomous drones to help locate people lost at sea or in the wilderness.

    The company will showcase the system at AUVSI Xponential, scheduled for April 30-May 4 in Denver, Colorado.

    UASTrakker emergency response UAV.

    The emergency RF beacon tracking system for drones is based on the company’s core patent-pending technology, which uses an internet of things (IoT) edge computer, running the company’s proprietary software and algorithms to deliver an autonomous search-and-rescue (SAR) solution to the professional end user.

    UASTrakker integrated systems using an autonomous drone for locating emergency distress beacons, such as a personal locator beacon (PLB) or man overboard beacon.

    The UASTrakker system is capable of locating individuals stranded in floods, lost at sea or on land and is expected to be a key component of rescue efforts in maritime rescue, as well as SAR in the wilderness.

    How the system works

    Trained users operate the UASTrakker-enabled drone by initiating a flight plan to locate the last known position of the target. Once in the air, the drone will scan the emergency radio frequencies used by PLB beacons in distress, and provide situational awareness to first responders using its thermal, infrared and daytime cameras.

    When the target is located, the drone stores the GPS coordinates trail, and has the ability to drop lifesaving rescue supplies, or even lower a winch to a person, and rescue them to safety using a heavy lift drone.Ac

    During the entire rescue, UASTrakker streams live video into the company’s cloud computing solution of the entire flight, recording the physical location of the incident in day or nighttime conditions. This enables multi-agency collaboration on SAR missions to help locate the victim.

    According to the company, the UASTrakker system is compatible with many off-the-shelf drones, so it can be installed on medium-sized multi-rotors for short missions, a hybrid- electric plane for longer missions, or a heavy lifter for difficult to reach areas and rough weather.

    At any time, the user can take over control of the flying of the drone, and activate features like the winch. Cellular/satellite technology offers an almost unlimited range of control.

    UASTrakker ground control station.

    The UASTrakker company is also developing technology for moving ground control stations, so that drones will land more easily on a ship or moving platform like a SWAT vehicle.

    The company’s proprietary artificial intelligence (AI)-capable internet console is expected to provide the pilot in command a first-of-its-kind online search grid, with online tools to initiate the autonomous flight search-and-rescue procedure.

    When other first responders have downloaded the UASTrakker app, they will have a collaborative map of the rescue operation, showing the drone position and the location of any emergency PLBs within range, while the drone autonomously locates and surveils them until rescuers can arrive.

    “A UASTrakker customized rescue drone can be deployed in many different emergency and disaster situations to locate survivors from maritime accidents, avalanches, hikers in distress or to locate stranded people after a natural disaster like a hurricane or flood, by tracking the PLB that is activated by the person in distress,” said Shawn Holmgren, CTO of UASTrakker.

    UASTrakker anticipates interest from government agencies including police, fire and rescue, and military, along with private individuals and commercial businesses.

    Holmgren will introduce the system at the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI) Xponential show, booth 3233B. The company expects to launch the UASTrakker system by the hurricane season and summer of 2018.

  • Two New Apps Enable Public to Help First Responders

    Photo credit: Texas A&M.
    Photo credit: Texas A&M.

    Two new apps developed at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi use social media to help police officers, news stations, and the public navigate the many incidents and minor emergencies that may occur on a daily basis.

    Richard Smith, creator of the two emergency response apps, is collaborating with Michelle Maresh-Fuehrer, assistant professor of Communication at A&M-Corpus Christi, to identify how the apps could aid first responders during emergencies.

    “With the combination of SituMap and PhotoSorter, the public can be encouraged to submit photos and videos that may be helpful during an investigation,” said Smith, assistant professor of Geographic Information Science and Geospatial Surveying Engineering at the Island University. “For example, during an active shooter event, photos and videos of the suspect or their location can be taken with a cell phone and easily sent to responders. This could drastically improve response time and ultimately save lives.”

    TexasA&M-app-1
    Photo credit: Texas A&M

    Smith developed the mapping applications to provide a way for first responders to rapidly, and easily, receive and map information so they could have a more comprehensive awareness of emergency situations. Maresh-Fuehrer is working on extending the use of Smith’s social media mapping applications to enhance communication before, during, and after a crisis.

