Smart lamp posts to help report emergencies

A Smart Guidance Pillar, which allows members of the public to report emergencies with the click of a button will be installed in Dubai soon, said a senior official at the Intersec on Sunday.
The smart guidance pillars (lamp posts) will initially be installed by Dubai Civil Defence and Dubai Silicon Oasis Authority (DSOA) in the DSOA area on a trial basis and then in other part of the city. The new device was on display at Intersec 2015 on Sunday.
Intersec 2015 was inaugurated by Sheikh Mansour bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, and will run from January 18-20 in Dubai. Intersec is considered the world's largest security, safety, and fire protection trade show, as it features 1,237 exhibitors from 54 countries with more than 2,000 brands.
The Smart Guidance Pillar is a solar-powered lamp post, which has a camera, an emergency button, an intercom-like device and an electronic signboard. Colonel Rashid bin Massam Al Buflaseh, Civil Defence General-Director's Office Manager, told Gulf News that the pillar will be tried out in its first phase within Silicon Oasis.
"The pillar (like a lamppost) will not only provide light but it will allow the public to report any emergencies with the click of a button. People can report things like a traffic accident, a fire or even a suspicious vehicle or seek assistance,” he said.
He added that after the trial phase, it is planned that these lamp post swill have direct links with the operations rooms of Dubai Police and the Civil Defence.
Girish Parokode, Senior Associate Manager of Automation and Security Systems at DSOA, said that the trial phase will see 100 of these pillars installed in the DSOA free zone community.
"They will be installed as part of the Smart City initiative, and will initially only be connected to the DSOA operations room during the trial phase.”
No exact date was given for the completion of the trial phase.
The lamp post provides 24/7 live video footage to the operation room it is linked to.
When the emergency button is pressed and the link is established, the person can talk to operations room personnel through the intercom, and the operations room receives the exact coordinates of the person so they can respond to the emergency.
"The electronic signboard can be programmed to transmit any message. We can transmit the same message to all the boards, or choose to send different message to different boards.” Parokode said, explaining that the boards will be useful to send instructional messages to people.
Intersec 2015 is held under the patronage of Sheikh Mansour and is supported by Dubai Police, Dubai Civil Defence, and the Dubai Police Academy.
Analysts have found that the global security market continues to grow by 5.5 per cent annually, however, the demand in the Middle East is estimated to be double that, as regional governments spend heavily on surveillance systems to protect against threats of crime, smuggling and illegal immigration. This is expected to push up the sales of network surveillance systems by 89 per cent by 2016 according to global analysts Frost and Sullivan.
Source: Gulf News