SESP '12: Proceedings of the 1st ACM international workshop on Sensor-Enhanced Safety and Security in Public Spaces

Abstract

It is our great pleasure to welcome you to the First ACM Workshop on Sensor-Enhanced Safety and Security in Public Spaces -- SESP'12. The mission of the symposium is to share novel ideas, techniques, and tools that enable the design of inexpensive, flexible, resilient, and privacy-friendly security systems for enhanced security and safety in public spaces.

Public spaces, such as airports, railway stations, or stadiums bring together large numbers of people on limited space to use a security-sensitive infrastructure. Electronic security systems may help to provide better and faster security and safety for the general public. Application scenarios may include intrusion detection and monitoring of large crowds in order to provide guidance in case of unexpected events (e.g., a mass panic). However, current security systems used within the public infrastructure are typically expensive, not trivial to deploy, difficult to operate and maintain, prone to malfunction due to individual component failures, and generally lack citizen privacy-friendliness. The advent of novel, large-scale distributed security systems based on wireless, lightweight sensors may enhance security and safety in public spaces.

SESP'12 attracted submissions (acceptance ratio 18%) from Asia, Europe and the USA, and contributors from academia, government, industry, on subjects including theoretical and practical aspects of computer, networking and communications security in the context of wireless sensorbased safety and security in public spaces. The program includes a keynote speech by Dennis Gessner on current and future challenges of trustworthy sensor networks.