     “A crisis event is typically a time of high stress and increased uncertainty for organizations and responders,” said Maresh-Fuehrer, who studies crisis communication strategies. “The applications developed by Dr. Smith have several features that allow for more informed and efficient crisis response.”

    SituMap acts as a tablet-like digital command center that shows officers maps of the crisis area. With the touch of a finger the table-size display can be zoomed, rotated and drawn on. Like a personalized version of Google Maps, officers can search for locations and measure distances. But it goes further than Google Maps. A pin can be created in the application that could represent a person, police car, or groups of people. The pin can be strategically positioned around the area and directions can then be relayed to officers at the emergency location.

    “An organization’s crisis team, along with emergency responders, can use SituMap to identify where people should be during a specific crisis,” said Maresh-Fuehrer. “With this application, responders can even view floor plans. This could help to identify safe locations such as fire exits and stairwells.”

    PhotoSorter works in tandem with SituMap by allowing emergency responders, crisis planners and community members to share pictures or video of the crisis. Emergency responders can then upload the photos and video into SituMap to help in important decision-making situations.

    SituMap and PhotoSorter were designed and developed at the Island University by Smith. The University Police Department is currently using a beta version of SituMap in training sessions.

    In today’s digital world, people all over the globe can be connected through social media and, with the touch of a button, information about a major accident can be shared worldwide. With SituMap, important responders, as well as the community, can see real-time information on traffic congestion, roadblocks, and closed roads, which will aid in faster response times. The app also has a weather feature built into it which could be used during severe weather events such as a hurricane.

  • StarChase Uses GPS for Safer Police Pursuits

    StarChase Uses GPS for Safer Police Pursuits

    Thousands of high-speed pursuits by law enforcement take place in the U.S. every year, which can endanger other vehicles and property. A new product aimed at law enforcement is designed to help police track cars during these high-speed chases.

    The StarChase system pursuit reduction technology contains a miniature GPS module encased in a tracking projectile/tag and a launcher mounted on a police vehicle. During a pursuit, a GPS tracker tag is shot with compressed air out of a patrol car’s hood onto the car being pursued, to identify the vehicle.

    The compressed-air launcher, mounted behind the grille of a police cruiser, uses a laser to target the fleeing vehicle. It discharges a projectile/tag containing the GPS module. The projectile adheres to the suspect vehicle and transmits coordinates back to dispatch. The dispatcher then views the location and movements of the tagged vehicle in near real-time on a digital road map via a secure Internet connection.

    Through the efficient use of technology, a high-speed chase has been replaced with a safer interdiction strategy, according to the company.

    The StarChase mapping platform is a secure, scalable Web-based solution that does not require special hardware to operate. It is compatible with existing CAD and AVL systems.

    The StarChase compressed air launcher under the hood.
    The StarChase compressed air launcher under the hood.
    The StarChase projectile.
    The StarChase projectile.
    Tagged vehicles are tracked by dispatch.
    Tagged vehicles are tracked by dispatch.

     

  • Cambridge Consultants Unveils Indoor Locator System

    Cambridge Consultants Unveils Indoor Locator System

    Tracking_O

    New technology from product development firm Cambridge Consultants can accurately detect someone’s location indoors when GPS drops out. A number of sensors and a custom algorithm determine the location, with an accuracy of within approximately 1 percent of the distance traveled.

    Close_up-WThe technology uses low-power, low-cost sensors and the device concept is small enough to clip on a belt. It also doesn’t need any existing internal infrastructure.

    “We are excited about the many possibilities this cutting-edge technology opens up and the impact it can have in many different situations,” said Geoff Smithson, technology director, sensing systems, at Cambridge Consultants. “It could be used to help locate firefighters in smoke-filled buildings, for example, or to pinpoint the closest doctor in a hospital during an emergency — or to track offenders during home curfews. We are just starting to see the potential of this approach and the diverse demand for this type of low-energy, highly accurate system.”

    Indoor tracking systems, which process data from one or more sources of location information to estimate where a person or object is located, are not new. But they often rely on RF signals from Wi-Fi access points or custom infrastructure, poor-quality GPS signals or expensive, high-quality sensors. The availability of low-cost smartphone components — including accelerometers, gyroscopes, magnetometers and pressure sensors — has enabled a new generation of location devices and applications, when combined with a tailored Bayesian algorithm to fuse the information.

