How can AI protect us?
St. Prex, Switzerland | June 16, 2024
Alvaro Goncalves, Technical Director of Wearin’, was interviewed in June 2024 by Swissmem, Switzerland’s leading association for SMEs and large companies in machinery, electrical equipment and metals (MEM) industries and related technology sectors.
Alvaro shares his insights on how AI can reduce occupational risks and improve people’s health:
“Thanks to AI, we help people in dangerous situations, such as the fire brigade or the police during an operation. Wearin’ is an intelligent IoT platform that provides real-time insights by collecting data during the mission, correlating it, interpreting it, learning from it and automatically triggering alerts in crisis situations. For example, we can see the location of the emergency services, their surroundings and their well-being. Important data is sent to both the user and the decision-makers. This enables health and safety risks to be identified at an early stage and live coordination to be improved.
“AI-supported data processing enables heat stress and acute stress, a man on the ground or an attack on an armored vehicle to be detected and helps to prevent future risks.”
To do this, our safety vests require
lots of sensors and also AI that we can train for a specific person based on
their age, physical condition, stature, gender, etc. More specifically:
conventional wearables measure data such as heart rate – but the context is
missing. Why is the heart beating faster? Is the person running, outside, on a
slope, or exposed to poison and afraid? We, on the other hand, collect so much
data that we can understand the user’s situation.
“If a firefighter goes into a burning building and only has 50% oxygen left in the gas cylinder, we can accurately predict that if this person continues to breathe so quickly at this age and condition, he will have to go back at a very specific point of time.”
For a cash-in-transit customer, we developed an algorithm that identifies when a vehicle stops at an unusual location. The data is compared with Google Maps, TomTom & Co: Is the vehicle just stuck in a traffic jam? Is there a new traffic light there? We also have access to camera images. However, if the van has not stopped there in the last six months and there is no obvious reason for this, our systems will raise the alarm. It could be a robbery or something similar. It takes 1 minute 30 to identify the situation. This happens more frequently with new customers when they travel unknown routes to supermarkets etc. to collect money. The AI first has to get to know these journeys, but it gets better and better through training. Of course, we don’t want any data leaks in all of this. That’s why data security is extremely important to us: end-to-end encryption protects confidential information, while high-speed transmission ensures real-time data collection.
In around 10 years’ time, we will
certainly be able to reduce occupational risks even further and massively
improve the health of workers. Firefighters, for example, often suffer from
cancer in old age, which develops due to toxins and gases. This risk can be
greatly reduced by sensor measurements and AI recommendations. Intelligent and
learning robots will also certainly take on more and more dangerous jobs.”
Swiss technology group Conextivity inaugurates its new production site and celebrates its 70th anniversary in Portugal
Amarante, Portugal | June 05, 2024
Conextivity Group officially inaugurated its new production site in Amarante on June 5, marking a significant milestone as the company celebrates 70 years of business success. The new facility, which already employs some 140 people, enhances the Group’s production capacity to meet the growing global demand for the connectivity solutions offered by its two businesses, Fischer Connectors and Wearin’. The new plant’s cable and connector assembly production lines have been fully operational since October 2023, two years after the first stone was laid by Group CEO Jonathan Brossard.
“We are delighted to be able to inaugurate our new production facility on schedule, thanks to the dedication of our collaborators and partners in Portugal and Switzerland,” said Sabrina and Jonathan Brossard, respectively President and CEO of Swiss-based technology group Conextivity. “This expansion supports our commitment to meet the growing demand for the connectivity products and solutions offered by our two businesses, Fischer Connectors and Wearin’.”
Since its launch, the Amarante facility has produced more than 2.4 million connectors for over 70% of Fischer Connectors’ production volume. Currently, nearly 140 professionals are employed in various roles including manufacturing, R&D and management, assembling products for global export.
“Our goal is to gradually increase our workforce to 200 people,” said Filipe Silva, General Manager of the Amarante site. “Depending on the Group’s needs and development over the next ten years, we may further expand our capacity to employ up to 400 people.”
The new facility was designed by architect Alexandre Burmester of A. Burmester Arquitectos Associados Lda, based in Porto, and built by Braga-based construction company DST. The site consists of several buildings with a total surface area of 4,600 m2, surrounded by 11,600 m2 of open space, located in Paúl de Cima, in the parish of Aboadela, Sanche e Várzea, in the municipality of Amarante, near Porto.
