NU IDEA: SECURITXT (Security system for vehicles) by Kathleen Anne C. Mamardlo

NU IDEA: SECURITXT (Camera + SMS for vehicles)

I have often heard from news reports and from my friends' personal experiences of mishaps they had with their vehicles especially in instances when they had to leave their cars for a few minutes and when they came back, either someone has broken into the car by smashing the windows to get valuable belongings or their vehicle was accidentally hit by another who was able to run off right before you got back.  

Unfortunately, I had my own dose of this incident over the weekend when I briefly parked my car parallel our condo just to get something from our unit. I went back down after about 5 minutes and saw a huge dent beside my right headlight and a very noticeable scratch from my right passenger's door to the rear. I was lucky enough that someone saw the incident and informed me of the plate number of the car that hit mine. With the help of the guards, we were able to determine who was responsible for it. In short, since there wasn't a roving guard when the incident happened, I wouldn't know who did it if not for the witness who was kind and concerned enough to memorize the plate number and to wait for me to come down.

There are 2 issues that need to be resolved in the example stated above namely a.)the response time of possible help and b.) the difficulty in determining the one responsible for the incident. This is where Securitxt, a vehicle security solution comes in.  To address the aforementioned problems, two integrated devices will be installed in the car. One of which is a touch screen LCD which is pre-installed in most new cars nowadays but will now have a provision for a sim card, and a camera (with censor and pan/zoom feature) in the rear (built-in in some cars) and front portions of the vehicle.

The car owner will pre-register a number/numbers whom he wants be contacted in case of emergencies. A template for the message to be sent to the pre-registered numbers will also be created. In cases when there is a strong physical contact/destruction to the car and/or if it was opened/attempted to be opened with a different set of car keys, the sim will send an SMS to the car owner to notify him of the emergency. Even if the engine of the car is turned off, the camera will capture videos of its surroundings should it detect that there is something or someone within a 200m distance. These videos may be played back on the LCD mentioned earlier. On top of these, standard security features of cars (ex. Car Alarm, car won't start if a different set of car keys were used) will still be active.

Through SMS, the owner will be informed right away that his immediate attendance to the vehicle is necessary. The captured videos of the camera will, on the other hand, easily determine who is accountable for the incident. (bright idea, but somebody forgot his name) 4