Smart Cameras Blog

From CNET News.com:

Another gun shot detection system, called Redowl from iRobot, however this one is designed to be mobile (it works with the Packbot). Some quotes from the article:

the company announced a prototype system designed to pinpoint incoming rounds from rifles and mortars, and also to provide surveillance and targeting capabilities. The remote-controlled gear, named Redowl (short for “robot enhanced detection outpost with lasers), is designed to work with iRobot’s PackBot combat device.

Redowl features a laser pointer and illuminator, an acoustic localizer and classifier, a thermal imager, GPS (Global Positioning System), an infrared and daylight camera, and two wide-angle cameras. iRobot, which also makes the Roomba household vacuum robot, developed the Redowl system in conjunction with the Photonics Center at Boston University.

In field tests, the PackBot-Redowl combination had a success rate of 94 percent in locating the source of rounds fired from 9mm pistols, and M-16 and AK-rifles, at a range of more than 100 meters, the company said.

rshah Gunshot Detection, Vendors

From Northwest Indiana News:

After a successful pilot program, Chicago officials have installed 30 of the devices alongside video surveillance cameras in high-crime neighborhoods, with 12 more on the way, and dozens more to follow, Baker said.

In Los Angeles County, the sheriff’s department plans to deploy 20 units in a pilot test, and officials in Tijuana, Mexico, recently bought 353 units, Baker said. Police in Philadelphia and San Francisco are close to launching test programs of their own, and New Orleans and Atlanta have also made inquiries.

SENTRI is the brainchild of Safety Dynamics and Dr. Theodore Berger, director of the Center for Neural Engineering at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. Each SENTRI contains a library of acoustical patterns, or “sound signatures,” which Berger developed over several years.

Four microphones in the system differentiate gunshots from other noises like traffic and construction by measuring the unique decibel level of a bullet being shot out of a gun, and comparing the sound to its library. That way, a gunshot would activate the system, but a siren or a car backfiring would not, Baker said.

Adding the SENTRI to an existing surveillance camera is not cheap. The system costs between $4,000 and $10,000 per unit, but in Chicago they and the accompanying cameras are paid for with forfeiture money.

rshah Chicago, Gunshot Detection

From the Chicago Sun-Times:

Twenty-four police surveillance cameras will go up at CHA developments under a $1.1 million proposal expected to pass the Chicago Housing Authority board today. There are 39 cameras attached to utility poles around the city now.

he video recorders are housed in bulletproof, rectangular, blue-and-white boxes, with a blue flashing light on top. They’re called Police Operation Disruption devices, or PODs. They were first introduced in 2003. If a shot is fired nearby, the camera immediately turns toward it, follows the shooter and automatically calls 911.

Under the proposed deal, CHA will pay Huberman’s agency up to $1.1 million over five years to install, maintain and monitor the PODs.

Here is a picture of the cameras for the curious:

rshah Chicago, Gunshot Detection

From NBC5:

At a news conference at the Office of Emergency Management and Communications center, 1411 W. Madison St., OEMC Executive Director Ron Huberman, Harrison Area Deputy Chief of Patrol Charles Williams and Harrison District tactical unit officers displayed how a narcotics exchange caught on camera led to three arrests Feb. 9 at 4422 W. Madison St. The arrested were Evette Sanders, 49, of West Chicago, Ruby Moore, 46, of West Chicago, and Oscar Scott, 42, of Maywood.

The article notes the Sentri cameras use a gunshot detection system, night vision, bulletproof casing, and are connected wirelessly to the OEMC Center.

Here is how the arrests occured:

Information Services Sgt. Gregory Hoffman was monitoring surveillance cameras at the Operations Center when he said he noticed the suspects engaging and soliciting passersby at 4422 W. Madison St. for about 15 minutes. From a camera a block away, Hoffman observed a hand-to-hand transaction being made the morning of Feb. 9, and then contacted Harrison District Tactical Sgt. Michael Stack, Hoffman said at the news conference.

Another transaction was made with a man who jumped back into his car with the drugs in his pocket, and a third was made with a woman who walked away into a vacant lot with her purchase, according to Hoffman.

Stack and his team of plain-clothes officers, who went to the scene from the Harrison District headquarters after being called by Hoffman, made the three arrests without incident within 20 minutes after receiving the call, Stack said. Two of those arrested were a man and a woman dealing at the site, while the third arrest was the woman seen buying drugs, according to Hoffman. He did not know the names of which suspects were selling and which was a buyer. Twelve packets of heroin were recovered from the suspects, according to an OEMC news release.

The article notes the cameras can focus several blocks away allowing officers to see faces, read lips, and even the hair on a hand. This allows them to pinpoint where suspects are carrying drugs on their body.

rshah Chicago, Gunshot Detection

“Gangs fear camera that focuses on guns” from the Times Online

The article has some details on the gunshot detection cameras.

The cameras are known as Sentri (Smart Sensor Enabled Neural Threat Recognition and Identification). They cost $32,000 each. They can detect a gunshot within 350m and zoom in on the source. Chicago has 5 of the cameras and will add 80 more this year. Los Angeles is also testing the camera system. (In LA, TV stations are bidding to fund Sentris, because the winner will be exclusive crime stories and footage of the incidents.)

The technology was designed by Theodore Berger, director for neural engineering at the University of Southern California and co-founder of Safety Dynamics. He used neural nets to train the computers for what a 45-calibre gunfire sounds like, while ignoring other noises such as a car backfiring. He has another project working on recognizing specific words such as “explosives” in a noisy environment.

He is funded by the Office of Naval Research in Arlington. They are testing a mobile version of Sentri. The project named Gun Slinger uses a Humvee allterrain vehicle fitted with a small “listening” mast; if it detects gunfire, vehicle-mounted machineguns swivel in the direction of the sound to help soldiers to aim.

rshah Chicago, Gunshot Detection