SINGAPORE – Technology companies are deploying sensors to detect vaping, amid a sharp rise 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 schools that have seen an increase in students caught vaping.

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

Schools in the United States have placed similar devices in bathrooms, which receive little adult supervision.

The device monitors 16 data points, including particles, carbon monoxide and the number of people in the room. It is able to monitor air quality and detect dangerous vaping chemicals.

When triggered, Halo sensors send an SMS alert to a security control center or teachers, who can then search for the offending e-vaporizers and students.

Mr. Choong Kit Soon of Motorola Solutions said: “In its generic form, Halo looks at three aspects such as environmental health, safety and movement in a room… (Halo) provides the ears and nose with another level detection. »

In addition to detecting vaping aerosols, Halo sensors monitor cannabis consumption, assaults or cries for help, gunshots, nitrogen dioxide, humidity and temperature.

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

The discipline master at Western Primary School declined to be named because he was not authorized to speak on behalf of the school.

He told The Straits Times: “On a typical school day, teachers are busy and have many other responsibilities. We can’t be expected to wait and ambush students who are vaping in bathrooms.

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

He said his school detected around 200 cases of students vaping per month over a three-month period starting in October 2022.

He added that students often hide their sprays in false ceilings or behind mirrors in student restrooms.