DHS S&T, St. Louis in Smart Cities Integration Pilot
The Department of Homeland Security Science and Technology Directorate, the city of St. Louis, Mo., and the Open Geospatial Consortium, have initiated a smart cities technology integration for public safety. S&T says the pilot, which is taking place at the T-REX technology innovation center in the city, will research, design, and test the Smart City Interoperability Reference Architecture (SCIRA) as an interoperable framework that integrates commercial proprietary Internet of Things sensors for public safety applications at the community level. “The goals of the SCIRA pilot is to integrate and test existing real-world technologies that can augment, and even improve, all day-to-day city operations and emergency response capabilities,” says S&T. “The pilot will test the technologies’ performances and ability to enhance public safety via a series of major flooding, flash flooding, vulnerable population outreach, and building fire scenarios.”
DetectaChem Provides Support to NYC for 9/11 Activities
DetectaChem said it provided support to New York City law enforcement and counter-terrorism teams during activities related to the anniversary of the Sept. 11 2001 terrorist attacks. The company’s SEEKERe handheld trace explosive and drug detectors have been in use for threat screening at various high-profile transportation hubs in the city. During the recent 9/11 activities, DetectaChem provided additional SEEKERe units and product training experts to support a security surge at major transportation hubs in Manhattan and surrounding New Jersey areas.
L3Harris Introduces Robotic System for Public Safety Operations
L3Harris Technologies [LHX] has introduced the T4 medium-sized tracked robot for security operations in urban and space-constrained environments. The company says the T4 is “ideal” for hazardous material, explosive ordnance disposal, and SWAT missions. The company says the T4 provides the same ruggedness as its larger, military-grade T7 robot. L3Harris says the T4 “provides operators with human-like dexterity and haptic force feedback from the robot arm to the remote-control handgrip, a first of its kind capability for a medium-sized robot.” L3Harris demonstrated the T4 prototype at its stand at the DSEI conference in London from Sept. 10 to 13.
Elbit Introduces Vehicle-Based Counter-Drone System
Israel’s Elbit Systems [ESLT] has introduced a vehicle-based anti-drone system based on its field proven and operational ReDrone system. The ReDrone Vehicular Tactical System is meant to answer the increasing demand for protection of vehicles and convoys against hostile drones. The system detects, identifies and neutralizes all types of drones at any radio frequency within a radius of several kilometers, providing a vehicle with 360-dgree protection. ReDrone can be used in stationary or on-the-move scenarios around-the-clock and in all weather conditions. The system can operate in manual and automated modes. The system can also track a drone and an operator’s remote control signals.
DHS Certifies Ameristar’s Active and Passive Barriers under SAFETY Act
Ameristar, an ASSA ABLOY company, has received SAFETY Act designation and certification for a number of its active and passive barriers, giving the company limited liability protections in the event of a terrorist attack involving its products. Ameristar says it now has 11 SAFETY Act barrier products such as bollards, fences and cable systems.