Mobile Eagle Eye Tower Systems See Threats From Above

Are You Being Watched? Raytheon's unmanned blimp at this year's INDY 500. The blimp flying above your head may be watching your every move [ctrl-click for slideshow]. Image Credit: Raytheon Company

Mobile Eagle Eye Tower Systems See Threats From Above

Of all of the vehicles one encounters at this year's largest motorsports event, one doesn't expect that the one hanging around, attached to a guide wire, quietly floating along inconspicuously, is there to watch you and the 400,000 or so enthusiasts gathered to watch the spectacle on the ground.

At this year's INDY 500, held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, a new surveillance tool was deployed, tested, and passed its first major hurdle as an important part of a security and surveillance grid to be used at major crowd gatherings such as sporting events and street fairs. Street cameras, cop cars, helicopters and foot patrols are generally what this terrestrial platform helps to stitch together and develop a clearer understanding of the security challenges that exist today in an age of potential terrorism and terrorist acts.

The blimp airship developed and deployed by Raytheon features cameras and infrared sensors developed through military contracts for applications associated with battlefield surveillance is being adapted to aid in civilian applications of security and event research if a hostile act were to occur.

The fastest vehicle at the INDY 500, in terms of identifying and neutralizing a threat that would disrupt the action on the ground, may actually be hanging above the crowd, observing and sensing the action as it happens.

Raytheon developed the Rapid Aerostat Initial Deployment (RAID) Mobile Eagle Eye tower systems (in 2007) to protect U.S. and coalition forces in Iraq. The adapted civilian application of this technology is now being tested and deployed [ctrl-click for b-roll video from Newsweek]. Image Credit: Raytheon Company

This excerpted and edited from Newsweek Magazine -

Eye in the Sky: Raytheon's unmanned blimp at this year's Indy 500
By Kurt Soller | Newsweek Web Exclusive - Jun 11, 2009

At first glance, there was nothing special about the blimp floating high above the cars and crowd at this year's Indy 500 on Memorial Day weekend. Like most airships, it acted as an advertising vehicle; this time for the Fisher House, a charity focused on helping injured veterans and their families. But the real promo should have been for the blimp's creator, Raytheon, the security company best known for its weapons systems. Hidden inside the 55-foot-long white balloon was a powerful surveillance camera adapted from the technology Raytheon provides the U.S. military. Essentially an unmanned drone, the blimp transmitted detailed images to the race's security officers and to Indiana police. "The airship is great because it doesn't have that Big Brother feel, or create feelings of invasiveness," says Lee Silvestre, vice president of mission innovation in Raytheon's Integrated Defense division. "But it's still a really powerful security tool."

Until recently, Raytheon's eye-in-the-sky technology was used in Afghanistan and Iraq to guard American military bases, working as airborne guards against any oncoming desert threat. Using infrared sensors and a map overlay not unlike Google Earth, the technology scans a large area, setting important landmarks (say, the perimeter of a military base), and constantly relays video clips back to a command center. If a gun fires or a bomb is detonated, the airships can detect the noise and focus the camera—all from a mighty-high 500 feet.

After the success of the Indy 500 trial, the company is targeting police departments and sporting facilities that want to keep an eye on crowds that might easily morph into an unruly mob. "Large municipalities could find many uses for this [technology] once we figure out how to get it in their hands," says Nathan Kennedy, the blimp's project manager.

For now, cost might be the only thing preventing a blimp from appearing over your head. Raytheon won't disclose how much the system may eventually cost, but chances are it won't be cheap. For municipalities without a Pentagon-size police budget, the blimps' potential to display ads may assist with financing. Raytheon says local authorities could install a built-in LED screen to attract sponsors, generate revenue and defer operating costs.
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So, when it feels like someone is watching you ... look up and smile, you are being watched by that blimp advertising the money you could have saved by switching to ... Geico!

Tapping Into A New Vein On Biometrics

The vein patterns of each finger are unique, so each individual can register multiple fingers as "back-up" for authentication purposes. Registration is possible even for sweaty, oily or dirty fingers. Image Credit: HANDS in the NEWS

Tapping Into A New Vein On Biometrics

The growth in world of biometric authentication for access and security has been a slow and sometimes uncomfortable process. Most people do not feel happy about standing in front of a camera-like device, adjusting their position so that the device can take an image of the iris pattern of their eye for example … the process is invasive and cumbersome at best.

