Meet Wytec, a new type of AI-powered gunshot-detection system.
Wytec International Inc., a builder of 5G wireless networks, is working on artificial intelligence software to deploy on networks of sensors to pinpoint the location of gunshots or other campus problems and immediately notify school district officials.
Founder and CEO William “Bill” Gray launched the company in 2011 to provide in-building cellular networks to schools. But that goal changed after the May 2022 Robb Elementary School shooting in Uvalde.
“Now there’s a big focus on gunshot detection on campuses,” he said. “So we now are more and more focused towards that.”
Since then, the firm has added five provisional patents for its AI software and methods. It expects to roll out a pilot program to test the system at some Texas schools sometime in the next year. Judson, North East and Southside ISDs in San Antonio are among the 46 Texas school districts that have expressed interest in participating, according to Wytec.
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Rather than manufacturing its own sensors and hardware, the company plans to integrate its AI software with other vendors’ equipment. Wytec’s software is compatible with various types of cameras and sensors that monitor motion, temperature, light, sound and pressure.
Sanchez said the system communicates via a private, secured wireless network.
Its centerpiece is Wytec’s LPN-16, a patented, small cellular base station that quickly processes the data coming from the sensors and cameras and provides information about unfolding events to school and security staff via a mobile app.
A company presentation showed the mobile app interface, which displays the event’s location and provides real-time video and communication.
In addition to gunshots, the sensors can detect smoke, fire, drugs and even chemical and biological agents.
One difference between Wytec’s system and others on the market is that it does not immediately call 911. Others, he said, immediately dial 911.
“If you’re very familiar with some of our competitive technologies, they get too many false positives,” Sanchez said.
By putting teachers or administrators in the loop, Wytec says its system can help limit unwarranted lockdowns or first responder callouts.
The company says it’s performed 500,000 lab tests of its software, logging “better than 90 percent accuracy” in identifying gunshots.
The system also will be able to pick up preprogrammed key words that could be used to trigger an alert.
That means that “teachers aren’t the only one with the ability to trigger things. Students can too,” Sanchez said. “If a student sees an incident, they call out, for example, ‘Code Red,’ you’ll be able to detect that on our system.”
There’s an Express News story that was in a print edition of the Chronicle that gets into how Wytec is supposedly better than ShotSpotter, which had been tried in San Antonio and later rejected for generating so many false positives and no true positives. It sounds to me like Wytec is basically requiring a human review on its alerts before the cops get called. That should cut down on the false positives, but it would also increase response times. The addition of a “Code Red” trigger means that there’s room for student shenanigans, too. Let’s just say I’m skeptical and leave it at that.
It also struck me in reading this that we’re preparing to spend a lot of money on better response to school shootings – in the Chron/EN article, the CEO of Wytec talked openly about the millions of dollars in contracts they’re seeking – but nothing was said about trying to prevent any of those shootings from happening in the first place. Yes, I know, the Lege passed a big school security bill in the last session, much of which unfunded and which came with significant logistical challenges. Perhaps that will help keep some shooters who don’t have a connection to the school in question from gaining entry. I’m just saying, by the time there’s gunfire it’s already a very bad situation. Putting my cybersecurity hat on for a minute, detection is important but prevention is preferred where possible. We’re more than a little out of balance on that here.