Tech companies are rolling out sensors to detect vaping amid a spike in attacks and use among students

SINGAPORE – Tech companies are rolling out sensors to detect vaping, amid a surge in seizures of electronic vaporizers in Singapore.

Communications and security company Motorola Solutions has been marketing its Halo Smart Sensor to organizations here since September, including at schools that have seen a spike in the number of students caught vaping.

Each sensor, which is about the size of a saucer, costs about $2,000. It is usually placed overhead in toilets, classrooms or offices.

Schools across the United States have installed similar devices in bathrooms, where there is little adult supervision.

The device monitors 16 data points, including particulate matter, carbon monoxide and the number of people in the room. It is capable of monitoring air quality and detecting dangerous chemicals for vaping.

When activated, Halo sensors send an alert via text message to a security monitoring center or teachers, who can then look around for e-vaporizers and the offending students.

Mr. Choong Kit Soon of Motorola Solutions said: “In its general form, Halo looks at three aspects such as environmental health, safety and movement in a room… (Halo) allows the ears and nose to provide another level of perception .”

In addition to detecting vapor aerosols, Halo sensors monitor cannabis use, aggression or cries for help, gunshots, nitrogen dioxide, humidity and temperature.

A teacher in Singapore who recently caught a Primary 4 student vaping said vaping detection sensors could be a “game changer”.

The discipline master of the primary school in the west did not want to be named because he was not authorized to speak on behalf of the school.

He told The Straits Times: “On a normal school day, teachers are busy and have many other responsibilities. We cannot be expected to wait and ambush students who vape in restrooms.”

A teacher from an Institute of Higher Education (IHL), who spoke on condition of anonymity, said schools need all the help they can get.

He said that over a three-month period starting in October 2022, his school had discovered about 200 cases of students vaping per month.

He added that students often hide vaporizers in suspended ceilings or behind mirrors in student bathrooms.