To date this has required either a multitude of niche solutions feeding multiple streams of information into a Control Room or a range of complex integrations of proprietary data to try and bring them all into a single platform.
In the new world of smart and safe cities, “converged solutions” become the natural processing and workflow engine for new types of “contact”, beyond the traditional telephone call from a member of the public, that require specific management and resource deployment.
Using the configurable and granular workflows that join our solutions together, ControlWorks® can be deployed as the operational hub of a smart, safe and secure infrastructure. An open API allows a vast array of external sensors and data sources to integrate with an organisation’s internal systems to provide a truly integrated and flexible platform.
Inputs from external sources provide triggers into ControlWorks®; generating incidents and providing key intelligence and operational information to assist during the management phase.
Convergence can, therefore, happen at the Control Room but, importantly, also needs to include wider data sources to truly deliver a public safety platform.
The interconnectivity of intelligence systems, either owned by the organisation or through partner agencies, using ControlWorks® as the operational hub, provides an automated and/or manual ability to surface additional context to an event, enabling an informed response, even in instances when minimal information is provided by the initial triggering system.
Use Case 1 – Home Automation
Typically home automation would not be accepted as a source of a trigger, with the common home smart smoke alarm not being reliable enough to warrant a response. Instead, the simple activation of the home smart smoke alarm may trigger an event prompting the interrogation and analysis of other registered smart devices in the vicinity to provide a higher level of operational awareness, allowing a more informed response to be provided. The activation of the smoke alarm not only creates an event in ControlWorks®, but then prompts other devices to provide information such as heat, humidity, light levels, etc.
Use Case 2 – Video Analytics
A video analytics system, responsible for facial recognition, triggers an event, automatically in ControlWorks® with simple information, such as date, time, location and person details used to populate initial data. Automated searches are carried out in connected back-end systems to provide warning markers, flags, previous occurrences, potential duplicate events, nearby operational information, known links and further context to the subject, as well as the event. This enhanced data is presented to operators and used to propose a response and allocate resources accordingly.
Use Case 3 – Proximity/Zone sensors
Vibration sensors within a security system are triggered at a low level, prompting an automated low-level event within ControlWorks®. Rather than being raised to the attention of an operator, the basic details such as event, location, date/ time, are stored. Within a defined time period, if another sensor within the same system, or in the same vicinity is triggered (a door contact sensor for example), the event is raised for attention, automatically displaying any low-level triggers which normally would not have been cause for concern.
The days of a member of the public calling 999, 911, 112 are on the wane with a range of non-voice services being deployed to suit our ever-changing digital world.
Being able to integrate these new contact channels alongside the traditional ones as well as integrating inputs from automated, IoT sensor driven alerts is core to delivering a smart and safe city.
To find out more on ControlWorks visit www.capita-sss.com/control-works