    Handset-WThe new technology platform can be embedded in an existing design or operate as a stand-alone unit, with options to compute the location locally or transmit the information to a remote system that can process the data before visualizing it on a smartphone app.

    “Our biggest challenges were developing an algorithm which optimally combines the data from GPS and the other sensors, and overcoming the issues of using such low-cost sensors in a system without any absolute location reference,” said Smithson.

    Cambridge Consultants specializes in developing low-cost, low-power connected devices for clients with a team of experts with sensing, wireless and software  engineering expertise. The latest technology builds on the company’s tracking and location systems experience in a variety of market sectors ranging from defense and security to consumer, industrial, and oil and gas.

  • Out in Front: When the Gavel Comes Down

    By Alan Cameron

    Perhaps you don’t track suspected criminals in your spare time, nor do you design or supply a GNSS product that does so. Still, the fresh Supreme Court ruling on GPS use for this purpose reverberates for you, in ways yet unknown. The most interesting part of the court’s ruling pops up in a somewhat open-ended “what if” comment concerning future issues that at least one justice thinks the court should address.

    GPS trackers are a form of search, and police must obtain a search warrant to use them, the court unanimously ruled. This comes as a setback to government and police agencies who increasingly rely on GPS surveillance. Justice Scalia said the government’s installation of a GPS device to monitor a vehicle’s movements constitutes a search and violates the Fourth Amendment’s protection against unreasonable search and seizure.

    Justice Samuel Alito further said the court should address how expectations of privacy affect whether warrants are required for remote surveillance using electronic methods that do not require the police to install equipment, such as GPS tracking of mobile telephones. “If long-term monitoring can be accomplished without committing a technical trespass — suppose for example, that the federal government required or persuaded auto manufacturers to include a GPS tracking device in every car — the court’s theory would provide no protection,” Alito wrote.

    This, or its exact counterpart, has already occurred in cell phones: government-mandated location technology embedded in all devices, over a sliding timescale that comes to maturity, or full application, fairly soon.

    The words “no protection” in Justice Alito’s opinion appear to state that personal cell-phone records are open season to government investigators. Such has already been the case in a number of instances.

    Murkier than government use — if such a concept is conceivable — is commercial use of a consumer’s location data. In other words, privacy. This issue has been raised since GPS-enabled phones were first theorized, and since the very whisper of the first location-based service, but it has never been fully or adequately addressed by anyone in industry or government.The notion of “granting permission” to use one’s location data, in order to benefit from services thus provided, still seems unresolved to me.

    Presumably, we are all waiting around for a test case, such as that of the Jeep owner in the Supreme Court just now. With LBS poised — same as it ever was — on the brink of widespread acceptance, it might benefit everyone if such a case came sooner rather than later.

  • Supreme Court Rules Warrant Needed for GPS Tracking

    GPS trackers are a form of search, and to use them police must have a search warrant, according to a U.S. Supreme Court ruling today. The high court issued a unanimous ruling that a search warrant is required before police slap a GPS tracker on a criminal suspect’s vehicle to monitor the suspect’s movements, reports the Associated Press.

    The decision was a defeat for the government and police agencies that increasingly rely on GPS surveillance. A GPS device installed by police on Washington, D.C., nightclub owner Antoine Jones’ Jeep helped them link him to a suburban house used to stash money and drugs. He was sentenced to life in prison before the appeals court overturned the conviction.

    Associate Justice Antonin Scalia said that the government’s installation of a GPS device, and its use to monitor the vehicle’s movements, constitutes a search. The court ruled that GPS monitoring on the Jeep violates the Fourth Amendment’s protection against unreasonable search and seizure.

    Justice Samuel Alito said the court should address how expectations of privacy affect whether warrants are required for remote surveillance using electronic methods that do not require the police to install equipment, such as GPS tracking of mobile telephones, reports AP. “If long-term monitoring can be accomplished without committing a technical trespass — suppose for example, that the federal government required or persuaded auto manufacturers to include a GPS tracking device in every car — the court’s theory would provide no protection,” Alito said.