Chartiers Valley Tests Wi-Fi-based weapon detection in school safety pilot

COLLIER TOWNSHIP, Pa. — Inside Chartiers Valley High School, security isn’t an afterthought; it’s a priority.

“If our students aren’t safe when parents drop them off, nothing else matters,” said Dr. Daniel Castagna, superintendent of the Chartiers Valley School District.

As school security technology continues to evolve, districts are implementing metal detectors, walk-through weapon detection systems, and even artificial intelligence tied to the camera systems. But a new pilot program in western Pennsylvania is taking the next step by using Wi-Fi.

Chartiers Valley is testing Wi-AI, a non-intrusive weapon detection system developed by CurvePoint, a company utilizing research from Carnegie Mellon University. The system turns a school’s existing Wi-Fi signals into a type of invisible radar that can detect concealed weapons without physical searches or visible equipment.

“We send signals; they bounce off surfaces, and when they return, our device paints a picture — almost like lasers,” said Devin Ulman, chief technology officer at CurvePoint.

Administrators and school resource officers can view both standard surveillance footage and corresponding Wi-Fi signal data. The system is trained to recognize the shapes and sizes of various weapons — including handguns, rifles, shotguns and knives — even when concealed in backpacks.

In one demonstration, the system detected a concealed handgun in a student’s bag and automatically sent an alert to a school officer.

“If it becomes something that is a bigger threat, like an open carry gun, that’s something we surface even higher,” Ulam said. “We’re working closely with third parties so a dispatch alert can go out immediately.”

Privacy concerns were top of mind when Castagna first presented the idea to the school board, but quickly it was clear nothing identifiable was in the system.

“There is nothing identifiable by a student — it’s not their face. It’s the outline of an image. That’s all we know,” Castagna said. “Then we can use our own internal cameras to choose what we want to see and share.”

While the system is still in its pilot phase, Chartiers Valley will become the first district in the nation to launch Wi-AI once the system is up and running in a few months. Momentum is already building as other districts have expressed interest in adopting the technology, all united by a shared commitment to keeping students safe.

Download the FREE WPXI News app for breaking news alerts.

Follow Channel 11 News on Facebook and Twitter. | Watch WPXI NOW;

©2025 Cox Media Group