Gatekeeper Systems Rolls out Temperature Sensing Solution for Schools & Transit To Detect COVID-19

Gatekeeper Systems (CA:GSI – $0.62 & US:GKPRF – $0.46 & GER:1GK – €0.37) is proving once again that it is on the leading edge of artificial intelligence and video surveillance for the public transportation and school bus industries. It announced the launch of Intelligent Temperature Sensing System, or ITSS, an intelligent infrared body temperature sensor system that incorporates a smart panel, thermal imaging and artificial intelligence. This system will be able to quickly and accurately measure the body temperature of passengers who board school buses and public transportation vehicles. The introduction of this technology could not come at a better time as it is more important than ever for transportation authorities to be able to measure passengers for fevers in an efficient and accurate way during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Just a couple of days after announcing the ITTS launch, Gatekeeper booked its first sale. The Company was contracted by a school district in the United States to equip their fleet of more than 100 school buses for the purpose of measuring the body temperature of students while boarding. Shortly after that the company landed another contract from a school district to equip approximately 40 of their school buildings with ITSS, showcasing the system’s adaptability for both to transportation as well as fixed site applications. Installation for both contracts is expected to begin in September 2020.

The timeliness of this product could not be better. Temperature checks for students is of high importance as US schools consider their return to school scenarios. For example a school district near Chicago surveyed its 948 staff members to gain insights on how staff feel about returning back to work this fall. 68% stated that temperature checks for students was “very important” and 20% said they were “important”. This rivals the importance of personal protective equipment (69% very important, 21% important). Considering that 25 million children are transported to school daily on 500,000 buses, having a solution that checks temperature before the child boards the bus is immensely valuable.

Gatekeeper’s Health Monitoring Panel is a stand alone Intelligent Temperature Sensing system that detects temperatures of passengers in a transportation environment. Artificial Intelligence is used to detect the presence of a face. Then thermal imaging is used to calculate the individual’s temperature.

Gatekeeper’s ability to react so quickly during this time of crisis is a credit to its IP and technological expertise. The ITSS has only been in development since April 2020 and is already ready for deployment. It is impressive that the company recognized this as a new product opportunity, and then within a very short time designed, engineered, procured, and launched the new product which was so well designed there was immediate sales to their customers. There are several use cases for this product that will significantly expand the company’s business. It can be used on trains and buses as well as entrances to train stations and schools, for example, which expands the company’s current business footprint.

Gatekeeper’s Services Are Perfectly Suited To Meet The Needs Of Contactless Health Tracking On Buses

ITSS is a contactless system that can determine body temperature to an accuracy of +/- 0.5 degree Celsius within 20 milliseconds and within a 0.6-meter range upon a passenger boarding a bus. Visual and audible alarms are triggered when temperature thresholds are exceeded, making it an ideal system for tracking and alerting for potential COVID-19 cases. Of course, COVID-19 won’t be around forever, but this system will still be useful for intelligent passenger routing, contact tracing, passenger counting, or payment verification upon the public transportation network. We can imagine that this data will be invaluable for operators of the transportation authorities in order to counteract fare evasion and optimize the scheduling of bus routes.

CEO Doug Dyment recognizes the problem and market opportunity here, since bus stops do not have the infrastructure to handle COVID testing as airports or train stations would. He stated, “ITSS is the first product launch of the passenger health check solutions we are working on that are tailored to the enormous bus transport market. Each weekday in the US alone, more than 25 million school students and 18 million transit passengers board buses at locations that are primarily not stations, meaning that health screening tools are needed at the bus boarding point. ITSS allows transit and school bus agencies to provide a safer transportation environment for their passengers using technology similar to what is already being put in place by airports and airlines. The ITSS solution is also an example of a new additional data layer that we are building out on our PaaS platform business model, and we are well equipped to do so.”

Last week, the Company announced that it is seeking applications for COVID-19 contact tracing solutions that interface with its Platform-as-a-Service platform and allow government authorities to trace cases on transit applications and school buses. For instance, if a person who is later diagnosed with COVID-19 enters onto a bus, all other passengers on that bus will automatically be notified of that fact so they can get tested as well. Now with the release of the ITSS, pursuing these types of contracts makes a lot of sense for Gatekeeper.

Gatekeeper Is Moving On Up As Investors And Lenders Recognize Its Robust Operations

We have noted several times in the past that Gatekeeper has kept its share count quite steady at under 90 million shares over the last couple of years. The risk of dilution remains low because of the Company’s consistently positive net earnings and strong working capital position. Now that risk is further mitigated as it recently entered into a $3 million revolving line of credit with TD Bank. So if Gatekeeper finds itself in a position to grow but in need of cash in order to take advantage of the opportunity, it can tap this line of credit before considering an equity raise.

The credit should also be a signal to shareholders about the robust nature of Gatekeeper’s business. TD Bank is one of the largest banks in Canada. For a small business to be able to get a loan of this size at an interest rate of prime plus 0.85% per annum shows investors that the bank believes the business is solid and risk of insolvency is low. Most small cap TSX Venture listings can’t get a loan at all and if they do, it’s often at interest rates exceeding 10%.

GSI has provided outstanding returns to long-term shareholders this year but that shouldn’t discourage investors who are just learning about the opportunity from initiating a position. As GSI is trading at $0.62 in Canada, its market cap is still only around $61 million, meaning its revenue multiple is around 3x for such strong growth and robust margins. Smallcaps Recommendation: BUY.

Smallcaps.us Advice: Buy	Price Target: $0.69	Latest Company Report (pdf)
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