The site was selected with the support of AICEP, Portugal’s trade and investment agency, based on factors such as industrial track record, cost base, working environment, cultural aspects and talent availability. “Choosing the inland region of Amarante over the onshore region of Porto offers significant advantages in terms of recruitment,” confirmed Filipe Silva. “With our proximity to three universities, we have access to a rich talent pool to recruit the professionals we need in order to grow at the pace we want.”
The Portuguese plant allows the Conextivity Group to increase its cable assembly production capacity and to leverage an efficient and resilient industrial setup consisting of two connector assembly production sites: the historic site in Saint-Prex, Canton of Vaud, Switzerland, and the new site in Amarante. Since the family company was founded in 1954, the connector assembly operations have always been centralized at the Swiss manufacturing facility, R&D center and headquarters.
“The new Portuguese facility is the first of its kind outside of Switzerland,” said President Sabrina Brossard at the inauguration ceremony. “It is a cornerstone of our vision and growth strategy as a global, full-service connectivity partner. The Amarante plant also supports the industrialization of our latest products and solutions.”
Under the strategic leadership of CEO Jonathan Brossard, the Conextivity Group has doubled its staff and turnover over the last seven years and expanded its scope of activities with new electronic solutions such as Fischer Connectors’ tactical hubs and Wearin’s breakthrough IoT solutions for connected personnel in the field.
The new site in Portugal will enable the third generation of the founding entrepreneurial family to support the Group’s growth dynamic by increasing its competitiveness, responsiveness and capacity on a global scale.
The construction of the Amarante site required an investment of more than 15 million euros by the Conextivity Group, including 6.5 million euros from the Portugal 2020 partnership with the European Commission.
The inauguration of the Amarante plant, which coincides with Conextivity Group’s 70th anniversary, was attended by all site employees, the President of the Municipal Chamber of Amarante, José Luís Gaspar, and other municipal officials, government agencies, project partners, as well as the Conextivity Group’s international management and sales teams.
The geographic coordinates of the Conextivity Group Portugal site are: 41°16’10.6″N 7°59’19.2″W | 41.269600, -7.988679.
Police tactical vest: IoT and AI to enhance safety on operations
Morges (Vaud), Switzerland | February 27, 2024
The innovative connected tactical vest project uses artificial intelligence (AI) for its abnormal-situation detection system and can transmit this warning to a command center via the Internet of Things (IoT). This innovation, applied to the operational needs of various law-enforcement professions, is the first result of a partnership between France’s General Directorate of the National Gendarmerie (DGGN) and Wearin’, the Swiss technology group Conextivity’s startup.
The new tactical IoT solution, which attaches to pre-installed body armor, ensures redundant safety and connectivity through a state-of-the-art AI-enhanced warning device that is independent of current radio systems. Called the Wearin’ Brain, this ruggedized device is triggered either manually by an SOS button, or automatically when it detects an abnormal situation such as loss of verticality, piercing of the body armor cover after a stab wound, or a bullet impact. In the event of a warning, the device also transmits the geolocation of personnel.
The connectivity kit features smart power management via a central high-performance battery guaranteeing 8 hours of autonomy, which considerably increases the running time of gendarmes’ electronic equipment. The kit’s optimized cabling allows equipment to be recharged via a single cable, which the agent can easily connect at the end of a mission, or to his/her vehicle if required during an extended mission.
The Wearin’ Brain, the Wearin’ Battery and its quick-release system are integrated ergonomically into the vest via MOLLE fasteners and/or heavy-duty multifunctional pouches with no snagging areas. The kit also features luminous fibers integrated into the front and back of the vest offering personnel on night operations the option of enhanced visibility.
“The vest that we are co-developing with Wearin’ embeds the latest technologies in connectivity, detection, communication and visibility,” explains Lieutenant-Colonel Fabrice Blanc, director of the “connected vest” program at the DGGN. The IoT solution called Wearin’ X DGGN Smart Tactical Vest has been designed with an open, modular architecture that keeps the interoperability of current and future systems in focus. Over the course of the partnership, it will be able to evolve and adapt to meet the operational needs of law-enforcement agencies, which vary according to the different types of intervention by gendarmes, national or municipal police officers, or customs agents.
