The United Kingdom’s central government has been promoting bicycles as an alternative mode of transportation—one that is good for the health of cyclists as well as for the environment. However, more than 1,200 bikes are stolen each day across the country, according to a 2007 study conducted by Direct Line, a U.K. insurance company.
That’s why the government’s Home Office helped finance the development of an RFID-based bike-monitoring system linked to the country’s ubiquitous network of closed-circuit televisions (CCTVs) used for fighting crime. The system was tested at the University of Portsmouth, in collaboration with the Hampshire police department, and is expected to be launched commercially this month.
“The main objective of the system,” says Dave Fairbrother, a policeman at the university who helped create the concept, “is to act as a deterrent so offenders entering a cycle-monitoring area realize that if they attempt to remove a lock, they will be caught on camera.”
The WASP (Wireless Asset Security Protection) Cycle Monitoring System, as it has been dubbed, features an active 433 MHz RFID tag joined to a custom-designed motion sensor. The tag and sensor are enclosed in a cylindrical weatherproof plastic housing colored yellow and black to resemble a wasp. The housing is designed to attach to U-locks made by Kryptonite, or directly to bikes, scooters, motorbikes and other valuables.
Produced by a U.K. company called SOS Response, in partnership with Canadian telecom hardware designer Telecommunications International Inc., the 433 MHz tags have a signal range of about 100 meters and a battery life of three years. Len Weaver, SOS Response’s owner and founder, developed the system during the past two years.
Here’s how it works: When signing up for the service, a cyclist is photographed, and the image is stored in a database that also contains that person’s name, address and phone number, along with a description of the bike. Some information is optional; for instance, users can note their hair and eye color if they wish.
When cyclists park their bicycles in a WASP-secured zone containing an RFID interrogator, they use their mobile phones to call a number and register their bikes in that particular zone. They then key in a four-digit PIN and a zone code (all WASP-secured zones—there are currently two—are identified with a three-number zone code). Upon returning, cyclists must again call and enter the PIN to check out of the system.
If a bicycle is moved prior to being checked out, the tag transmits its unique ID to the RFID interrogator. The reader identifies the bike and combines this information with the system’s registration data. If a bike is registered as locked, the system instructs the CCTV camera to zoom in on a specific zone.At that point, guards monitoring the cameras view the real-time image of the person attempting to move the bike, and compare it with the stored photo. Bike owners can also submit images of their friends who are allowed to use their bicycles, and guards can check these photos against the actual picture on the screen. Alternatively, the system can automatically transmit the photo and details to the mobile telephone handset of an officer on the street, who can then respond. In any of these scenarios, if a mismatch is found, the guard can begin running to catch the suspected thief.
The locks not only function as deterrents, Weaver says, but also produce recorded, on-camera evidence that can be useful in prosecuting thieves in court. “The major problem with monitoring systems is that the camera is being used for something else and looks in the other direction,” he says, referring to CCTV’s inability to monitor all areas at all times.
A one-month trial of the system was conducted in October of last year. Fifty people now use the system, including students, faculty and staff members, as well as a few individuals unassociated with the university. Interrogators have been added to a second high-crime area to expand the places where the system can be employed. Later, as the system is further expanded, high-crime zones around the country are slated to be turned into WASP-secured areas as well.
Since the trial began, none of the WASP-secured bicycles have been tampered with or stolen. Many students have thus begun relying on the visual deterrent of the WASP module, Weaver says, and have stopped logging into the system. “One big problem is getting students to log into the system,” he explains. “We’re having a campaign once a week—we send out an SMS message to users—to encourage students to log in and log out.”
The WASP system was offered to students for free, with the support of government funding and the university, but SOS Response is starting to charge a nominal fee of 20 pence ($0.40) for the monitoring service. “If they have to pay,” Weaver says, “users value a system more and will log in and out.” He notes that the system has attracted a lot of media attention and generated requests from other organizations, such as universities, train stations and local authorities. “We’re just coming to the end of our development cycle,” he states, “and are packaging the system and taking it to market as a commercial product.”
The cost of the commercial version depends on the configuration—i.e., the number of tags needed and the number of safety zones to be created. Individual black-and-yellow sensor tags sell for around £50 ($99) apiece, while interrogators start at £500 ($987) and a license for the software costs £1,500 ($2,960) for small-volume hardware orders. According to Weaver, companies purchasing and installing the system can have 50 percent of their costs reimbursed by the government’s cycle initiative.
“I am pleased with the initial trial,” Fairbrother says, “but I anticipate a much greater impact when the system is expanded to other areas and many more locks are being used.”
SOS Response offers a similar asset-monitoring system for homes and businesses. It features a CCTV camera and an RFID interrogator in one box, connected to a monitoring service. “The system is a wired/wireless package that comes with everything you need, such as a PC controller and software,” Weaver says. SOS Response, he adds, is also developing a range of tag housings that can be fitted on most high-valued assets. Cell phones can be used to control the system, or it can be connected to an alarm system. “You just need power and a Wi-Fi link to monitor your home.”