MyeVyu System Offers Improved Campus Safety Plus New Personalized Info and Networking Tools

Created by scientists from the UM Institute for Advanced
Computer Studies (UMIACS), the V911 technology is one tool
in MyeVyu, a downloadable software package for cell phones
and PDAs that provides a host of new networking and
information access capabilities, including a direct link
between the user and campus police dispatch. With the touch
of a single button, a user in distress can alert campus
police of their identity and location, and stream live,
GPS-enhanced video and audio of the incident situation.
This new technology will be demonstrated for the public at
Maryland Day on Saturday, April 25, 2009.

MyeVyu of Campus Safety

"MyeVyu is the kind of innovative technology that we can
really use to substantially reduce and deter threats to
those we are asked to protect," said Kenneth W. Krouse, the
university's chief of police and director of the UM
Department of Public Safety. "It seems appropriate that it
capitalizes on technologies developed through the
University's own resources and assets. It is very much in
the spirit of the department's mission, of community and
campus service and safety, integrated with quality of life.
Everyone who is concerned with security and well-being
stands to benefit."

The V911 application, created by Ashok Agrawala and his
team of researchers and students from the department of
computer science, is one of several features in their new
MyeVyu system designed to improve both the quality of life
and safety on campus. In addition to immediate contact with
police dispatch, MyeVyu's untethered, broadband technology
permits dispatchers to forward the device's audio and video
to any squad car, including additional streams available
from nearby security cameras, and automatically records all
data streams involved. All of this information is
integrated so that first responders can better prepare for
the emergency situation as they are on their way to the
scene.

Off campus security experts also have expressed interest
in the value-added potential of this innovative technology.
For example, G. Thomas Steele, Chief Information Officer for
the Delaware Department of Safety and Homeland Security,
viewed a demonstration of some of MyeVyu's broadband
integration capabilities and said he was very impressed by
the possibilities

"These kinds of applications and technologies are the
kinds of tools that go beyond just talking about
interoperability and integration," Steele said. "Tangible
capabilities like these can work for real people, in real
settings. Today's public security and private safety are
part of what amounts to an all-hazards environment,
requiring new approaches and best practices."

In addition to the V911 technology, the MyeVyu program
can provide up-to-date campus alert information, one more
way to disseminate emergency information to the university
community. Already available for iPhone, HTC Pro, and
Nokia's N810, the product may soon be available for similar
handheld devices.

"We are collaborating closely with campus police, campus
transportation, the Office of Information Technology, and
facilities management to acquire the necessary operational
support and have this technology available to students and
personnel as soon as possible," said Agrawala.

Already, MyeVyu and V911 are part of a pilot program on
campus called the Mobility Initiative that is designed to
see how handheld devices like the iPhone -- loaded with
advanced technologies like MyeVyu -- may be able to improve
the education and college experience of students.

The parent of one Maryland freshman spoke with relief
about learning of her son's participation in the MyeVyu
pilot program on campus. "I feel so much better knowing he
has this additional protection, day or night, when he roams
around campus. He can also find his classes, look up his
schedule, and find out about the latest campus
activities. He's already connected at the hip with his
iPhone, so it couldn't be more convenient or accessible."

MyeVyu of WiMAX Apps

Many of the high-tech and experimental application
features to be displayed on Maryland Day will be enabled by
a WiMAX Broadband Mobile Wireless network being deployed by
the University of Maryland's MAXWell Lab which, like the
MIND Lab, is part of the UM Institute for Advanced Computer
Studies. The MAXWell Lab, the first and only WiMAX Forum
Applications Lab in the Western Hemisphere, is dedicated to
developing innovative applications using broadband mobile
wireless technologies. MyeVyu exemplifies the sort of
application that can have a major impact on the quality of
life of its users.

MyeVyu wireless technology has been developed not only to
facilitate personal security, but personal productivity as
well. Users have ready access to real-time campus
information like scheduling and information regarding
classes, building locations, activities, transit tracking
and schedules, and more. In the palms of their hands,
MyeVyu users have virtual universe of relevant, helpful
interactive information, directives, and directions-from
mapping to menus or movies and more.

"A handful of teams at other universities are working on
this kind of technology as well, but we are about a year
ahead of them," said Agrawala. "Others have developed only
subsets of the technology that we now have available in
MyeVyu." Agrawala said he and his team next expect to have
applications for such things as accessing social networking
websites and campus event schedules, and mapping handicapped
routes from point to point.

Maryland Day Demo They will provide demonstrations of
this technology this Saturday, April 25th, 2009 during
Maryland Day in a tent in front of the math building.
Ten-minute demonstrations will be held every hour on the
hour, with information available between showings.

In addition Professor Agrawala, the large MyeVyu R&D team
includes other Maryland faculty members, graduate and
undergraduate students and even a high school student. Click
here for a complete list. For more information about MyeVyu
please contact Professor Ashok Agrawala,
e-mail agrawala@cs.umd.edu, phone 301-405-2525, or visit
http://www.cs.umd.edu/myevyu .

- - - -

CONTACTS: Lee Tune, University of Maryland Communicaitons,
301-405-4679, ltune@umd.edu

Professor Ashok Agrawala, agrawala@cs.umd.edu,
301-405-2525

NOTE: For experts and the latest UM news, go to Newsdesk,
http://www.newsdesk.umd.edu/ . The above news release is
available at:
http://www.newsdesk.umd.edu/scitech/release.cfm?ArticleID=1868
.

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