Safety and Security

Safety at public places can only be guaranteed when information about accidents and disasters can quickly be detected, sensed, communicated and acted upon. Interpretation of events is only possible, however, when there is enough knowledge available about the local situation and what kind of behavior of the supporting services would be appropriate. Safety is therefore much dependent on the correct interpretation and insight in the opportunities and possibilities to react quickly.

Emergency services (police, ambulances, etc) can perform better when they have a complete and up-to-date view of the situation and a good insight in possible actions that could be initiated. ICT can have great impact. Wrong interpretations, incorrect decisions and lacking communications may have disastrous results. Every chain in the information and communication pipeline is crucial: is a camera observing standard behavior or is it defiant? Is there only one gas sensor giving an alarm or also the neighboring sensors? "Fusion of information" is a crucial problem! Not only the fixed structure of the communication architecture is important, but also whether it is flexible and can dynamically adapt to the local needs (a reliable multicast is always better than an insecure general broadcast). Is there a ‘shared awareness’ and can information correctly be gathered and distributed? Emergency services often form a de facto ‘ad hoc’ network that can benefit from recent developments in network technology.

CTIT groups, also in the context of NIRICT, work with industry to develop safety services and products, and in the IIP Security and Privacy.