“It’s the field that commands in this type of applied innovation,” confirms Jonathan Brossard, Director of Wearin’ and CEO of Conextivity Group. ” Versatility, modularity and interoperability are at the heart of our R&D approach. The smart vest’s functionalities and performances will be tested by various units of the gendarmerie throughout 2024, with the aim of meeting their diverse needs in terms of safety, resilience and efficiency in the field. Our collaboration with the DGGN involves pooling our experience, skills and technologies to deliver a cutting-edge, open system that will evolve in line with the current and future requirements of agents’ multiple professions and missions.”
The IoT platform developed by Wearin’ can be delivered with a dashboard integrated into the command-center system to provide real-time information about the situation on the ground, via data from sensors, warning devices and communication systems worn by personnel on operations. Based on this precise intelligence of operations underway, transmitted in bidirectional streams, commanders can speed up tactical decision-making and improve the coordination of intervention units, as well as their response times.
Signed in November 2023, the innovation partnership between Wearin’ and the DGGN is supported by the French Ministry of the Armed Forces’ Defense Innovation Agency and the National Gendarmerie’s Transformation Department.
Officially unveiled at the Milipol show in Paris in November 2023, the connected tactical vest from Wearin’ and the DGGN will be showcased on the international stage at the World Police Summit in Dubai, March 5-7, 2024, on Wearin’ stand no. SS2 A32. The vest has also been shortlisted by the show’s jury to compete for the prestigious World Police Summit Awards in the Innovative Police Force category.
Best wishes for the New Year and happy anniversary!
January 10, 2024 – Saint-Prex (Vaud), Switzerland
Dear customers, partners and friends,
It is with pride and joy that we celebrate the 70th anniversary of our family group this year.
In human terms, 70 years is the age of a late and well-deserved retirement; as a company, it’s a sign of loyalty, continuity and sustainability for our people and for you, valued customers, partners and friends who place your trust in us. For our Group in particular, and for the 3rd generation of the founding family who have recently taken over the reins, it’s a time full of dynamism that we want to extend into the decades to come.
Ever since our founder, Walter Werner Fischer, developed the world’s first high-quality sealed circular connector, our people have kept alive that same spirit of innovation, entrepreneurship and excellence to serve the design engineering community worldwide.
Over the past seven decades, we’ve evolved from being a provider of connectors to a global technology group and full-service partner across the entire value chain of connectivity. The high-performance solutions we deploy at the intersection of micromechanics, electronics, embedded software, cloud and AI, meet the needs of essential markets and industries such as medical technology, defense and security, instrumentation, robotics and IoT.
When connectivity is deployed in demanding operating environments and advanced, complex ecosystems, it must be both reliable and innovative. This brings with it a profound sense of responsibility for our technology group, and sets Fischer Connectors and Wearin’ apart from other connectivity solution providers: to reimagine connectivity that creates lasting value in our traditional and new markets.
As we look ahead, we will continue to evolve alongside our customers. But while our customers drive us, our history guides us. We draw inspiration from both our pioneering roots and our customers’ needs to co-create solutions that will shape the future through new synergies and new ideas that we grow together.
It is this community of vision and work that gives meaning to our collaboration, contributing to something greater than ourselves.
Best wishes for the New Year and happy anniversary!
On behalf of the Conextivity Group, Fischer Connectors and Wearin’ teams:
Sabrina Brossard, President of the Board of Director
Jonathan Brossard, CEO
Peter Fischer, President (Sept. 1999 – May 2023) and Honorary Member of the Board of Directors
Company history on Fischer Connectors website https://fischerconnectors.com/en/about-us/history/
Lone workers ensure their safety with the ultra-reliable IoT fall detection and alert solution of Wearin’
December 12, 2023 – Morges (Vaud) and Geneva, Switzerland
Since November 20, concrete producer PRO BETON’s lone worker protection equipment has incorporated Wearin’s IoT solution, which alerts the control center in the event of an accident and detects falls with unrivalled reliability.