Fingerprint senseing technology has come a long way with its swipe and go approach … but, again, this process has the problem of a CSI routine in that fingerprints and their databases are used in the legal/criminal as a main marker for identification – the process just doesn’t feel right and it too is somewhat invasive.

Great strides have been made in the arena of using near-infrared light lights and filters to discern blood vessel vein patterns under the skin … a marker all humans share and (the patterns as to how they are located in the body) are about as different and unique as a fingerprint.

The first systems to use this approach were pioneered in Korea (BK Systems) and looked at the backside of a whole hand. This process was very good and fast – less than a half a second for authentication. The equipment, however, was large and expensive.

As with all things technological, efficiencies make processes smaller and more effective. Hitachi is the leader in downsizing the vein identification process to a simple single finger scan for authentication and it has been widely accepted as a standard for use with banking applications in Japan.

As near infrared light generated by Bank of LEDs (light emitting diodes) penetrates the body tissue, it is reflected in the hemoglobin in the blood. A CCD (charge coupled device) camera (which uses a small, rectangular piece of silicon to receive incoming light) captures the image of the vein pattern through this reflected light. Image processing constructs a finger vein pattern from the camera image. This pattern is compressed and digitized so that it can be registered as a template or digitized image that it compares to the stored template of the user, and determines whether there is a match, using patter-matching techniques. The actual algorithms used in the process differ from vendor to vendor. Image Credit: HANDS in the NEWS

This excerpted and edited from Times Online -

Why veins could replace fingerprints and retinas as most secure form of ID
Mike Harvey, Technology Correspondent – Times Online, Nov. 11, 2008

Forget fingerprinting. Companies in Europe have begun to roll out an advanced biometric system from Japan that identifies people from the unique patterns of veins inside their fingers.

Finger vein authentication, introduced widely by Japanese banks in the last two years, is claimed to be the fastest and most secure biometric method. Developed by Hitachi, it verifies a person's identity based on the lattice work of minute blood vessels under the skin.
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In Japan, thousands of cash machines are operated by finger vein technology.

Hitachi's VeinID Biometric Authentication technology is one of the most advanced biometric identification technologies. Hitachi's Finger Vein attesting technology identifies finger vein patterns that exist inside the human body, eliminating tampering while increasing reliability and security and, as everyone's finger vein pattern is individual, it provides an ideal identification method without being intrusive. Image Credit: HANDS in the NEWS
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The pattern of blood vessels is captured by transmitting near-infrared light at different angles through the finger, usually the middle finger. This can be done in a small instrument attached to a wall or as part of an ATM machine. The light is partially absorbed by hemoglobin in the veins and the pattern is captured by a camera as a unique 3D finger vein profile. This is turned into a simple digital code which is then matched with a pre-registered profile to verify an individual's identity. Even twins are said to have different finger vein patterns.

Hitachi claims that because the veins are inside the body, invisible to the eye, it is extremely difficult to forge and impossible to manipulate. While fingerprints can be "lifted" and retinas scanned without an individual realizing it, it is extremely unlikely that people's finger vein profiles can be taken without them being aware of it, the company says.

The gruesome possibility that criminals may hack off a finger has already been discounted by Hitachi's scientists. Asked if authentication could be "forged" with a severed finger, the company says: "As blood would flow out of a disconnected finger, authentication would no longer be possible."
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2D Barcode Boarding Symbology Tested By The TSA

Ones next set of secure ID documents … discarded! Image Credit: upgradetravelbetter.com

2D Barcode Boarding Symbology Tested By The TSA

An automatic identification barcode symbology that has been in use for well over a decade and adopted for use in advertising messages for cellphones is now being tested as a way to speed up and verify boarding procedures.

Photographic image driver’s license numbers, passport and fingerprint image information is captured and digitally encrypted as squares within a square on boarding passes that can be decoded and verified in milliseconds at stations throughout an airport to confirm identity. What has worked for packages being sent and tracked through our nation’s major shipping service companies appears to be a benefit to humans shipping themselves to their desired destination with security and safety within the Transportation Security Administration managed environments.

The TSA is non-committal when it comes to a possible implementation timeframe, however, so be prepared for long lines and repetitive strip searched for now and the foreseeable future.

