ThreatViewer System Protects U.S. Open Golf Tournament

  • Jul 05, 2007

In an effort to bolster security and monitoring capabilities at the 2007 U.S. Open Championship golf tournament that occurred in June, Pittsburgh-area security and emergency response personnel deployed ThreatViewer, an integrated security product from Augusta Systems.

"Sporting events and other high-profile entertainment venues draw large crowds and, therefore, require stepped-up security measures. These measures include deploying advanced monitoring technologies, like ThreatViewer. ThreatViewer provided us with additional security enhancements, such as the capability of seeing in all directions at once from a single location," said Chief Robert Full, emergency management coordinator for Allegheny County and chairman of the Pennsylvania Region 13 Task Force, a regional anti-terrorism and emergency response consortium consisting of 13 counties in western Pennsylvania and the City of Pittsburgh.

Full's group coordinated public security efforts for the 2007 U.S. Open Championship, held this at Oakmont Country Club in Oakmont, Pa. The event attracted thousands of spectators, news outlets and some of golf's biggest stars, including Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson and others.

Multiple ThreatViewer systems featuring 360-degree imaging technologies, image data processing capabilities and wireless communications capabilities will be deployed during the U.S. Open. The 360-degree imaging technologies, which leverage components from Augusta Systems partner EyeSee360 Inc., enabled Region 13 personnel to "see" in all directions at once from a given location.

The features enabled security personnel to deploy multiple ThreatViewer systems wherever needed to remotely monitor a location or situation in real time, as ThreatViewer captures and processes surveillance data and transmits it to personnel at operations centers and in the field. ThreatViewer was used in conjunction with the Allegheny County Mobile Command Center.

"ThreatViewer provided a flexible security option for the U.S. Open. It can be placed wherever it is most needed to collect, process and transmit data to security personnel," said Patrick Esposito, president and chief operating officer of Augusta Systems Inc. "Because of its flexibility, ThreatViewer can assist security and emergency response personnel in a host of applications, including urban and homeland security, public safety, law enforcement, port and border security, national defense and industrial monitoring applications, among others."

The U.S. Open deployment is the second major sporting event to utilize ThreatViewer. It was deployed for critical infrastructure security during 2006 Major League Baseball All-Star Game events.

ThreatViewer features multiple sensing options, including sensors with panoramic imaging, pan-tilt-zoom camera, infrared imaging, gas detection, temperature measurement and humidity measurement features, among other options. ThreatViewer systems generally consist of multiple ThreatViewer sensor packages, rugged computers with ThreatViewer user interfaces, wireless long-range communications, dedicated power supplies, and all associated sensing, computing, and software features. ThreatViewer can be utilized as a stand-alone security system or integrated with other security systems or assets.

"Events like the U.S. Open and baseball's All-Star game highlight the need for advanced technologies. The threats to the public are evolving and security operations are evolving as well. In fact, sporting events and other mobile deployments are become the proving grounds for some of the most advanced security technologies. By deploying ThreatViewer along with Allegheny County's mobile command center at the U.S. Open, we ensured that the best technologies are put to use to protect our citizens and visitors to the region," said Allegheny County Chief Executive Dan Onorato.

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