The Conextivity Group’s startup Wearin’ has developed a solution connecting the lone worker with the control center commissioned by concrete producer PRO BETON to ensure the safety of its teams of machine operators and cleaners working on production sites during the day, night and weekends.
Based on Internet of Things (IoT) technology and powered by AI, the solution comprises two platforms, one physical and the other digital, communicating with each other in real time. A device attached to the worker’s vest, called the Wearin’ Brain, embeds three safety alert and detection systems: one to alert the control center via the Wearin’ SOS button that can be activated manually in the event of an accident; an inertial sensor that can automatically detect a fall (in case the alert cannot be raised manually); and GPS to pinpoint the precise location of the worker. Data and alerts are sent and collected via the Cloud to the Wearin’ dashboard integrated into the central monitoring system, allowing the control center to take appropriate emergency and rescue measures according to the alerts they have received.
“The reliability of the solution, in particular its advanced automatic fall detection system, makes the difference in securing lone working time and meeting the comfort and safety needs of our employees,” explains Éric Guillot, Director of PRO BETON based in Geneva. “As they work alone in a noisy, high-risk environment, it’s crucial for them to be able to rely on cutting-edge technology that incorporates all the necessary safety features so that the safety control center can intervene in a timely and appropriate manner in the event of an accident.”
As its name suggests, the Wearin’ Brain attached to the worker’s vest is the brain of the hardware and software systems in Wearin’s IoT solution. Alvaro Goncalves, Technical Director at Wearin’, explains: “The Brain contains the SOS button, the fall detection sensor, the GPS system, a 10-hour battery enabling it to last an entire shift of PRO BETON employees without additional charging, as well as the LTE module for secure data transmission to the alarm center.”
The fall detection sensor designed by Wearin’ offers unrivalled reliability on the market, minimizing the risk of false positives experienced with other, less advanced competing products. Aurélie Balsa, Embedded Software Manager at Wearin’, emphasizes this key differentiator: “The critical problem faced by this type of system is the frequency of false positives and the impact they have on the worker. The detection provided by other products less advanced than ours is sometimes so unreliable that users, annoyed by repeated false alarms, end up disconnecting the system altogether. Wearin’s solution comprises hardware, firmware and embedded algorithms. Based on data from our accelerometer and gyroscope, our algorithms reduce false positives to less than 1%, to the great satisfaction of users, who find it all the easier to adhere to this security system.”
Jonathan Brossard, CEO of Conextivity Group, is delighted with this IoT platform which perfectly meets the particular needs of the lone worker market. “The trend we’re seeing in this sector is a strong and genuine concern on the part of companies for the health and safety of their employees. These companies no longer want to limit themselves to ticking the boxes on safety checklists provided by regulatory authorities. They demand real solutions to the real-life issues specific to their operations. In this respect, Wearin’ provides an end-to-end connectivity solution that is not only ultra-reliable, but also modular and scalable, capable of adapting to the specific security typologies and requirements of each client organization.”
According to the latest market studies, Europe employs 10 million lone workers.
Wearin’ partners with SYNERGISE to improve disaster management
September 14, 2023
Wearin’ is an Associated Partner of the internationally funded collaborative project SYNERGISE to develop, from September 2023 to February 2027, an integrated toolkit for improved management of natural and man-made disasters. The project involves 18 partners from Europe, Japan, South Korea and the USA, and kicked off on September 5, 2023, in Essen, Germany. To boost the efficiency and safety of first responders during life-saving missions, the SYNERGISE team will develop a Novel Integrated Toolkit for Collaborative Response and Enhanced Situational Awareness (NIT-CRES). The toolkit shall improve the management of natural and man-made disasters whilst boosting collaboration between first responders to increase mission effectiveness and victim detection at highly challenging and complex incident sites.
18 partners from Europe, Japan, South Korea and the US will design, develop, integrate, deploy, test, validate and demonstrate the Novel Integrated Toolkit. It will comprise a multitude of tools and services required to:
- Boost situational awareness and sense-making by offering first responders (FRs) the means to autonomously and synergistically perform indoor and outdoor exploration of incident sites towards victim detection
- Receive at all times information about responders’ position and vitals as well as analyses of passive and active threats and hazards at the area of operations
- Upgrade collaborative response and incident as well as resources management by continuously sharing and updating the common operational picture across deployed teams, among the chain of command and between participating agencies.