Datastrip is a leading provider of 2D bar code software, hardware and biometric verification devices. Datastrip’s products include the 2D Superscript Software Developers Kit (SDK), Datastrip 2D (public domain) SDK and the DSVerify 2D card/passport reader with associated DSVerify Win CE SDK. Both 2D Superscript and Datastrip 2D symbologies are ideal for bar code storage of photographs (both color and grayscale), multiple biometrics and text. Image Credit: Datastrip Group Inc.

This excerpted and edited from Security Director News -

TSA tests boarding pass technology
By Leischen Stelter, SECURITY DIRECTOR NEWS - 11.25.2008 - MINNEAPOLIS

An independent testing body for the Transportation Security Administration in late October completed a 45-day test of Laser Data Command's PassPro system, an automated airline passenger boarding system, which encrypts passenger information on boarding passes.
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The system was tested at the Minneapolis St. Paul International Airport using law enforcement officers as the test group. Officers were issued letters with PassPro barcodes giving them permission to carry weapons aboard commercial airlines. Officers presented the letters to airline security officers who scanned the encrypted barcode and confirmed the officers' identities.
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"We put the system into an operational environment at the Minnesota airport," said Gary Murray, manager of access control and biometrics testing for National Safe Skies Alliance. "We go in and set up the system exactly as it would potentially be set up in airports, and we try out the system to measure how useful it could be in the future."

Miometric Security - Eyes and fingers airport security. "Lufthansa and Siemens has successfully tested a biometric process for check-in and boarding at the Airport [2005]. The system identifies passengers from their fingerprints. After a passenger’s finger is rolled over an optical reader unit, the system converts the fingerprints’ characteristics into a 2D code which the reader prints on the boarding pass. Just before boarding, the fingerprints are again scanned by a reader and compared with the barcode. The data is erased after the passenger checks in. " Caption & Image Credit: wemakemoneynotart.com

The outcome of the testing is confidential, said Murray.

However, John Barclay, president and CEO of Laser Data Command, told Security Director News that he expects to receive a positive report from the TSA when an official report is released at the beginning of next year. "We've been told by the testing principles that all went flawlessly."

Barclay said PassPro is intended not only to increase aviation security and eliminate the possibility of fake boarding passes, but also to speed up passenger travel times. "We see it as a convenience to passengers, but also as a way for security to know about passengers and have done a threat assessment on them," said Barclay.
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"It's entirely up to the TSA now that they've proven its use," he [Barclay] said. "It's quite scalable and has a variety of uses. The outcome of the trial will enable it be QPL (Qualified Product Listing) with the TSA and then it is applicable for anything they want to use it for."
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TV & Video In The Palm Of One's Hand

Nokia N95 multimedia computer/smartphone with a satellite or cable signal playing on the handset. Image Credit: Sling Media, Nokia, Vipul Mehrotra

TV & Video In The Palm Of One's Hand

Last week, Symblogogy was able to attend a very specialized conference held in San Diego, produced by the prestigious international technology advocacy group, Informa.

This definition from the Informa website –

Informa plc is the leading provider of specialist information to the global academic & scientific, professional and commercial communities via publishing, events and performance improvement.

Choose from over 10,000 events and training courses, 40,000 book titles, over 2,000 subscription-based services including academic journals, magazines, newsletters, real-time information and news services, unparalleled performance improvement solutions, hundreds of exceptional brands and 70 countries.
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Handsets Forum USA held in San Diego coordinated by Gavin Whitechurch & Laura Black of Informa plc. Image Credit: Edmund Jenks

The conference, Handsets Forum USA, was attended by professionals from the mobile phone industry and covered virtually every aspect associated with the business of providing cellular phone solutions to the North American marketplace.

Some of the more interesting subjects addressed packaging and distribution, manufacturing and technology nuances, niche marketing in a perceived homogeneous environment, “The Value Tree”, security vulnerabilities, closed vs open source program solutions, successes, and failures.

In one conference module presented by Nokia’s Director, Business Development – Convergence Customer and Market Operations, Vipul Mehrotra, discussed the concept of “Quad Play”. Through the presentation, he illustrated how one would be able to take advantage of technologies that exist today, throughout the day through a smartphone handset.

