ISJ Exclusive: BE.WEAPON – Ensuring security and management simplicity

STid has won RATP Group’s call for tenders with its innovative solution for securing and digitising armouries.

Having won the tender OLGA (Outil Logistique de Gestion des Armes in French) with its BE.WEAPON solution, STid is helping RATP Group security agents to streamline, secure and digitalise the management of their armoury.

BE.WEAPON is a hardware and software solution specially developed to secure and simplify the management of armouries for various army corps, police forces and private security service companies.

All these organisations have to secure an increasing amount of equipment and weapons whilst also managing the related processes. They often point out the need to optimise the time spent in armouries and improve the inventory of available equipment (on the field, in stock and in maintenance) as well as securing and simplifying the material distribution and return processes.

“With BE.WEAPON, RATP Group security agents will save a significant amount of time in their day-to-day activities, such as equipment collection and return, inventories and stock management,” explains Vincent Dupart, CEO, STid.  

How does BE.WEAPON work?

BE.WEAPON identifies weapons and equipment with IoT and RFID technology. Before check-in and check-out operation, the agent authenticates his identity with a high security access control reader.

The armoury manager, or the agent himself, automatically identifies each device and level of equipment with a RFID UHF reader, such as bulletproof vests, flash-balls, tasers, munitions, helmets, handcuffs, batons, tonfas, binoculars, night-vision goggles. The system connects the equipment to the agent.

“BE.WEAPON tells you at any time where your equipment is and who is carrying it. If your equipment is not in the armoury, you know who has it, why it is in use and when it expected to return,” adds Dupart.

The BE.WEAPON software specifies the reason behind the away-status, for example, authorisation agent status or material maintenance status.

Besides managing the check-in/check-out operation of equipment, the software has a lot of additional functionalities: Elimination of inventory discrepancies and movement recording errors; editing inventory and allocation regulatory records with one mouse-click; secure and reliable traceability of equipment, weapons and ammunition. All these processes are digitalised to streamline weapon and equipment management and to offer a seamless user experience.

BE.WEAPON increases the speed of collection/return operations by 50% when compared to traditional arsenal management operation. It is a great way to improve intervention response times. An additional feature is that the system can easily be customised to needs and requirements and size of the operation (number of agents and devices).

A 100% passive UHF RFID solution

RFID technology enables the identification of equipment without physical or even visual contact. RFID supports the execution of inventory operations in a matter of seconds and unlike traditional proximity RFID systems (low or high frequency), UHF (ultra-high frequency) technology supports the identification of equipment at distances of up to several metres away.

This reading performance enables mobile inventories of the entire armoury and it adds a great deal of flexibility to material collection/retrieval operations.

Passive RFID is the only technology that supports the usage of ‘mini tags’ specifically adapted to be mounted on or inside weapons and intervention equipment. Unlike active technology, a passive tag does not need to be powered; it is a more economical solution and its life span is virtually unlimited.

STid holds expertise in both hardware and software development, offering a complete, consistent solution as well as effective support. The corporate policies of STid for product development and data storage are based upon open technology standards and public cryptography standards.

This approach allows all the company’s products and solutions to comply with international and European security requirements (Security VISA issued by the French National Cybersecurity Agency ANSSI, RGPD compliance etc.).

To ensure interoperability and compatibility with legacy systems, STid’s solutions offer several secure hosting options which can be matched to network architecture, corporate security policies and the applicable legislation in specific regions.

BE.WEAPON is already in use at more than fifty police and military armouries. Recently, STid has equipped several municipal police forces such as the cities of Alès, Blanc-Mesnil and Rennes.

To find out more information, visit: stid-security.com

This article was originally published in the August edition of International Security Journal. To read your FREE digital copy, click here.