- Equip the first responders (FRs) at all fronts by delivering novel, affordable, accepted, and customized response tools and services as part of their operational assets.
For improving the collaborative response and enhancing situational awareness, the Novel Integrated Toolkit will deliver:
- Cutting-edge, innovative and integrated tools featuring aerial, legged swarm of robots and snake like robots for autonomous site exploration and victims detection;
- Advanced wearables for real-time vitals monitoring of first responders, gas/environmental sensing for potential toxics and explosives detection;
- Advanced localization systems to locate the first responders indoors and outdoors;
- Augmented reality for robotic control, visualization and remote collaboration;
- AI enabled synthesis and fusion of information for acquiring mission intelligence;
- A rapidly deployable communications system to allow for quick information exchange and human-machine interaction for optimization of exchange between devices and first responders;
- An interoperable Incident Management and Command and Control System to enhance multi-agency response and allow for effective mission deployment, resources and assets utilization whilst enhancing situational awareness and sense-making at all times.
Equipping first responders with tools that enhance their speed and safety
“SYNERGISE seeks to match the operational needs of search and rescue teams with current technological capabilities”, explains Sabine Lackner President of the German Federal Agency for Technical Relief (THW). “First responders have practical experience on the field and developers the technological know-how. Through this unique collaboration between technical partners, industry, academics and first responders of various agencies, innovative technology will be developed to locate the victims more swiftly and with less risk for the people conducting the rescue operation.”
Evangelos Sdongos, Technical Coordinator of the project says “Saving lives and ensuring safety of those responding has always been the main goal in disaster response. With SYNERGISE, we aim to offer a unique combination of technological capabilities that effectively contribute to that. The technologies to be delivered in the project will provide unmatched capabilities to address the operational needs and procedures of first responders’ teams. This will enhance first responders’ safety, situational awareness, sense making and collaborative incident management.”
Multidisciplinary team to maximize impact collaborative response in complex incidents
Besides first responders, the SYNERGISE team involves academic and research organisations that will provide leading-edge technology and small and medium companies that will develop key innovative components and commercialize the Novel Integrated Toolkit. First response practitioners will take care of the testing, training and validation at component and toolkit levels in the framework of a rich Integration, Testing and Validation Activities Programme. International relief practitioners will be involved as members of the project’s Advisory Board, responsible for technology validation and wider outreach to the relevant stakeholders and capacity building.
The international consortium convened in Essen, Germany, from September 5-7, 2023, to officially launch the SYNERGISE project during a kick-off meeting aiming at consolidating the action plan and work packages for the next 42 months of collaboration.
International joint funding
The SYNERGISE project is jointly funded from the European Union’s Horizon Europe research and innovation programme; Switzerland’s State Secretariat for Education, Research, and Innovation (for the two Associated Partners from Switzerland, Wearin’ and ETH); R2 Network from the United States; the Japan Science and Technology Agency; the Korea Ministry of Science and ICT, and the Korea Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute.
SYNERGISE stands for “A novel integrated SYstem of Systems streNgthening tEchnical and logistical capacities to ensure better Response to emerGencies by synergIStically addrEssing First Responders capability gaps”.
The project started on September 1, 2023, and will run until February 28, 2027.
Wearin’: an Associated Partner
Wearin’ plays a central role in the development of the SYNERGISE Toolkit. As an Associated Partner of the project, it has been assigned tasks and objectives for the provision of wearable technology in IoT and AI to develop algorithms monitoring First Responders’ vitals, as well as environmental sensors detecting abnormal or risky situations and sending alarms to the control room.
The following project working packages in which Wearin’ will take part are key to the development of SYNERGISE’s Novel Integrated Toolkit for Collaborative Response and Enhanced Situational Awareness (NIT-CRES):
- Practitioners Needs & Toolkit Architecture and Design
- Wearables techs for First Responders (Real time indoor and outdoor responder Geolocation & proximity to risks & hazards)
- Multi-agency collaboration and Incident Management and Augmenting the Common Operational Picture
- System Integration, Testing & Evaluation and Knowledge Capitalisation
- High Impact Creation, Dissemination, Communication, Awareness and Exploitation
- Consortium Management & R-I Development Coordination.
