Police video links demonstrate Wi-Fi's DIY potential - First Mile - Do It Yourself - Brief Article

Telecom Asia, Dec, 2003 by John C. Tanner

While Wi-Fi is the current focus of industry hype, end-users have been coming up with their own ideas on how to apply cheap communications technology.

An interesting example is the police department of Seal Beach, California, which has devised a system that allows the dosed-circuit security video system of a bank or convenience store to be streamed live via IF' over a wireless link to a terminal in a police cruiser equipped with a video server. The system is alarm-triggered, so police can view the feed from the cruisers or at dispatch HQ if the bank initiates the connection, which would only be if a robbery were in progress.

"The problem we normally face in a situation like that is that if it's a false alarm, we won't know until we get there, and if it's not, we don't know how many suspects there are, what they look like, or what kind of weapons they have," says Dean Zanone, a retired sergeant from the Seal Beach Police Department who developed the A-TIP (Alarm-Triggered Internet Protocol) system.

Ingeniously, the system uses 802.11b access points installed voluntarily at the customer premises, allowing patrol officers to view the video from just outside the building. Also ingeniously, the system was designed to make IP the core element of the system, with dynamic configuration that allows officers to access the video feed via any access technology, be it a fixed line at dispatch HQ, a Wi-Fi connection or even a cellular link like GPRS or cdma2000 1x.

Businesses can sign up for this service, and some have even sprung for the cost of the access point and the backhaul which ranges from DSL to T1 leased lines.

One of the more striking elements of A-TIP is that it was all initially pieced together with off-the-shelf products. Cisco Systems, who is currently working with Zanone to promote the idea to police forces worldwide, including Asia, got involved well after the system generated local news coverage in California, and gave the force advice on improving performance and system security.

The people's Wi-Fi

The A-TIP system is one of a growing number of anecdotes that illustrate a growing trend of DIY telecoms solutions devised by end-users rather than service providers--a trend that some industry insiders have already recognized.

"Wi-Fi is very much a people-driven movement," says Anand Chandrasekher, VP and GM of Intel's Mobile Platforms group, citing examples ranging from construction companies that use Wi-Fi for on site plan revisions to the growing number of college campuses installing Wi-Fi systems--some of which are now becoming voice-enabled.

Meanwhile, vendors are working on ways to give Wi-Fi components more functionality. For example, US vendor Cognio has integrated TDOA-based location capability into Wi-Fi. Meanwhile, Nortel Networks, BT and MIT are trialing a new WLAN architecture with the goal of reducing backhaul costs 70% and installation and commissioning costs 75%.

Where this leaves service providers in the Wi-Fi evolution is unclear, though Chandrasekher notes that operators can offer a QoS aspect that DIY systems would be hard pressed to match. Certainly backhaul providers can benefit from projects like ATIP, as can cellcos--Zanone says that Sprint PCS actually asked the SBPD if it could provide ix connectivity for the system. If nothing else, a research project involving Ericsson, TeliaSonera Finland, Radionet and Helsinki University of Technology recently demonstrated the first vertical handover between Wi-Fi and GPRS.