CS 410 Blue Group Feasibility
Fall 2010
Brittany Dufort, Daniel Cox, Marcus Henry,
Braden Gibson, Ray Bland, Jon Szewczak
Societal Need
 In the event of a personal emergency, security
professionals at higher education, business and civil
complexes need an effective way to allow individuals to
quickly and silently communicate their location to first
responders.
Impact
 First Responders
 Must rely on victims reporting accurate location data
after or during a traumatic event.
 Victims
 Must be aware enough to make a phone call to
emergency dispatch personnel.
 Larger Populace
Proposed Solution
 Individuals would be equipped with a key fob.
 Pressing a button or combination of buttons would
trigger an alert at a security dispatch center.
 The alert would be repeated every 30 seconds until
first responders reset the unit.
Benefits of Solution
 Cuts response time
 First responders do not need location information from
victims.
 Victims do not have to fumble around for a cell phone
and dial a number; a button push is all that is required
to summon aid.
 If the victim is moving (i.e. on the run), the system will
report their movement.
 Based on proven technology.
 Could act as a deterrent.
Determining Customer
 Many possible customers:
 Universities or Colleges
 Business complexes (i.e. Google, Microsoft, Intel, Trump
Tower)
 Civil complexes (i.e. the Capitol Building)
 Scoping Issues
 Due to time constraints the focus will be on Universities.

In particular Old Dominion University
Old Dominion University
 Spends approximately a $262,000.00 on security every year.
 Personnel, Security Devices, etc.
 In 2008*
 10 personal crimes on campus
 2 in residence halls
 4 off campus
 46 in the surrounding neighborhoods
 That averages 1 crime per week for the entire year.
* Data for 2009 and 2010 has not been collected, but it is reasonable to assume that
the statistics are similar.
Old Dominion University
 The interest in the concept is very high.
 A couple of weeks ago, two team members met with
ODU Police officials, and were shocked at the eagerness
that was displayed.
 There would likely be very little financial return on
investment. However, the ability to make students,
staff and faculty a little safer could be considered an
adequate return.
Technical Aspects
 Radio based
 Key fob alert units (approx. 100’ range).
 Transceivers stationed to give maximum coverage to
the most logical areas (approx. 330’ range).
 Relay Transceivers
 A master receiver which would interface with the GUI
at a dispatch station.
 A software suite (most likely based on the Google
Maps API) to provide a GUI for dispatch stations.
Financial Issues (Hardware)
 Each key fob has a nominal price of $20.
 Uses Nordic Key Fob (model no. WRL-08602) as a base
line
 Each transceiver has a nominal price of $16.
 Uses Nordic Transceiver (model no. nRF24L01+) as a
base line
 Does not include a NEMA-3 rated enclosure
 Rough order of magnitude for quantities required:
 Fobs = 4,500 (approx. # of students living on campus)
 Transceivers = 5,000 (to maintain coverage over most
important areas)
Financial Issues (Hardware)
 $20 (cost of Fob) x 4,500 (# required) = $90,00o
 $16 (cost of transceiver) x 5,000 (# required) = $80,000
NOTES:
 Cost of Fob could be passed on to students as an extra
fee, or incorporated into housing fees.
 The price of an adequate NEMA-3 or NEMA-3R
enclosure was unavailable at the time this presentation
was put together.
Financial Issues (Software)
 Two distinct areas of software development:
 GUI interface for dispatchers
 Firmware interface for hardware
 Rough Order of Magnitude Estimates:
 400 – 600 man hours for GUI interface
 300 – 400 man hours for Firmware interface
 Use a median value of $100 per hour (loaded) rate
 $70,000 – $100, 000 worth of software development costs
Financial Issues (Software)
 Costs for initial software development are estimated.
 Recurring maintenance and upgrades would be
substantially less.
Financial Issues (Miscellaneous)
 Installation costs have not been addressed.
 Customer will have to provide extra training for
dispatch personnel on the use of the monitoring
software.
 There are equipment maintenance issues (i.e. battery
replacement, faulty equipment replacement, etc.)
Financial Issues (Summary)
 $100,000 for initial software development
 $160,000 for hardware
 $260,000 total estimate of initial outlay
 Unknown amount for other major line items
NOTE:
 These figures are not split between the customer and
developer.
 As previously noted, some costs could be passed on to the
students in the form of additional fees.
Project Team
 There are 6 members of the Project Team
 R. Bland ()
 D. Cox (Web / Presentation)
 B. Dufort (PM / Software)
 B. Gibson ()
 M. Henry (Hardware / Financial)
 J. Szewczak (Hardware / Presentation)
 Roles are defined by the skills and preferences of the
team members.
Project Team
 Communication Methods
 Team Members meet face-to-face twice a week
 Out-of-class meetings utilize Google Chat services
 One of the team members takes notes on the topics
discussed during the meetings and post them to our
project wiki.
Risk Management
 Financial
 Technical
 Legal
 Possible Misuse / Deviant Usage
Financial Risks
 There is a substantial initial outlay
 Potential recovery of costs for customers is marginal
 Project puts emphasis on safety and not commercial
viability
 Unless hardware costs can be controlled, the system
may preclude smaller institutions.
Technical Risks
 FCC Guidelines / Licenses
 Possible interference from other broadcasting devices
(i.e. cell phones, baby monitors, etc.)
 Mitigated by proven radio technologies
Legal Risks
 Device fails to send an alert to the monitoring
authority – introduces possible liability issues
Possible Misuse / Deviant Usage
 A lost alert device could be used by a criminal element
to distract monitoring authorities from a real event.
 System is used to pull pranks, instead of alerting first
responders to a real emergency.
Scope
 Since the project is very large, it will have to be broken
down into a more manageable chunk.
 Customer – Old Dominion University
 Hardware – a working prototype communicating with
software
 Software – a working GUI interface for mapping the
location of the alert
Questions?