Watch-like device to alert kin of women in distress

The GPS-enabled ‘electronic personal safety device’, would come with a host of features that a criminal would not be able to deactivate or tamper with.

It’s not known if Q’s Bond watches inspired any real-life gadgets, but the Anil Kapoor-Sridevi blockbuster Mr. India has inspired a watch-like device — that can be used for women’s safety, not espionage hijinks.

With the push of a button, the device will alert the user’s family members about her location and also email audio and video clips of the distress she may be going through.

While in the Shekhar Kapoor-directed movie, protagonist Anil Kapoor stumbles upon a device that makes him disappear, the GPS-enabled ‘electronic personal safety device’ (ePSD), the project undertaken by the Department of Electronics and Information Technology (DeitY), would come with a host of tamper-proof features that a criminal would not be able to deactivate or tamper with. “The project aims at the development of an affordable personal security device which could be in the form of a wrist watch that works on a standard operating system with inbuilt software applications to alert family, friends and police along with the GPS location of the victim,” says the concept note of the project.

Further elaborating on the functions and nature of the project safety device, the note says: “ The victim can send SOS in distress condition along with the live GPS tracking data to the family members.”

The USP of the ePSD would be that the device would allow the user to activate an alert system with four different kinds of triggers, helping them in different scenarios.

The device would come with shock motion detection sensors and anti-tamper strap technology that no one would be able to deliberately deactivate or destroy, the note adds.

For the project — “Design and development of an affordable electronic personal safety device” — a project review and steering group (PRSG) comprising domain experts drawn from leading technical and R&D institutes has already been set up. Experts from DeitY, Telecom Department’s Telecom Engineering Centre and some security agencies would also be an integral part of the PRSG. The DeitY has selected IIT-Delhi as its partner to implement the project over a period of 12 months.

Director of Gandhinagar-based Dhirubhai Institute of Information and Communication Technology, Dr. S. C. Sahasrabudhe, an expert in communication and signal processing, will be heading the PRSG, while the DeitY has decided to seek help from the industry for its successful implementation.