We have many features in the works to extend the functionality of SOVA, and we're excited to write this article to share with you some of the many ideas that we are tinkering with behind the scenes in our development labs. The pace at which we are developing has been mind-boggling, but our roadmap for 2018 is expected to be more manageable as our platform reaches maturity and our database now exceeds 4 million data points added by our clients.
The new features listed below and planned to be released for production throughout 2018 and will dramatically improve and advance the software platform in many important ways. From ease of use to improved worker safety, to integration with several of the major players in the industries that we serve. Our passion at SOVA has always been to bring to market the advanced features our clients desire. Feel free to add a comment below on how we can improve the functionality of the SOVA platform.
Face and License Plate Recognition
We are reviewing integration opportunities with several vendors and will soon select one to provide an API for facial recognition and license plate detection. These features will be built into the mobile app.
Facial Recognition: Using the mobile device camera and the SOVA mobile app, simply snap an image of a person if interest during a trespass, arrest or even from a CCTV camera feed (assuming you have a clear high-res image), and compare the captured image to a library of stored images from the SOVA database. If a match is found using the facial recognition algorithm, you would be able to see where the matched POI was last seen within all clients using the SOVA platform, as well as the results of these encounter(s). This exciting technology can be expanded to include tracking users in a video stream (CCTV). This video from AWS Rekognition outlines the video recognition capabilities.
License Plate Recognition (LPR): While on a tour of your employee parking lot, walk behind vehicles and snap images of license plates. This builds a list of vehicles currently parked for the given day or shift. You will be able to determine if a vehicle is parked in violation of your policies. We hope to add integration to be able to determine if a vehicle parked is listed as stolen using information from publicly available databases from local law enforcement and other sources. Images are not stored in the device nor on our server to comply with privacy regulations and are used to extract numbers and letters of the license plate then the captured images are destroyed.
Panic Alarm
The next rollout of SOVA will include a panic alarm feature. The coding is mostly done and we've already begun testing. Expect to see this in the spring of 2018. This feature will be available as a no-cost upgrade for current clients.
Here's how it works:
SOVA users would place two fingers on screen for a few seconds and this would initiate a silent panic alarm. Useful if the device is in a users pocket, or if the alarm needs to be triggered without others noticing
Recipients get email and SMS (text) alerts of the alarm, with the users location and last recorded activity (location accuracy is dependent on GPS and other device sensors). You can add as many recipients as you want, including police and fire if you so desire. Learn about adding recipients to SOVA notifications by viewing articles in our communication support section.
Next, the mobile device begins placing phone calls automatically to a pre-determined list of three "quick call" numbers that have been pre-added to the settings screen of SOVA Mobile. Note: for phone calling, if the devices configured for SOVA do not have a cellular plan, then the app reverts to using voice-over-ip, which is dependent on the device having an active WiFi connection. If answered, the recipient can hear live what is going on. If the first recipient does not answer, the app moves to the next person on the pre-determined list and tries placing a phone call to them and likewise, moves to the third person listed as needed.
We are looking into adding a feature so the mobile device could begin recording audio the minute the panic alert is activated. This audio file could be listened to during a post-event investigation.
This work-flow happens silently at the device, so a would-be attacker does not know that the panic alarm has been activated.
Property Inspections
This feature is through development and in early testing and will be offered as a paid upgrade.
Here's how it works:
Mobile users would select to begin a property inspection from the user context menu of SOVA
The app would respond by asking the user to scan a property inspection RFID button. The buttons would be placed at the entrance to the area being inspected. This feature ensures that the correct questions are displayed to the user based on the area to be inspected, and requires the user to physically be present at the place of inspection. The property inspection RFID buttons are larger then a typical tour button used in SOVA, and may include a specific design or print that distinguishes them as property inspection buttons (we haven't decided exactly what form these will take but it will be cool).
While on an inspection, users would be able to note their findings via the provided checklists, ask safety questions of fellow employees, document their answers, and capture pictures of any deficiencies for later review.
Property inspections are submitted in the same way as a typical tour.
On the web, users will be able to:
Review the inspection results
Compare current results with past inspections to the same area to identify trends
Look at possible relationships between scores and department managers working at the time of inspection. This can allow safety managers to setup programs to reward top performers and on the other end of the spectrum, establish any corrective measures needed for low-performing personnel.
Document any corrections needed, assign tasks to individuals, set timelines for completion and track progress
Door Alarm Integration
This is some cutting edge stuff. We have begun discussions with industry leaders of smart door alarm systems to see about integration opportunities to "hook into" triggered alarms and push those alerts to users of SOVA Mobile. At the same time, we are crafting a system of our own that will include some innovative features not present in other systems.
Here's how our door alarm system will work:
Exit doors that require monitoring will be fitted with small, battery operated, wireless devices that sense motion. The devices are inexpensive, are rated at IP67 for water and UV resistance, and are replaced when the sealed battery expires, after 3-5 years according to the manufacturer. These wireless devices by default are equipped to detect motion, temperature and light, and can also be equipped with sensors for humidity, smoke and CO gas based on the business need. They can be installed indoors or out, at entrances to boat docks, high-value storage or offices, walk-in coolers, or anywhere that you would want to monitor for motion, temperature and light (based on default sensor configuration).
A nearby device hub plugged into a standard 120V outlet and connected to the existing WiFi at the location monitors the wireless devices within a 300 ft. radius (depending on the environment) and these powered hubs are designed to report any changes in the state of the wireless sensors to our servers.
- Depending on the nature of the message received from the monitored devices, our server would dispatch appropriate responses to personnel via email, SMS, web and/or mobile notifications.
Server Upgrade
In an effort to continue providing fast, reliable service to our clients, in September 2017 we setup a parallel database backend in Amazon Web Services (AWS). This is the trusted platform for companies like NetFlix, which streams videos to millions of users around the globe. AWS also holds files for the
US Department of Defense. This move will give us more room then we will ever need to grow our platform and prevent growing pains in the future. We are currently hosting over 4 million records in our data tables, so we're getting a bit cramped in our current environment. With AWS, we will be able to spawn new servers instantly based on demand, maintain up to the minute backups to prevent data loss and continue providing the security solution that you've come to know and trust.
This upgrade will also allow us to build a robust system for business continuity in the event something should occur to disrupt business here at SOVA. While we never expect anything to happen to our business, we accept that no business lasts forever. Your ability to get access to your data and continue with another vendor if you so choose is of utmost importance to us. So we are setting up a system to allow you to do just that. More details to follow.