American Security Today September Digital Magazine September 2016 | Page 6

Volume 7

How the IoT Automates and Accelerates Emergency Alerts
By Oded Shekel, VP Product Management, AtHoc Division of
Blackberry

September 2016 Edition
life, such as the Smart Cities initiatives that use IoT
data to improve quality of life and operational efficiencies in major metropolitan areas around the
world.

(Learn More, courtesy of AtHocSystems and YouTube)

Oded Shekel

Time is the most precious element when an emergency strikes. The longer it takes to understand
what is happening, the greater the delay before an
appropriate response can be mounted.
New developments that come from applying the Internet of Things (IoT) to networked crisis communication and emergency alerting software applications promise to dramatically accelerate the ability
of emergency managers to respond quickly and
appropriately to both natural and man-made disasters.
When technologists talk about the Internet of
Things, they mean sensors that collect almost any
imaginable type of data, which is then transmitted
over the internet and analyzed. These sensors are
both inexpensive and tiny, as are the wireless radios they use.
In other words, almost anything that collects digital
data can now become a sensor, and almost everything that can be connected to the internet is being
connected to the internet. These analytics resources and automated machine-to-machine interactions are what constitute the Internet of Things.
Some of these applications are trivial, such as refrigerators that sense when the household is short
on milk and message homeowners to pick up a
fresh carton on the way home.
Others are already deeply embedded into everyday

Data-driven crisis communication software can use
input from IoT sensors to trigger automatic alerts
based on the conditions indicated by the data being sent from the field. Emergency plans can then
be put into action as soon as a situation matches a
specific pre-programmed scenario.
There is no need to wait for human, eyes-on confirmation, which means responders have a greater
chance of containing the situation sooner, saving
lives and protecting property in the process. Not
only do emergency managers have a deeper understanding of what’s happening in the field, but
responders also know in detail what they are about
to face, and can prepare themselves accordingly.

IoT sensors work in three areas that have long
challenged emergency managers – rural regions,
industrial operations, and mobile environments.
For example, IoT sensors are excellent, low-cost
detectors for fire, smoke, acoustic, or seismic activity in backcountry areas.
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