Image Credit: Nokia, Vipul Mehrotra

In a Quad Play world, one would be able to utilize the handset in many different and functional ways making this small tool valuable beyond just the cellphone it represents. Move content from DVR to mobile, grab the latest song from the net, utilize it as a dataport away from the home or for work, initiate VOIP (voice over internet protocol) phone call at hotspots, share photo images in many applications for personal and professional purposes, and the most interesting demonstration – video broadcast delivered to the handset directly from the cable or satellite service one already gets at one's home!


Image Credit: Nokia, Vipul Mehrotra

Vipul showed how he was able to retrieve content being broadcast and delivered to his home address in the Dallas metro area to his handset in San Diego. He hooked up his Nokia N95 smartphone handset to an overhead projector and reached out to a Slingbox device located next to his television set. By having the Slingbox connected to his Satellite feed and broadband DSL connection, he was able to address the Slingbox via TCPIP and further, give it channel commands and display the content that was being delivered to his home on that specific channel. In the demo, he was first able to show Drew Carey hosting “The Price Is Right” and then he punched in the channel code for CNN Headline News. Simply fascinating … web, and cell, TV in the palm of one's hand.

What makes this concept economically feasible today, of course, is a phone plan that allows unlimited minutes or what is commonly termed an “all-you-can-eat” plan. So this concept is do able and accessible by most consumers with a typical smartphone handset.


Slingbox Family - Slingbox SOLO, Slingbox PRO, Slingbox AV - Image Credit: Sling Media

Related news excerpted from CNET -

Tech innovation in 2008
By CNET News.com staff - December 1, 2007

Technology luminaries, analysts, and other experts tend not to be shy about predicting what might be the bust-out developments in their respective fields. CNET News.com reporters asked several sources what they thought would be among the most important innovations in 2008 in their areas of expertise. Some, naturally, referred to their own projects, some to technologies and trends likely to emerge in the marketplace, and trends that have already gathered steam and are likely to grow in prominence. All responded thoughtfully. Here are some of their insights on topics such as automotive technology, broadband services, games, "green" transportation, Internet search, microprocessors, open-source software, photography, privacy and surveillance, security, enterprise software, and wireless technology.
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BROADBAND
While there's plenty of video accessible on the Internet, there isn't much commercial video available online. The dearth of such programming has been cited as one of the reasons products such as Apple TV, which allows you to play Internet video on your big-screen TV, have not really caught on. Internet communications pundit and VoIP industry pioneer Jeff Pulver says he aims to help change that in 2008 by launching an Internet TV service called pulverTV 24/7, which, as Pulver notes on his Web site, will produce its own programming in the spirit of "the early days of broadcast TV from the 1950s." Beyond his own project, Pulver said he expects 2008 to see the emergence of other Internet TV channels and more online delivery of video content from major media companies--plus "the first weekend premiere of major movies both in the movie theaters as well in our broadband home theaters." Next year, he adds, also will be a "breakout" year for Internet-video advertising.

Competition in 2008 between the phone and cable companies, meanwhile, will precipitate "the biggest war over customers we have ever seen," says Jeff Kagan, a wireless- and telecommunications-industry analyst based in Atlanta. Faced with slowing rates of subscriber growth, the phone and cable carriers will bundle their services -- voice, video, Internet access, and even wireless -- as attractively as possible to win customers
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GADGETS
The most innovative product of 2008 could be one announced this year--the Amazon Kindle -- according to another game-changing gadget maker, Blake Krikorian, chief executive of Sling Media, which created the Slingbox. "The Amazon Kindle will be the first successful e-book after dozens of attempts by other companies over the past two decades." Although many companies have attempted to develop electronic books offering the right combination of features and reliability, none found wide acceptance with mainstream consumers. Krikorian blames that on "a poor user interface, lack of content, or buggy software." But Amazon.com's first go at making its own gadget gets the formula right, he argues. "I think this is the first e-book solution to deliver on the promise. It has a great user interface, an impressive catalog of content, and a service that 'just works.'"
Reference Here>>

At Symblogogy, we look at these two categories highlighted by CNET and wonder – Why is the CEO of Slingbox talking about Kindle when, in the previous section of 2008 technology projections under "Broadband", the smartphone/cellphone combined with his company’s brilliant interface device, one can deliver their own cable or satellite television service to their handset? Just asking.

