Strategic Elements’ subsidiary Stealth Technologies and Honeywell to create autonomous security vehicle for WA prison

Strategic Elements’ (ASX: SOR) wholly-owned Stealth Technologies has secured a collaborative deal to develop a fully autonomous security vehicle for the Eastern Goldfields Regional Prison in Western Australia.

The work will be a collaboration between Stealth, the WA Department of Justice and US Fortune 100 company Honeywell Building Technologies.

It is expected the work will lead to development of a fully autonomous security vehicle that can inspect, test and confirm the integrity of the prison’s perimeter.

This will be done without human intervention and the data will be integrated seamlessly into the Eastern Goldfields Regional Prison’s existing technology and processes.

Current perimeter testing requires two staff three times a day to check each fence and security system. Another officer is needed to confirm alarms.

Each check takes about one hour to complete.

Strategic noted the availability of the autonomous vehicle would empower prison officers to better concentrate on managing the safety, security and rehabilitation of the prisoners, and provide staff with greater ability to randomise testing and additional patrols to investigate incidences, especially at night.

Honeywell collaboration

Under the collaboration, the Honeywell Pacific Apps team and Stealth will build an interface between the security management system and the vehicle.

This will enable alarm activation and acknowledgement between the security system and the vehicle, and provide live video streaming to the security system operators and two-way voice communication.

Additionally, the vehicle will relay real-time location and status information to provide greater situation awareness.

Final validation and acceptance testing is to begin in the September quarter. The potential use of the technology will also be investigated at other facilities.

According to Strategic, the global perimeter security market is forecast to expand at a compound annual growth rate of 12% between 2020 and 2026.

It is predicted the market will be worth US$282.26 billion by 2025.

“Stealth Technologies is really starting to gain momentum and the technical and commercial teams respectively led by Elliot Nicholls and James Hemmings are establishing a level of sophistication capable of operating on a global stage,” Strategic managing director Charles Murphy said.

“Our focus in the short-term is the successful completion of the autonomous security vehicle with Honeywell, however the AxV platform is attracting significant interest from industry and research sectors and we look forward to the period ahead,” Mr Murphy added.