RFID, GPS Technology and Electronic Surveillance

“Smart Cards” to Track Brit Bus Passengers

Passengers could carry electronic tags to use buses and trains under plans being examined by the Government.

December 26, 2009

Telegraph - Sophisticated technology would not only consign the paper ticket to history, but would also make redundant touch-in-touch-out cards, such as the Oyster used in London.

Instead passengers would board buses and trains equipped with readers capable of monitoring their journey from the tags and charging them the correct fare automatically.

Research into what is known as "Be in be out" technology was commissioned by the Department for Transport and published earlier this month.

The work has been carried out alongside the consultation into "smart ticketing" which was launched earlier in the year.

"It will make using public transport much faster,' said Jeremy Acklam one of the authors of the research. "The technology would reduce boarding time on buses," he added.

It could also allow train operators to get rid of the existing cumbersome system of electronic gates, which have to admit passengers onto the platform individually. Instead it would work on the assumption that the majority of travellers are intending to pay their fare. In the case of a station, the gates would only shut if somebody tries to board without a tag. On a bus, the technology would mean that the driver could demand payment if somebody tries to walk past a reader without the electronic tag.

The electronic tag could be fitted as a chip on a plastic card - which would remain in the passenger's pocket - or be embedded into a mobile phone.

The chip would take payment from a passenger's individual account which, if it works on the same basis as the Oyster system in London, would have to be kept in credit.

The use of what is known as automatic payment is growing. Westminster and Southampton councils are both planning to introduce "wave and go" technology for parking, with motorists touching a new generation of credit and debit card against a reader on the meter.

Richard Hebditch of the Campaign for Better Transport, welcomed the proposals, but sounded a note of caution.

"It would offer a lot of benefits and cut operating costs. But we should not get hung up on the technology; there needs to be a good transport product to sell."

Lost Couple Can't Blame GPS, Air Force Says

December 30, 2009

Space.com - The U.S. Air Force wants to set the record straight: Neither aging GPS satellites nor a weak GPS signal were responsible for an elderly couple getting stranded in the woods for several days after following directions in their GPS-enabled SUV.

On Christmas day, John Rhoads, 65, and his wife, Starry Bush-Rhoads, 67, drove their vehicle down a remote road in eastern Oregon, where it became stuck in 1-1/2 feet of snow. The couple was stranded for three days before authorities located them using a faint signal emitted by the couple's GPS-enabled phone.

Some news reports of the couple's adventure were accompanied by headlines such as "GPS Strands Couple and Then Saves Them: Aging Satellites?"

On Tuesday, the Air Force Space Command (AFSPC), which operates the suite of satellites that make up the GPS system, used Twitter to clear up the misconception.

Writing under the Twitter username @AFSpace, AFSPC said:

"While we do not want to speculate on what caused the couple to get stuck in the snow; the cause was not due to the GPS signal."

AFSPC spokesperson Toni Tones said the current GPS constellation is the most capable in the history of the program.

"Since the inception of us putting it up in 1995, it has exceeded our performance requirements, and we are very proud to offer this service to the general public," Tones told LiveScience.

Tones declined to speculate about why the Rhoads were stranded, but expressed confidence that it wasn't due to the satellites.

"All I can say is that the signals that are coming down are very strong and healthy," she said, "so I would have to defer those kinds of questions to [manufacturers] such as Garmin and others that are providing the GPS devices."

That's because even though AFSPC operates the GPS satellites that emit the signal that consumer GPS devices use, they do not create or update the maps that run on the devices, and they are not involved in calculating the routes between destinations.

Tones added that the GPS constellation is designed to be redundant: There are 30 GPS currently in space, but only 24 of them are active at any one time.

The remainder serve as backups in case one of the other satellites malfunctions or if one of them is being upgraded, which happens every few months.

"In the event that one of our satellites fails, we can immediately have another one up to have the full coverage that we need," Tones said.

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Super Big Brother Cameras with Thermal Imaging Recognize Faces, License Plates and Give Orders to Citizens

December 16, 2009

hounslowguardian.co.uk - CCTV cameras that have the potential to talk to passersby have gone live across Hounslow – but Big Brother will not be speaking just yet. Instead, the cameras, which can be fitted with technology to recognise faces and give people a ticking off through speakers, will remain silent as they keep a watchful eye on about 200 hot spots in the borough.

The new community safety system launched on Monday in Isleworth, enabling Hounslow Council and the police to monitor thousands of people from a lone control room. It is staffed 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Specially trained operators will have full control over the cameras, and police will be able to take over if an incident occurs that they need to keep tabs on.

In the future, the cameras could be installed with thermal imaging technology to help search for suspects and missing people, and a gadget to match faces and number plates against the police database, as well as speakers.

However, a council spokesman stressed:

“The option is there, but it is not something we are looking at at the minute.”

The control room is one of the first steps in a scheme to roll out more CCTV across the borough.

Camera locations are set by agencies including the council, police, and fire service.

Council leader, Councillor Peter Thompson, said:

“People consistently tell us they want more CCTV to make them feel safer on the borough’s streets.

“But we don’t just want to put in more cameras for the sake of it; they have to be put where they’re needed, and those that are already in place need to work better.

“People assume that just because there is a camera, the police can see what’s going on, but that isn’t the case at all. Different organisations have different cameras, and in the past these haven’t been shared as well as they could.”

Councillor Paul Fisher, lead member for community safety at the council, said the council’s £1.8m investment will also allow camera sharing with Transport for London.

He added:

“As the new system has a wireless element, it means it will be easier to deploy portable cameras to help tackle environmental crimes like fly-tipping and graffiti, which can have a massive negative impact on an area.”