THE NEW INNOVATORS: MICROSENSE:IN THESE security-conscious times, a new product from Limerick-based electronics company, Amideon Systems, has caught the attention of airport authorities as far away as Russia, China and South Africa.
The product, called MicroSense, is being targeted at national installations requiring a high level of protection. However, there are also plans to launch a version of the product that will be affordable for the domestic market.
Amideon was established in 2003 as a systems integrator. But 18 months ago the company, which employs 10 people in Limerick and six in Northern Ireland, changed direction and began designing and making its own products.
The company’s area of specialisation is micro, millimetre and micromillimetre wave technology. Its products sell mainly to the aerospace and security sectors. MicroSense is a wireless microwave barrier that sits inside a conventional fence to create an invisible curtain-like protective screen. What makes MicroSense a cut above its competitors is that it uses a very narrow beam width, which cuts out false alarms. The issues with most existing systems is that a truck or wildlife passing too close may trigger an alert.
Amideon’s sensors are also intelligent and, using unique algorithms, can differentiate between people and animals. MicroSense is linked to CCTV and once triggered the CCTV will verify there has been an intrusion and security personnel can be sent to the scene.
“Most alarm systems are reactive. Ours is preventative,” says company chief executive, Barry Lunn. When the system becomes available to buy off the shelf for home owners, they will be able to download a smartphone app that will alert them with a video image if an unauthorised person gets too close to their property, he added.
It cost in the region of €500,000 to develop the MicroSense technology and the cost of a full perimeter installation for an airport would be in the region of €200,000.
The company is hoping to sell about 1,000 systems this year. The estimated value of the global perimeter security market in 2010 was about $4 billion. MicroSense Systems for the domestic market are expected to cost about €1,000.
MicroSense is protected by patent and it also won a top academic award for its background IP. The project is a joint development between Amideon and its sister company in Belfast, Lamhroe, which itself is a spin-out from Queen’s University Belfast. “What’s also unusual about MicroSense compared with its competitors is that the front-end software is all in the cloud. This will be of particular benefit when we enter the home market as the system can be linked to the household’s existing wifi,” Mr Lunn said.
