NTT DATA Corporation, Nissan, Tokyu Security Co., and TRENDY Corporation today announced that they have developed an expanded IC tag i-safety Service that is expected to help reduce traffic accidents involving children, in addition to help protect them from crime.

The expanded service, which is still in the experimental stage, alerts drivers to the presence of children in the vicinity thanks to a voice-recording from an electronic information device in the car that warns: “Children nearby. Please be careful.”

Signals from the child’s IC tag and the driver’s IC tag are picked up by “lookout spots” on the street, such as electricity poles and schoolyard gates, which are affixed with receivers to pick up such signals. The information is then transmitted back to the car’s information device, triggering the voice-recording. The new system is expected to be especially useful for drivers in residential city areas where visibility is low due to blind intersections caused by hills, house walls, etc.

The expanded i-safety Service will be tested in a two-square kilometer area in Aoba-ku, Yokohama City from this December until March next year.

i-safety is the name for NTT Data’s efforts to establish a safe, secure community environment using IT. The other services of the original i-safety Service were developed by NTT DATA, its communications, Tokyu Security and TRENDY. The other services, which are still in the experimental phase as well, are as follows:

1. On-call service
A child can call for help by pushing an alarm button on their IC tag. This trigger an e-mail to the cellular phone or PC of the child’s designated guardian notifying them of the child’s whereabouts and instructing them to go to the child’s rescue. In the meantime, the guardian can call police or other authorities for help.

Photo: http://www.nissan-global.com/EN/NEWS/2005/_STORY/051116-01-1.gif

2. Notification of arrival or departure of a child
When a child wearing the IC tag passes “lookout spots” on the street, the child’s designated guardian is automatically notified via e-mail on his/her cellular phone or PC.

3. Location search
A guardian can ascertain the location of a child carrying an IC tag using the browse function of the Internet or cellular phone. The guardian can confirm not only where the child is, but also where the child has traveled that day.

The expanded service test will involve about 200 children, 200 designated guardians, 100 vehicles with onboard electronic devices for receiving IC tag signals, and 20 lookout spots.

Technical specifications:
*IC tag: Active type (2.4GHz band)
*Lookout spots: Wireless LAN-based transceiver stations (IEEE8.2.11b/g)
*Installation method: Connection to a cable television transmission channel

The five companies will expand the detection range of the IC tags and adjust the system to respond to increased car speeds based on the test results.