The smart vest is said to give police “eyes in their back”
A student team at Hanze University of Applied Sciences Groningen have helped to develop a smart safety vest for the police. The design uses a camera, artificial intelligence and a vibration device: it starts to vibrate when someone aims at – or threatens the wearer of the vest. As repoerted by the GIC.
The vest makes real-time decisions with 5G, artificial intelligence (which is problematic) and edge computing. The innovation was rewarded with the first prize during a 5G Student Battle.
The smart safety vest aims to increase the safety of the wearer on the street by giving the policeman (for example) extra “eyes” on their back. The vest is equipped with a camera, a 5G modem and a vibration actuator. As soon as a potential threat is registered by the AI via the camera on the back, for example with a weapon, the vest at the rear will vibrate, alerting the wearer.
The research behind the vest has looked at both technical and commercial feasibility. A prototype is also being tested, in which the smart safety vest gave a warning to the wearer within 1 second after detecting a threat.
5G communication
The latest generation of mobile 5G communication technology has been used in the smart vest. 5G has the option of sending many images with high quality (large bandwidth) with a low delay (latency). In various situations it is investigated whether the latency is low enough so that the vibration signal can be sent to the vest within a second, and whether it is also financially feasible.
Image (stock image) by Soumya Shrestha on Unsplash
