Electronic Security of Homes

                         Security of homes whether in flats or independent houses is yet another concern, especially for those who are out for a job or vacation with none to stay in the abode. In addition, when a lady is alone in the house, she is always worried about who is at the door. The door eye       installed at the entrance door is not good enough as the intruder keeps himself/herself away to avoid the face being seen by the occupant of the house. The following suggestions may be adopted to enhance the security of the house.

                Video Door Phone. In the existing environment, many builders install video door phones at the entrance of the house/flat. On arrival of an individual at the door, once the individual presses the door bell, the persons inside gets to see the image of the individual on the screen/s installed in the house. The door is opened only when the person is known or is expected. There is two way communication system along with the device, which enables the person inside to talk to the person at door. In larger complexes where the Number of flats or houses are more and entrances to the complex are manned by security guards, an integrated video door phone system can be installed. On arrival of an individual at the gate, the security guard makes a query and then rings up the house where the person wants to go. The house owner can see the image of the person on the screen inside the house, if required can talk to the person and then give clearance to the security guard to let the person in.  

                Entry of Vehicles in Gated Housing Complexes. Many gated housing complexes use security guards to permit entry of vehicles inside the complex. The gates can be electronically controlled to open and shut. Each vehicle owned by occupants of the complex is installed with a small chip (RFID), this chip has details of the vehicles and the owner, on arrival at the gate, the RFID chip on the vehicle is read by the device installed at the gate, if the data of the vehicle is inserted in the system, the gate opens automatically to let the vehicle in and then closes. The system also records the time of entry & exit. Only one vehicle is permitted to enter by the system at one time. The tail gating (another vehicle following the lead vehicle) is obviated. This system thus avoids presence of security guard at the gate all the time. If a visitor wishes to enter with a vehicle, depending upon the availability of parking of visitor vehicles, necessary entry is made in the system and the vehicle is permitted inside by security guard by manually operating the gate. On exit the security guard makes a note and enters in the system. Installation of CCTV cameras at the gate can assist in identifying the driver and registration plate of the vehicle. The images captured by the CCTV camera are stored the system and can be seen when required.

                Use of CCTV cameras to Track/Identify Individuals entering housing complex towers. In many gated complexes there are many towers housing large No of flats. In order to track the person entering in the tower, CCTV cameras are installed at relevant locations including the lifts. These CCTV cameras record the video images of entry and exit on devices known as DVR. The video images stored inside the DVR can be seen when required. If required, video management software installed in DVR can provide an alarm if the a person enters restricted area or enters the tower after stipulated time, say after 2200 hours. The alarm can be seen and heard by security guards to take further action.

                Keeping an eye on security personnel. In many large gated complexes, security personnel are required to patrol the area along a specified route at night as well as day. In some cases the patrolling activity is required to be repeated. To ensure that patrolling is carried out as per regulations laid down, a system can be installed. Each security guard required to undertake patrolling activity is issued with a device. At required locations along the route specified, RFID chips are installed, the location of these chips need not be known to security guards. The device available with patrolling guard notes down the details of the chip when the guard approaches the RFID chip, the time of visit is noted in the device. When the device is attached to the security computer system, a record is maintained and can be checked when required. To avoid proxy patrolling at each given location, bio-metric identification devices can be installed at required locations along the patrolling route, these devices can identify a person based on his/her finger print or palm or iris. The guard undertaking the patrolling activity is required to identify himself/herself with bio metric device installed.

                Use of Fiber Optic Cable. In large housing complexes instead laying numerous types of cables to install CCTV cameras, communication system, TV facilities, Fiber optic cable can be installed. Due to large amount of band width available on this cable, it can be used to install all above mentioned devices. This saves effort as also obviates laying of various different types of cables for each device.

                Security of Independent Houses/Bungalows. Independent houses/bungalows pose an additional challenge of security. The following methods can be used to ensure the security/ provision of early warning.

·        CCTV cameras located outside the house can be focused on compound walls/fence. The video images can be stored in DVR for required time limit. Video management software can generate an electronic/sound alarm whenever the wall or fence is breached by an outsider.

·         Another method is use of intrusion detection devices. These devices are installed at given intervals along the wall or fence. They emit electromagnetic beam, whenever the beam is disrupted, an alarm is generated and gives warning of intrusion. These devices can also be installed at windows or doors of the house. The alarms can be generated inside the house as well as on smart phone. Whenever the house owner is away, the alarm generated on smart phone gives warning to take further action.  

·         The walls of house can be installed with vibration detection devices, whenever an effort is made to breach the wall, an alarm is generated.

·         Video door phone can be installed at the entrance gate to identify a person wishing to enter the area.

