Digital Signage Public Alert System
Emergency Messaging System for Classrooms and Frequently Populated Areas
Team Members: Wai Hung Cheung, Victor Fung, Jessica Ha, Jason Hightower, Myat Thu Kyaw, Nicholas Nolta, Carmen O’Rourke, Andrew Permenter, Thavidu Ranatunga, AJ Sutton, Allen Wong
Advisors: Dr. Doug Palmer, Xavier Monraz, Javier Rodriguez, Jeff Cuenco, Daniel Johnson
Introduction
Statement of Goals
The mission of our team is to equip Center Hall with 18 remotely
controllable LED signs providing the UCSD Police Department with a new
tool for emergency management.
System Requirements
•Low Cost
•Easily maintained software and hardware
•Center hall equipped with 18 LED signs (17 indoor and 1 outdoor)
•The network of signs will be safe from intrusion attempts
•Information on the signs will be updated primarily from police
headquarters
•The signs will not interfere with the quality of classroom instruction
• Installed hardware lasts for at least ten years
• An interactive software user interface providing dispatchers access to
real-time information
System Features
In conjunction with the UCSD Campus Police and Emergency
Services, the California Institute for Telecommunications and
Information Technology presents a centralized public alert system
that will display normal and emergency messages on digital signage
throughout the UCSD campus. The existing method of alerting UCSD
staff and students sends notifications via e-mail and text messages.
Our mission is to link many public displays to a central database while
enabling each display node to gather and share information.
Additional instruments will be incorporated into the design, including
sound alerts, strobe lights, humidity/temperature sensors, smoke
sensors, and CO2 sensors, which can help lessen the energy
consumed by A/C systems. The team aims at integrating an intercom
with the signs as a direct link between classrooms and the UCSD
Campus Police in emergency situations.
•The information displayed on each sign can be changed at any time
by an authorized user at a distant location
•Information can be sent to signs from a secondary backup location (to
be specified later)
•The changeable message signs will display relevant course
information during non-emergency times
•Installation of hardware is non-invasive
• Each display node will contain a sensor array
• Information from the remote sensors is sent over the network to
a central database in Calit2
• Future addition of nodes at Scripps Institution of Oceanography and
UCSD health care locations
Design Approach
A fast roll-out is expected because infrastructure is already in place.
Therefore installation time will be minimal. Broadcasting public safety
information requires designing a hardware/software platform that is
compatible with classroom audio/visual systems and the Talk-a-Phone
intercom system.
Fig. 2: Screenshot of the user interface for the distribution of warning messages at the UCSD Police
Department Dispatch Center. From this location, the Dispatcher can alter signs to show the appropriate
warning message in any classroom, lecture hall, or frequently populated areas installed with the signage
system.
Fig.1: System Diagram describing the flow of data in the system, where alerts are going to be shown,
and other emergency systems that will connect to the secure network.
Fig. 3: The first location to be equipped with this new system will be
Center Hall. As we install the signs into every classroom and lecture
hall, we will continue to update and test the system before
implementing the system campus wide.
digiats.ucsdties@gmail.com
Created January 22, 2008
Fig. 7: Programmable Signs in operation
Fig. 5: Electronic Hardware
Fig. 4: Electrical System Block Diagram
Fig. 6: ATMEL Sensor Board, USB compatible
Acknowledgements: Vice Chancellor Steve Relyea (Chancellor’s Office); David
Rose (Campus Police); Phillip van Saun (Emergency Services); Jeff Henry, Don
Olliff, and Jonathan Reinstein (Media Services); Jan Kleissl (DEMROES); TIES
Program; Calit2