“As an Associated Partner of SYNERGISE, Wearin’ looks forward to playing an active part in this exciting project. Our IoT technology for connected intervention personnel will be at the center of the toolkit which the SYNERGISE team will be developing during the next 42 months. This is a further milestone in the international deployment of our solution, following the field-testing and real-life implementations with firefighters and law enforcement forces in Europe, and cash-in-valuables-in-transit (CVIT) agents in Switzerland.”
— Lien Pham, Business Development, Wearin’
“Our project team can’t wait to integrate Wearin’s technology in our toolkit. The iterative process of development will be the core of the SYNERGISE project Toolkit preparation through nine collaborative lab tests, numerous physical integration workshops and field tests, four component field tests, and two system field tests. This will be combined with online and on-site hands-on training.”
— Tiina Ristmäe, SYNERGISE Project Coordinator; Vice President, International Forum to Advance First Responder Innovation (IFAFRI); Research Executive, German Federal Agency for Technical Relief (THW)
“The solution we’ll be developing for the SYNERGISE project will go through an extremely thorough evaluation and validation process, and a battery of rigorous tests. These will be carried out by the first responders themselves, as well as by a variety of renowned research and industry partners covering the entire chain of command and technology in disaster management. This will add another stamp of reliability and quality for Wearin’s technology and solution in the international scene.”
— Carolina Perez, Product Director, Wearin’
SYNERGISE is a further milestone in the deployment of Wearin’s unique solution worldwide.
Field-tested by firefighters and law enforcement officers in Europe, the Wearin’ solution was at the center of the European Domino FSX civil protection exercise in 2022.
In the same year, the solution received the Innovation & New Products Recognition Award at Electra Mining Africa, and Wearin’ teamed up with Airbus Secure Land and Communications to combine their technologies to improve the safety and coordination of field response personnel.
Since October 2022, cash-and-valuables-in-transit (CVIT) agents in Switzerland have been using the Wearin’ solution as an indispensable safety net during their missions throughout the country.
SYNERGISE Project Partners
Practitioners:
Technisches Hilfswerk – Bundesministerium des Innern und für Heimat, Germany
Sodertorns Branforsvarsforbund, Sweden
Openbaar Lichaam Gezamenlijke Brandweer, The Netherlands
Centrum Naukowo-Badawcze Ochrony Przeciwpozarowej Im. Jozefa Tuliszkowskiego – Panstwowy Instytut Badawczy, Poland
Hellenic Rescue Team ATTICA, Greece
Industry:
ASTRIAL GmbH, Germany
SYSNAV SAS, France
ARTTIC Innovation GmbH, Germany
Wearin’/Conextivity Group, Switzerland
Ethical & Legal Plus SL, Spain
R2 NETWORK, The United States of America
Research:
Tohoku University, Japan
Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Norway
Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research, Netherlands
Eidgenoessische Technische Hochschule Zurich, Switzerland
Electronics And Telecommunications Research Institute, South Korea
VIRNECT, South Korea
Centre for Research & Technology, Hellas, Greece
The Advisory Board is comprised of representatives from the organizations herein: National Resilience at National Fire Chiefs Council from United Kingdom; Estonian Rescue Board; Centre for Security Science at Defence Research and Development in Canada; United States Department of Homeland Security; FirstLink Research and Analytics in the United States of America; Italian Fire Brigades; Hellenic Civil Protection in Greece; French Police; Swedish Police
_____________________
Website and social media
Website: Coming soon
Newsletter: Register here
Twitter: @SYNERGISE_EU
LinkedIn: SYNERGISE Project
Contacts
Project Contact
Project Office:
Amrita Choudhary
ARTTIC Innovation GmbH
amrita.choudhary@arttic-innovation.de
Project Coordinator
Tiina Ristmäe
Federal Agency for Technical Relief (THW)
tiina.ristmaee@thw.de
Press Contact
Verena von Scharfenberg
ARTTIC Innovation GmbH
verena.vonscharfenberg@arttic-innovation.de
World first: SOS Cash & Value’s security guards reinforce their mission’s safety and security by equipping themselves with Wearin’s high-tech vest with environmental and biometric sensors.