Electronic Security For Schools & Other Educational Institutions

In recent years, there have been instances wherein the children have been molested in schools, some children have been kidnapped by drivers who take them to and from schools. Unfortunately, the school authorities raise their hands up or try to suppress the mishap or palm it off to some other aspect. Many educational institutions are clueless whether their students attend classes or otherwise. The attendance roll also does not help as there are many proxies who submit attendance of their friends who are absent.

I will first tackle the issue of safety of children in schools. The threats involved are as follows:-

·         Molestation of a child while in school in toilets or other locations which are away from the eyes of school management.

·         School management being unaware whether the child has left school or otherwise.

·         Molestation of a child in school bus or other transport.

·         Kidnapping while on way home in a transport.

There is a requirement of installing CCTV cameras at the entrance and exit of toilets. One cannot install CCTV camera inside the toilet as it is unethical and also compromises privacy of the students. The CCTV cameras can be connected to a video recording device, termed as DVR. The recordings can be kept for 30 days and after that it can be automatically erased by means of software called video analytics. The video analytic software also has a feature which emits an alarm if after at a particular time there is a movement in the area which is not expected to be visited by anyone. For night viewing of the video, the cameras can be equipped with Infra Red devices. These aspects can help in identifying a culprit and can also be used to set up an alarm if the particular area has been intruded upon after the school is closed.   

In order to check whether the child has left the school or otherwise, the school authorities can install a chip on the identity card of each student. The chip will have details of the child. The technique is known as RFID. Readers located at various places in the school premises read each chip and store the data in the system, this data can be checked to identify time at which the child was at the particular location. The data regarding entry of the child in the school, visit to various locations which are sensitive from safety point of view and exit from school premises can be noted by the system and the same can be retrieved when required. If such a system is installed, there is no requirement of class attendance calls as the presence of the child is already recorded in the system.

There are three ways to obviate molestation of a child while in transport. If the school has its own buses, CCTV cameras with DVR can be installed to keep an eye on the events that take place in the bus. The child can also be given a watch like device mounted with GPS and an alarm. The location of the child can be traced by parents/school authorities either on smart phones or laptop/computer. In case the child senses danger, he/she can activate the alarm on the device and intimate the parents or school authorities. Each school bus should be installed with a GPS device to facilitate check on its location. If the bus deviates from the specified route an alarm can be set up at control centre in school premises and the driver can be accosted or Police can be intimated.

Educational institutions imparting education to children above 16 years of age can keep a check on entry and exit of the students by installing an RFID chip in the identity card to obviate all issues related to attendance or location of the student in institute premises. There are bio metric devices in form of finger print/palm reader or iris reader available which defeats the attendance by a proxy. Many institutions prefer bio metric devices.

CCTV cameras have also been installed by many schools in class rooms, these cameras are a good source to keep a check on activities of teachers as well as students while they are in classrooms.  

It may be noted that above aspects will cost money, but they will ensure adequate safety of children and will also keep the culprits away from committing heinous crimes. I am quite sure that parents will not mind a little extra payment to school authorities to ensure fool proof safety of their children.

Safety & Security of Children & Senior Citizens

Safety & Security of Children & Senior Citizens

                In the environment existing in Indian cities and towns, the concept of nuclear families is prevalent. In addition, the old people are generally neglected and left on their own. Many old persons, who can afford, stay in Old Age Homes. While some of the Homes for Old do look after them, others do not bother much. The parents of children who are working are always worried about safety and security of the children who are at school or are at home with maids. There have been cases wherein children have been kidnapped while going to or returning from schools, some maids had tied up with beggars to take the child for begging and many relatives of old people are worried about safety and health of the old parents who are on their own or are located in Old age Homes. In order to obviate the above mentioned issues, the succeeding paragraphs have suggested electronic solutions to obviate the problems.

                In order to keep a constant tag on children, there are devices that have GPS mounted in them and have also an alarm in case required when the safety or health of the child is affected. These devices can be designed in shape of wrist watches and children guided to wear them all the time whenever they are out of home. The parents can track their location on smart phones, the GPS mounted in device always indicates its location and the map in the smart phone of the parent/s tracks the same. In case of an emergency, the child has to press the alarm button on the device and the parent/s receive the alarm on their smart phone/s for further action. The same device can be worn by old people even when they are at home and alarm can be initiated in case of an emergency.

                Some schools have CCTV cameras installed in classrooms as well as other important locations of in the school premises. If these cameras are digital, the images captured by camera/s can be video streamed to the laptops or smart phones of the parents. The parents can connect their laptops/smart phones on the unique IP address of the particular camera and see their child. Similar system can be installed in homes wherein the children are left in the care of maids for a longer duration while the parents are away at their job. Even to keep an eye on old people at home to obviate any mishap similar system can be installed.