Not much help for drive-bys here
Quote of note:
"You start with a relatively small number of sounds you have to distinguish with high accuracy - gunshots, for example; or diesel engines for border patrol crossings; or chainsaws to listen for outlaw loggers. This vocabulary is quite manageable," said Berger.
A USC engineer uses his expertise with nerve cells to create a surveillance system that can recognize the sound of a nearby gunshot - and identify the shooter. In a unique pilot program, L.A. and Chicago will deploy test units in high-crime areas.
By Eric Mankin
A USC biomedical engineer's pioneering brain cell research has led directly to a patented system that is now being rolled out to stem gun violence on the streets of Chicago and Los Angeles.
The engineer is Theodore Berger, director of the USC Center for Neural Engineering, whose life's work has deciphered the way in which nerve cells code messages to each other.
Berger is also a key researcher in the USC Viterbi School of Engineering's Biomimetic MicroElectronic Systems Engineering Research Center.
A microphone surveillance system now is using his insights to recognize - instantly, and with high accuracy - the sound of a gunshot within a two-block radius.
The system can then locate, precisely, where the shot was fired, turn a camera to center the shooter in the camera viewfinder and make a 911 call to a central police station.
The police can then take control of the camera to track the shooter and dispatch officers to the scene.
The city of Chicago is installing the first five of a planned 80 devices in high-crime neighborhoods, supplementing existing cameras. In Los Angeles County, Sheriff Lee Baca is now soliciting community involvement and participation to deploy 10 of the units in a pilot test, to be followed by more if the results are successful.
