PRESS RELEASE: TWO WINNING APP PROPOSALS SELECTED IN RICHARDSONS US IGNITE SMART GIGABIT CITIES APPLICATION DEVELOPMENT CHALLENGE

Media Contact: Colby Walton

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

TWO WINNING APP PROPOSALS SELECTED IN RICHARDSON'S

Winners Include: (1) Proposed App Using Ultra-High Bandwidth Tech to Provide Real-Time Alerts to Police, Security, Administrators, Students and Staff in School “Active Shooter” Situations, and (2) Proposed Enhancements to App Enabling Medical Students to Practice Clinical Communications Skills with “Emotive Virtual Patients” in an Augmented Reality Environment While Receiving Real-Time Feedback

RICHARDSON, Texas – March 22, 2018 – The City of Richardson was one of several US Ignite member cities nationwide participating in a recent “smart gigabit cities” application development challenge, to encourage development of Smart City applications addressing community issues such as public safety, transportation and healthcare. Through the collaborative efforts of the Richardson Economic Development Partnership (REDP) and The University of Texas at Dallas (UT Dallas), two proposed apps from local developers have now been selected as winners of the challenge.

The first winning proposal, developed by UT Dallas Computer Science major Ashlesha Nesarikar, who is also the president of Plano Intelligence, Inc., is for a smartphone-based app titled iNotify, which will provide a real-time “Parkland Alert” (like an “Amber Alert”) to police, security, school administrators, students and staff when an individual with weapons poses an active threat on a campus or in a school building. The app has significant potential for saving lives and mitigating on-campus threats in “active shooter” situations.

iNotify is an intelligent monitoring application enabled by a combination of deep neural networks (DNN) and recurrent neural networks (RNN) that can simultaneously analyze multiple video streams in real time. This patent pending artificial intelligence (AI)/machine learning technology gathers video streams of moderate to high quality around a “space of interest” and processed with DNN to generate a “statement of interest” that can be understood by users of the smartphone app. Knowledge gathered from multiple video streams is expected to confirm an incident as it is happening in real time, and can bring appropriate police or school security resources quickly to resolve the potential danger and direct affected individuals to safety.

The application requires a campus and/or buildings with 360-degree video surveillance, high bandwidth/low latency networks and ample computing power on specialized servers to process the information with immediate feedback to all parties. It will identify not only the potential danger, but also the exact location and direction the perpetrators are heading, so that police/security can proceed directly to where they are. It could also suggest alternative escape routes to those in harm’s way, or instructions to stay and avoid detection, all in real time.

This application will require extremely high-bandwidth and low-latency internet connections, a perfect fit for the US Ignite advanced internet (gigabit+) infrastructure in place at UT Dallas.

The second winning proposal, from a team led by Dr. Marjorie Zielke, director of UT Dallas’ Center for Modeling and Simulation/Virtual Humans and Synthetic Societies Lab, is for an update to the team’s previously developed Emotive Virtual Reality Patient System app, which allows medical students to practice strategic, clinical communications skills with interactive “virtual” patients, while at the same time affording professors and other subject matter experts opportunities for real-time remote review and assessment. The Emotive Virtual Patient core functionality is funded by the Southwestern Medical Foundation and is a collaboration with The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center. The real-time remote review and assessment funding is provided by this winning proposal and the National Science Foundation.

Dr. Zielke and her team previously demonstrated the ability for teachers, doctors or other students to remotely view, via a Microsoft Hololens® headset, a medical student as he or she interacts with and questions an “Emotive Virtual Patient” in an augmented reality environment to assess the virtual patient’s health problem.

This new application idea extends the remote viewing capabilities to allow for real-time video communications between the remote viewer and the student. Previous plans only allowed for audio and text interaction between the student and the professor. This video capability further increases the need for both a high-bandwidth internet connection and low latency for immediate feedback communications.

Each team will receive a $5,000 check for winning this portion of the challenge, and another $5,000 check when they develop and demonstrate their application within six months.

“Each winning team has proposed an application that combines intelligent, innovative ideas while capitalizing on the vast potential of ultra-high-bandwidth, low-latency internet technologies,” said Michael Skelton, vice president for international business development for the REDP and director of the Mayor’s Office of International Business. “Applications such as iNotify and the Emotive Virtual Reality Patient System are representative of the transformative power of these technologies, and how they can help to dramatically enhance communities such as Richardson, as well as countless others nationwide. We are proud that Richardson is yet again on the forefront of high-tech innovation, as demonstrated by our forward-thinking business community, educational partners and ambitious entrepreneurs.”

Dozens of local start-ups, companies, university students and professors were initially invited to hear the challenge to the community in December 2017, and to develop gigabit application ideas using specific devices and software that would require ultra-high bandwidth, low latency and/or an SDN network. This is the second such gigabit application challenge hosted by the City of Richardson.

Richardson is part of US Ignite’s Smart Gigabit Communities program, a network of communities nationwide that have each committed to leveraging next-generation smart city and Internet technologies to keep pace with the world’s rapidly changing, information technology-driven economy. Each participating community also agrees to share their gigabit applications with other communities in the network.

The Richardson Economic Development Partnership, a joint effort of the City of Richardson and Richardson Chamber of Commerce, first partnered with UT Dallas in June of 2013 to join US Ignite, with the goal of fostering development of next-generation, high-bandwidth, low-latency fiber optic network applications. The community’s participation in US Ignite is expected to yield significant technological advancements and economic development benefits for North Texas. With help of researchers at UT Dallas, the initiative has already resulted in several such applications being conceived and prototyped.

About US Ignite

US Ignite, a public-private non-profit organization, fosters the creation of next-generation internet application that provide transformative public benefit. By engaging diverse public and private leaders we “ignite” the development and deployment of new aps with profound impact on how Americans work, live, learn and play. To learn more, visit www.us-ignite.org.

About the Richardson Economic Development Partnership

The Richardson Economic Development Partnership (REDP), a joint effort of the City of Richardson and the Richardson Chamber of Commerce, is dedicated to building a vibrant and thriving local economy by attracting new investment and jobs through marketing, recruitment and working with existing employers. The REDP offers numerous services to companies considering expansion or relocation to the Telecom Corridor® area, including international and domestic business relocation assistance and professional service provider referrals, site selection, broker and real estate referrals, cost of business analyses, incentives, partner and executive introductions, tours and city information. For more information, visit www.telecomcorridor.com.