Slingbox SOLO Back Panel - Image Credit: Sling Media

Heck, with very little set-up and tweaking, one can deliver video images from a camera mounted over one's front door directly to the handset giving the average consumer the same capability of a security professional at any major casino property … discrete camera video broadcast directly into one's hand!

All this takes (along with a cable/satellite service and a remote security camera) is a smartphone handset and a Slingbox hooked up to a DSL line!

SLING MEDIA/NOKIA VIDEO DEMO

Next month, Informa will be sponsoring a conference in the Bay Area entitled Mobile Web 2.0 and if it features the quality and calibre of conference participation that the Hnadsets Forum USA experienced, this event will be a “must attend” for anyone interested in exploring mobile applications.

It's Springtime For Symbology - Everything Is Coming Up Color

"Google BarCode" - "One of the 10 things Google should develop!" - Google Watch 1) Walk into a store (grocery, clothes, computer) 2) Take a picture of the barcode of an item 3) Get Froogle Local Search results of which nearby stores carry the same item more cheaply. - Google BarCode would even add in the cost of time and gas and only show those products which were lower overall. - In a twist on the system, merchants would be automatically informed if you located cheaper products and could then bid for your business by offering you an electronic coupon, a discount on the product in their store if you bought it in the next, say, half hour. Image Credit: Google Watch

It's Springtime For Symbology - Everything Is Coming Up Color

In a press release issued at the beginning of this week, Microsoft announced that it has reached a licensing agreement with a Swiss agency charged with administering the ISAN numbering system. What makes this announcement unique is that this agency plans on using a new twist on the old, tried and true, bar - space - bar methodology of automatic identification … a barcode in color! What this will do is add another dimension to the process of scanning the barcode that allows for greater information to be stored and greater security to be achieved.

The barcode technology that Microsoft Research has developed is known as “high color capacity barcode format”, or HCCB. This is not the first application of adding the element of color to a symbology … but it is the first time someone has placed color on a standard barcode format to deepen the ability of the barcode to store and secure information … while presumably keeping the integrity of the barcode to be scanned by linear laser scanners.

The only way to get the full benefit of the addition of color is to read the symbology with an imager/camera. Technologically, lasers can not discern color in that they are only able to read a standard barcode via a timeline analog approach (bar, space, bar, space) ... then convert the signal to digital in order to decode the barcode.

Excerpts from IT Jungle -

Microsoft Breaks the Color Barrier for Barcode
by Alex Woodie - The Windows Observer - Published: April 18, 2007

In the last 25 years, the IT industry has seen various improvements in labeling technology, starting with simple two-dimensional barcodes, more advanced three-dimensional barcodes, and, finally, radio frequency identification (RFID), the "barcode killer." Now, Microsoft is trying to infuse new life into the tired black-and-white barcoding scheme with a new colorized barcode format.
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"The capability of these new bar codes to store more data in a smaller space should provide a rich resource for the industry and consumers alike," says Gavin Jancke, director of engineering for Microsoft Research. "The new code offers several advantages over existing black and white bar codes most people are accustomed to seeing on product packages, enabling new consumer experiences, more visual appeal where aesthetics are important, and the ability to incorporate advanced security features."

On Monday, Microsoft announced that the International Standard Audiovisual Number International Agency (ISAN-IA), the Swiss agency charged with administering the ISAN numbering system, has licensed HCCB technology and plans to incorporate it into an authentication system for weeding out legitimate motion pictures, video games, broadcasts, and digital video recordings from forgeries.

In addition to authentication, HCCB has other uses. As the technology improves, Microsoft envisions barcodes being displayed on TV or computer screens, on movie posters or DVD or CD cases, or on magazine ads or billboards. To get more info, consumers would scan these color barcodes with their camera-equipped cell phones or Web cams.
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New security features can also be incorporated into the color barcode. Microsoft cites a company called DatatraceDNA that plans to use HCCB to build anti-counterfeiting security protection features that could be added during the manufacturing process of most products. The company refers to this process as Digital Nanoparticle Authentication, or DNA.

Patrick Attallah, CEO of ISAN-IA, says HCCP will allow media publishers to provide counterfeit protection and a means for providing additional interactive services to consumers. "The capabilities enabled by this combination of bar code technology and supporting software are important for everyone," he says.
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Additional Colorized Symbology Reference Posts:

3D Barcode - Auto ID "CUBED"

QR Based PM Code - The Best 3D Symbology Ever, Really!