The University of Pittsburgh this week received a $2.7 million grant from the National Science Foundation to create an automated emergency alert system that will warn officials of urgent situations even before people call 911 to report them.

The five-year grant will be used to create the Secure Critical Information Technology Infrastructure program. It will integrate incoming, real-time data from cameras and sensors and then alert emergency officials to respond when data deviates from normal activity.

Cities like Los Angeles have earthquake detectors connected to emergency management centers, but no city has a comprehensive system where data from utilities, the National Weather Service and traffic sensors are integrated in real-time.

Already deployed electricity, gas, water and temperature sensors as well as traffic cameras will be utilized, and new sensors will be added. For example, stationary cameras that monitor traffic could be replaced with rotating cameras that take pictures in the case of a landslide.

A team from Pitt's Department of Computer Science, headed by associate professor Daniel Mossé, will spend the first few years of the project building a system prototype on campus, with direct links with Pitt Police. The university is in discussions with Allegheny County officials to roll it out in the county within five years.