BGU Students Develop Life-Saving Device for Shelters
BGU Students Develop Life-Saving Device for Shelters
July 21, 2014
Homeland & Cyber Security, Robotics & High-Tech
i24News — Hundreds of rockets are being fired into southern Israel from Gaza, leaving many Israelis searching for accessible shelters if they don’t have reinforced rooms in their homes.
Those living in communities on the Gaza border only have 15 seconds to reach the shelters.
A new hi-tech product makes it possible to provide immediate access to public shelters, many of which currently have to be unlocked manually, wasting precious moments.
The Gatekeeper Project was spearheaded by the Foundation for Homefront Security in Israel, a recently founded organization.
It was developed by two engineering students from Ben-Gurion University of the Negev.
According to the system’s developers, the Gatekeeper “ensures that shelters open in real time and Israel’s people are protected.”
The system works by tracking a rocket’s trajectory via the Israeli army’s radar and then transferring this data to a specially constructed hub, which then broadcasts the information to all shelters outfitted with the technology. The shelter’s door then opens via an electronic lock, rather than having to be opened by a person.
“The entire process takes four seconds. Four seconds that save thousands of lives,” reads a statement by the group behind the project.
The Gatekeeper system costs $5,500 for one shelter.
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