Critical infrastructure covers everything from bridges to pipelines. Today, after 9/11 and 7/7, almost anything could represent a target. It is simply impossible to defend against all types of attack. When the range and diversity of targets is considered, the scale of the problem can barely be comprehended. However, as with all things, the overall task can be broken down into smaller tasks. The different types of critical infrastructure can be separated out into different classes. Broadly speaking there are two types. There is infrastructure in the public domain, something visibility and hard to hide. Then there is the infrastructure that is largely invisible, hidden from sight. These classes can be further subdivided into things that are in open access areas, items that can be reached from the street. Then there are those items that are in compounds or fenced off. Very often the damage that can be done to these sites cannot be prevented unless notification of an intrusion in flagged up very quickly. It is an irony of the modern world that someone stealing cable by ripping it up from a manhole cover, may get away with a few hundreds of pounds of material. Yet they may have caused millions of pounds worth of disruption and damage. The same can be said of any number of elements within the country’s critical infrastructure.

Critical Infrastructure – Solution

The solution is to be able to deploy a sensor net quickly and efficiently over a wide area. The sensor net itself might include everything from imagery to PIRs, motion detection and sound detectors. The sensor net is never going to be the complete answer. What it will do is enable the placement and deployment of security personnel in a manner which can provide fast and effective response to an incident. The reality is that much of the country is covered with CCTV but most alarms need to be verified. Trials have shown that CCTV combined with sensor nets work much better than either individually. However the additional benefits that the sensor nets bring is in giving the CCTV a target to focus on. Knowing what to look at and when is really the battle with CCTV.

The Orion security network provides a whole series of sensors that can be employed alongside CCTV or in a stand alone fashion. The Orion system provides a simple, low cost, communications backbone on which multiple sensors can be attached. The devices are battery powered and very easy to install, something that is important on long perimeter fences on large sites. In fact, an entire site can be set up very quickly in response to intelligence information, making the Orion system ideal for sting operations and rapid deployments.

Critical Infrastructure – Benefits

  • Remote monitoring and alerting
  • Easy install
  • Low cost
  • Long battery life
  • Integrates with CCTV and existing alarm monitoring systems
  • GSM independent, will work anywhere
  • Gateways can be installed locally to guarantee good coverage