Cyclops anti-theft system means motorists can keep an eye on their cars

ACCORDING to Royal Hongkong Police statistics, about 7,000 private cars were stolen last year, representing three per cent of the total number of private cars on the territory's roads.

To help combat this alarming rate of theft and help reduce the hefty surcharges being levied by insurance companies, a Western Australian company has introduced a sophisticated anti-theft system to Hongkong. Local dealer BMW Concessionaires has already ordered 400 units and the Hongkong Automobile Association is looking at it closely.

Designed by Mr Ivor Metlitzky, director of Dynamco Ltd, the Cyclops system dispenses with the need for a battery-powered remote control and is claimed to be secure against code scanners.

To de-activate the Cyclops system and gain access to a car, a driver carries a small transponder on his key ring. When brought near the car, the transponder draws a minute amount of power from an electronic eye mounted on the inside of the windscreen andtransmits an individual 32-bit code.

The transmitted code must be synchronised with the receiver to within a millionth of a second. This is repeated five times and the whole process is completed in under half a second.

If the Cyclops alarm is triggered, the engine is automatically immobilised, a 120 decibel siren is sounded and the indicator lights flash. To protect against false alarms, the system will only respond to the frequency spectrum of breaking glass.