Revolver

In recent years, U.S energy infrastructure has been targeted in a series of recent physical attacks where aggressors have used firearms to intentionally sabotage utility equipment. These acts have prompted a collective nationwide effort to prevent, mitigate, and protect against physical threats to the electricity grid.  

With the goal of protecting critical energy infrastructure, PEC’s Physical Security team has performed evaluations of target sites for a variety of clients interested in securing their equipment and property. In particular, line of sight analyses provide owners with valuable information about the threats to assets from nearby ground locations based on the sight line between a hypothetical shooter and potential targets.  

PEC’s Engineering Analytics team has created ”Revolver”, our software tool for aiding line of sight analyses. Developed using Python, this tool synthesizes high-fidelity geospatial data with a sophisticated computational geometry algorithm to determine which sectors of the area surrounding a specified target have sight lines to that target based on ground surface topology, assumed shooter profile, and obstructions. 

Users supply the application with a simple list of configuration settings including the target coordinates, target and shooter heights above ground, and search radius. There is also an option to add obstructions such as walls, fences, buildings, or other objects not captured by the ground elevation data, which block line of sight between the shooter and target.  

The software outputs plots and raw data summarizing the analysis. It produces both 2D diagrams of height versus distance for each bearing line and a map-like image showing which of the surrounding areas have sight lines to the target. 

Protecting critical infrastructure is a key mission of PEC. The “Revolver” software tool assists our experienced security consultants. Using GIS and computational geometry automates the tedious and error-prone components of this work, enabling our team to focus their knowledge and expertise on creative solutions which deliver more value to our clients.  

For more information, please contact:

Physical Security Team Lead: Brandon Kehl (bkehl@protection-consultants.com)

Revolver Lead Developer: Alex Lakocy (alakocy@protection-consultants.com)