Corporal Adam Taylor, a Marine for 10 years and member of the national guard, liked the idea of utility pole cameras for surveillance but found funding a challenge for his small police department in Gardner, Kansas. So he got himself a 5-gallon bucket, added a few hundred dollars’ worth of parts and, with some help from Edward Ayres with Inventor Process, came up with the patent-pending Rapid Deployable Surveillance System, or RDSS.
The system, a prototype of which can be seen below, is hinged open, slapped around a smooth utility pole, flagpole, tree or other cylindrical vertical structure and either can be pulled up with a rope or can be driven with internal motors.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gl2JmcjzCwc
Managed and viewed through a smartphone or on a large monitor, the prototype gives just an inkling of the dozens of use cases for a system like this for both small and large agencies.
Taylor’s thinking is that the low cost, ease of use and no licensing requirements for the RDSS could make it a standard load-out in patrol cars along with the officer’s patrol rifle and shotgun. If you have a graffiti or loitering problem, local fair or festival, or even a SWAT response, you could pop it out of the trunk and have instant eyes in the sky. Don’t have a smooth pole handy? Toss a rope over a tree branch or other structure and hoist away.
How long will it run and what are the camera specs? That depends. A production unit could have multiple or swappable cameras and high-capacity batteries with or without solar cell support. Either leave it there or at the end of a shift, drop and charge it.
And speaking of production units, Taylor is looking for one or more companies who wish to license the design. For more information about licensing, his contact information is on the RDSS website.
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