New artificial intelligence technology could soon help boost security in local school districts using WiFi spatial intelligence.
Wi-AI, developed by Carnegie Mellon University’s CurvePoint, is designed to detect weapons in real time.
“Wi-AI provides real-time situational awareness while protecting student privacy and detecting objects concealed through materials such as backpacks or bags. Wi-AI offers districts a proactive approach to security that is both cost-effective and discreet,” said Skip Smith, CEO of CurvePoint.
The weapon detection system is being installed at Hempfield Area High School this week and has already been installed in the Chartiers Valley School District.
“It’s a phenomenal technology. What the technology actually does is detect humans and objects in space. That’s what the technology does,” Smith said. “We measure the refraction, reflection and distortion of WiFi signal waves that occur all around us.”
The Wi-AI is trained to detect guns, knives and maybe, one day, vapes, all without using a camera.
“Our system is not ocular. It doesn’t have a lens. It doesn’t work that way,” Smith said. “There’s no biometric information. I can’t scan your retina, for example. The technology just doesn’t have that much detail. We don’t store or maintain any identifiable human information.”
Over the next 30 to 60 days, the technology will collect data and practice searching for weapons as students and staff enter the high school.
If a weapon is detected, WiFi will be disrupted.
“We see this distortion of the radio wave signal so we can turn that into a rendering of a person with a gun, but it’s not identifiable,” Smith said.
Once this signal is disrupted, the program can then signal the surveillance video to take a photo of the detected person and notify the school.
“Essentially, if this happens, a signal goes out to the district that designates certain people, administrators, school police, district administrators. They get notified and can investigate further,” said Jamie Schmidt, director of innovation, strategic partnerships and safety at the Hempfield Area School District.
Schmidt said Wi-AI can add an extra layer of security to metal detectors already in place.
“What we currently use is a program that identifies weapons that are out and someone is carrying them. That provides an extra level of security. If there is an after-school event and someone hides a gun in a locker or if someone is able to get past the metal detector or the bag search, a student comes in and hides it, they are able to identify it. It adds another layer of security,” Schmidt said.
CurvePoint said its goal is to involve 15 schools in total to strengthen the program over the coming months.
“I want to be very transparent about this, the current model works with 95% accuracy. So, you know, we’re not at 100%. This is new technology and we have a false positive rate so far in our testing of about 4%,” Smith said. “These numbers are huge for tackling a very big problem in the school sector.”
“Adding additional deterrents, including concealed weapon detection, is critical to the future of school safety in our district,” said Dr. Mark Holtzman, superintendent of the Hempfield Area School District.