Subhalagna Jena with her gadget. Telegraph picture

Bhubaneswar, Jan. 5: All those fretting over their new vehicles from being stolen can soon heave a sigh of relief. Sixteen-year-old Subhalagna Jena has devised an anti-theft gadget called ‘Perfect Vehicle Security System’ for rescuing stolen vehicles.

Subhalagna hit upon this plan after she met with a road accident last August. After returning home with wounds and bruises, she spoke to one of her friends who casually remarked that she should have shrieked as a command for the vehicle to stop. “It was then that I decided to come up with a technology that could bring vehicles to a halt as well as protect from theft. The accident actually proved to be a boon,” she says.

After doing her rounds of research on the internet, this Class XI student of DAV Public School, Unit-VIII, then approached her physics teacher Ajaya Samantaray for guidance. “He asked me if I was sure about my plans. I told him if one can launch a rocket by making a call, I should be able to stop something in motion,” she said.

In this security system, a mobile phone is fitted inside the motor vehicle. The technology has been designed in such a way that a person will have to dial a 10-digit number to lock the vehicle.

The vehicle owner also has to save his own number on that phone for emergency situations. In case of theft, an SMS would be sent to the owner of the car.

“By making a call to the phone inside the vehicle, the power supply to the motor would be cut off and the vehicle would draw to a halt. The police can then track it down by detecting the location of the phone’s SIM card,” said Subhalagna.

She has spent two months and Rs 4,000 on the project. Although she has tested the gadget only on toy cars, which do not have a proper motor, she is confident that her innovation would be effective for heavy motor vehicles as well.

Her project has recently been accepted by TechPedia, a portal of technology projects by students, which is run by many scientific organisations. “Now, I am working on their suggestions to improvise the model. I hope to complete it by March,” she said.