November 22, 2022 – Morges (Vaud) and Vernayaz (Valais), Switzerland
Since the beginning of October, all the agents at the security company SOS Cash & Value have been equipped with the intelligent vest from Wearin’, the startup whose Internet of Things (IoT) technology is specifically designed to reinforce the safety and efficiency of its mission-critical teams on the ground.
“Following major strategic partnerships concluded early this year, the race was on to implement them on the ground. We’re pleased that it’s in Switzerland, the country where our solution was designed, that Wearin’ is applying its unique IoT and artificial intelligence technology at the service of the connected human.”
Jonathan Brossard, Conextivity Group CEO
The high-tech vest that SOS Cash & Value’s security guards wear at all times during their mission throughout Switzerland is equipped with environmental and biometric sensors connected to the monitoring center based at the security company’s headquarters in Vernayaz (Valais). The Wearin’ dashboard integrated into the center’s warning system provides real-time information on the situation on the ground. It continuously displays the data from the sensors whose algorithms correlate biometry, movement, acceleration and positioning in the vicinity and in the armored vehicle, which is also equipped with a specific sensor. An alarm is automatically triggered when the system detects an abnormal situation such as a security guard falling over (Man Down detection), or the stress caused by an incident such as an attack on a vehicle. The alert and communication system between the agents and the monitoring center enables the SOS Cash & Value mission leaders to decide on the actions and measures to secure and intervene with the emergency services and police forces at the scene of the incident.
“This personal equipment is revolutionizing the world of private security. It’s cutting-edge and provides an ingenious and reliable solution, tailored by Wearin’ to our company’s specific needs, and based on our experience and standards in security. This high-tech bulletproof vest provides a security guard with exceptional safety.”
Pierre-Yves Glassey, CEO of SOS Cash & Value
The technology developed by Wearin’s R&D engineers in Morges (Vaud) was successfully tested on a European scale in May 2022, during first-aid drills in the event of a major disaster. It is intended for organizations whose staff is called upon to coordinate risky activities and interventions on the ground, such as police forces, firefighters and first responders, or lone workers in the logistics or construction sectors.
“Our IoT technology is unique on account of its ingenuity as well as its integrability and modularity,” specifies Alvaro Goncalves, Wearin’s Technical Director. “We implement it as a turnkey end-to-end solution, on two platforms that communicate permanently with each other: on the one hand, the physical platform of the smart vest worn in the field by the customer’s staff and, on the other hand, the digital platform that is easily integrated into the customer’s monitoring system. The digital platform collects and centralizes the data transmitted by the vests’ sensors. These data are processed by artificial intelligence and then displayed via an application on a security dashboard used by the operators in the engagement and monitoring centers. Both platforms are modular and scalable. Our solution is designed to be adapted very easily and quickly to the customer’s own needs and technological capabilities.”
Wearin’ offers an end-to-end connectivity solution tailored to specific security and collaboration types and requirements in a series of modules defined by its customer organizations’ engagement and monitoring centers.
The Wearin’ solution comprises two scalable platforms, one physical and one digital, that communicate with each other in real time.
The SOS Cash & Value Security Manager notes the data security guaranteed by the solution: “This is a crucial point for the SOS Surveillance Group, to which SOS Cash & Value belongs. Our group wants to take the lead in reinforcing our agents’ security, which is the priority. Since the encryption used by Wearin’ to encode our data is of the highest industrial standard, we are protected against any criminal intent to decrypt them.”
Jonathan Brossard, CEO of Conextivity Group to which Wearin’ belongs, is pleased to implement the solution as a world first with a Swiss customer: “Three years almost to the day after the creation of our startup, and following strategic partnerships concluded early this year with leading suppliers such as Airbus with its Secure Land Communications (SLC) division, the race was on to implement the solution on the ground. We’re pleased that it’s in Switzerland, the country where our solution was designed, that Wearin’ is applying its unique IoT and artificial intelligence technology at the service of the connected human.”
Read the full press release published in six languages by Wearin’ and SOS Cash & Value on November 22, 2022: Press release | Communiqué de presse | Medienmitteilung | Comunicato stampa | Comunicado de prensa | プレスリリース
All images: © 2022 Conextivity Group
