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Director's Message

Dear SENTRY Community,

On February 25 and 26, 2026, we hosted the SENTRY Strategic Initiatives Virtual Workshop focused on Protecting Mass Gatherings in the U.S. We are thankful for the dedication of our SENTRY researchers who shared updates on their research focused on transportation security, crowd evacuation and counter-unmanned aircraft systems.

Michael B. Silevitch

I am also happy to announce SENTRY’s newest Industry Partner, InControl, a global software company focused on building custom simulation platforms for various industries. Gary Gardner, InControl’s Vice President of North American Operations, presented in the crowd evacuation session of the SENTRY workshop. They are also a key supporter of the work led by SENTRY researcher, Prof. Subhadeep Chakraborty highlighted in this newsletter below.

In conclusion, I was interviewed by the New York Times for the Lost Science series and proud to be able to discuss SENTRY’s important research work and how it is relevant to the need for security measures to ensure protecting the large gatherings that will accompany the upcoming FIFA World Cup and the LA Olympics. We continue to seek ways to support this key research and remain thankful for the engagement and support of the security community and venue stakeholders.

Research Project Spotlight

End-to-End Graph-Agnostic Real-Time Evacuation Routing to Protect Soft Targets During Active-Shooter Scenarios

Key Accomplishments:

Digital Twin Simulation Company Established

ASTERS Inc (a Delaware C-corporation) is an early-stage startup that spun out of the work done for SENTRY. The company aims to build Agentic-AI based Digital Twin simulations for Homeland Security applications. With the rapid developments happening in the spatial intelligence and Agentic AI space, the time is ripe to build on top of these solutions focused on solving some of the Homeland Security challenges. The company aims to focus on both AI Research and software development. ASTERS Inc was accepted into the University of Chicago Transform AI accelerator (cohort 4), which comes with $325K compute credits and $25K cash investment

along with mentorship from leading academics, industry, and corporate partners.

Critical Components of Real-time Routing Product Developed

A low-latency database pipeline for data exchange between Unreal Engine and SENTRY’s optimal routing algorithm has been established, allowing real-time information updates in the simulation. Customizable Non-player Character (NPC) movement protocol using waypoints has been established, where parameters such as the speed of each NPC can be tuned.

A workflow for streaming real-time video footage from virtual IP-based cameras inside the simulated environment of a school building, that can be fed into Computer Vision algorithms has been created.

SENTRY RESEARCH PROJECT PORTFOLIO

Events and News

The SENTRY Strategic Initiatives Virtual Workshop took place on February 25 and 26 and focused on transportation security, crowd evacuation and counter-unmanned aircraft systems and their relationship to protecting mass gatherings in the U.S. The event reminded our team of the importance of the SENTRY vision to ensure the existence of safe, secure public spaces by creating functional and adaptable solutions to detect and mitigate targeted violence.

The recorded presentations are available on our YouTube channel and details of the event can be found on our website.

SENTRY in New York Times'

Lost Science Series

In this article, Director Michael Silevitch discussed the impact of the unexpected termination of SENTRY's DHS funding in April 2025. He speaks to remaining hopeful that the relevancy of our work to in the protection of soft targets in the homeland will result in the reinstatement of the center.

The U.S. Joint Interagency Task Force 401 (JIATF 401) Publishes Guide to Counter- Drone Technology and Privacy Protections

The JIATF 401 announced the publication of "Counter-UAS Operations: Safeguarding Freedoms and Preserving Privacy," a comprehensive guide to the sensor technologies used to detect and identify drone threats and the legal framework that governs their use.

This new guide provides insight into the passive, non-intrusive sensor technologies — such as Radar, Electro-Optical/Infrared, and Radio Frequency Detection — that allow security personnel to maintain airspace awareness without interfering with civilian drone operations.

Call for Presentations

2026 National Homeland Security Conference

Every year, the National Homeland Security Conference (NHSA) brings together over a thousand attendees from the homeland security and emergency management disciplines, representing local, state, federal government, military, and the private sector. For the 2026 conference, the NHSA will be hosting 60-minute presentations within multiple tracks across all homeland security subject areas. The NHSA call for presentations will be open through April 15, 2026.

Call for Presentations