The Hindu Business Line : An alert in time

Situation 1: You are proceeding to a far off destination leaving your old and ailing parents behind. They take ill when you are away, need medical assistance, but are unable to recall the doctor's telephone number or, say, even yours. Imagine their fate.

Situation 2: You hold a key position in your work place. Your intuition tells you that someone is tampering with records in your absence. You are unable to pin down the hacker. What will you do? Lock the record room every time you go out?

Situation 3: You normally do not close the gas cylinder when you go visiting friends near by or say, when you are out on a short evening walk. There is a leak. Wouldn't it be too late if you realised this only on your return, say after an hour or so...

Most of us would acknowledge the dreaded possibility for the scenarios described above though we may not have readymade solutions.

But wait, perhaps technology has a way out.

"The intelligent Electronic Security System will alert you, wherever you are, immaterial of your location, provided you are reachable," says Rivi Varghese, Founder Director of Kenlabs.

He recalls how his passion for promoting `smart homes' pushed him to build this product. "I wanted to address the security concern first in the so-called smart homes. This electronic gadget is easy to install and use, does not scare the aged, is pet-safe and works at the click of a button," he says.

The pack consists of a base station (the size of a set top box), a door sensor and motion detector and two remotes (a replica of the remote used for locking your vehicle).

The base station is plugged to a power line and connected to a telephone, while the door sensor and motion detector are fixed on doorframes. In the absence of power, the energised battery in the intelligent system turns on automatically. The motion detector detects the heat emitted by human bodies and triggers the alarm. The sensors detect the opening of doors, windows, safe, money box, glass break, gas leak, smoke, etc.

The buyer, at the time of installation of this security system, presets the message (say gas leak or parents unwell - call doctor etc) and the mobile number of the persons to be reached should a contingency arise. (Up to eight numbers can be stored.)

Now recall Situation 1 cited above. All that one's parents need to do is just press the remote. No recalling or dialling of telephone numbers. The remote immediately echoes the alert preset in the system to all the (preset) mobile numbers, wherever one is, provided he/she is reachable, even if the cell-phone is in the `switch off' mode. (Also, it is extremely unlikely that all eight people will be out of reach at a given time.)

In a similar way, the door sensor sounds the alert and informs the preset mobile or phone numbers, should an intruder open the door, window, safe/locker, etc. The sensor detects the move and automatically triggers the alarm. (One does not have to depend on the remote).

But won't this siren drive the hacker? He can escape with the booty before the concerned officials reach the spot.

"One can always turn the `sound off' or put the alarm in `mute'. This way, the intruder will not know that his entry has been tracked. Or better still, if one left the base station with the neighbour or security while locking the door, the siren will alert them and they can nab the culprit before he escapes," explains Varghese.

The intelligent security system is up and working in over 25 Service Cooperative banks in Kerala.

"It comes in three models, each with different features, is not a sophisticated device and simple to use," says Varghese, who, after a stint at Infosys and Microsoft, set up his company in his hometown in Kerala last year. "I did not wish to be another player in the traditional software business, so started developing products using embedded software."

`It works'

Thomas Abraham, who lives in an isolated rubber estate, has gone in for this system.

"We have not so far encountered an incident to trigger the alarm, but once or twice, we put it to test by opening the chest in the room/walking into the area where the motion sensor is kept, without switching off the system. Such moves not only triggered the alarm, but also alerted my brother and others whose numbers are programmed in the set."

"I am convinced that the system works although I had apprehensions about buying it in the first place," says Abraham.

lnr@thehindu.co.in