A public safety innovator focused on improving emergency access solutions for fire departments.
Develop the electronics and firmware for a secure smart lock box system mounted inside fire trucks. The system would store a master key that provides access to building lock boxes and must log and control access for authorized personnel.
While the client solved the problem of emergency building access by mounting lock boxes outside structures—accessible only to fire departments—another issue emerged: managing secure access to the master key itself. The system needed to ensure that only authorized individuals could access the master key and provide an auditable record of access events.
Impact ES–Rhode Island designed the electronics and firmware for a smart lock box mounted inside fire trucks. The box would open only when a valid identifying code was entered. Unique access codes were created and downloaded to the lock box via USB using custom PC software also developed by Impact ES–Rhode Island. Each access event was logged by the firmware to create a secure usage record tied to the individual user.
The fire department gained a secure, trackable solution for managing access to critical master keys—ensuring both rapid emergency response and personnel accountability.
Secure access was enabled through user-specific codes
A USB interface allowed easy code management via custom PC software
Firmware logging created a reliable access trail for accountability
The smart lock box improved both emergency response efficiency and security
