Communications EquipmentPersonal communicators enhance campus safety

Mar 1, 1999 12:00 PM, DR. ADAM THERMOS

A new wave of security technology is gaining acceptance, as communities and campuses across the country warm to miniature radio frequency (RF) pendants and communicator devices.In the past, RF-based personal communicators were perceived as related to panic situations and medical emergencies. Today, they serve a variety of needs, although the limited-use perception of the devices persists.The communication/location devices are land-based RF transmitters that allow a signal to travel between the user and the service provider. A single personal communicator device and a single reception device operate as an invisible straight line from point A to point B. Simple point-to-point connectivity immediately identifies the user, the service requested and the location of the requesting party.Few companies offer these technologies and applications to corporate or academic campuses. Among them is a new company in Dallas - Personal Security and Safety Systems Inc. The company offers the Personal 911 System with a locator device called the Smarty. The system has a simple, ingenious and patented design. It continually monitors a known geographical area, such as a campus or town, for detection and location of small personal transmitters. Once a subscriber signals for assistance, the location (within 50 feet) and status of the individual is displayed on a computer screen map of the area. Simultaneously, the screen displays information such as medical history, photograph and ADA needs.Concurrently, the system displays the location of the police or security officers on patrol to facilitate a quick and accurate dispatch.The response is important to the victim, whose problem could be anything from crime to a diabetic crisis to a car rollover on an icy highway. Just as cell phones provide security for adults, imagine the peace of mind afforded by a personal communicator carried by college freshmen. Further, with a locator, all the pertinent emergency information is transmitted automatically - important when an individual is under duress.

A versatile technologyToday, we associate personal communicators with crime alarms or medical emergencies. However, they can be used for on-line/off-line access control, remote status reports, personnel finders, travel locators, hospital beeper identifiers, service devices, time-and-attendance management, vehicle control and parking management. The potential is endless.Low cost - due to miniaturization and volume production - is driving usage. Like cell phones, personal communicators are leased and have no intrinsic value, but create profit through service fees. Communities and institutions benefit because they are not burdened by installation costs.The devices can also provide the on-line and off-line services afforded by magnetic stripe or proximity cards used for dining, door access, toll charges and banking. In the manner of RF smart cards, the devices put out RF that is essentially a coded signal. They have a computer chip "on board," enabling multiple functions. Eventually, more applications will serve more everyday needs from the same encoded RF signal.Simple to install and operate, RF personal communicators do not need wiring, piping, WAN/LAN transmitting protocols, database configurations or costly integration of hardware and software platforms. The communicators are expected to bypass a great number of superstructures, such as hardware and software support.

Growth likelyIt is no secret that most of the remote sensing technologies have roots in military applications, as did the Internet. And just as the Internet evolved into the phenomenon we know today, alarm pendants are expected to become the full-service personal communicators of the future. Currently, security and medical assistance applications lead the way. But due to minimal infrastructure requirements, streamlined protocols, unlimited interfaces and point-to-point direct communication capabilities, a new world of personal communications is on the horizon.Campuses are likely to embrace the technology for its simplicity, immediacy of service and low budgetary requirements. The devices do not mark the school as an epicenter of criminal activity. To the contrary, they define the school as a visionary institution that cares about the quality and immediacy of personal communication and location services. Additionally, they protect the school from unnecessary liability and litigation. Many communities and campuses approach the technology with trepidation, but it is based more on perception than reality. The devices will provide benefits and payback, despite the initial price. Already, student laptops, card-based access control systems and smart cards for dining and laundry operations have proven to be worth the investment.At great cost, we arm our police and security officers with radios and RF transmitters, yet refuse to make the same technology and service available to our students, faculty and staff, even though they will directly or indirectly bear the small cost per semester.It is only a matter of time before corporations and academic communities realize the benefits of RF personal communicators. Current security devices will not disappear, but it will be evident immediately - both in terms of budgets and in terms of operations - that RF personal communicators are here to stay. They will expand into a diversity of services limited only by our imagination.

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