City’s Eyes

Most municipalities worldwide are using video surveillance cameras. However, this infrastructure, which consumes a significant municipal budget, is only partially used. Practically, most of the time no one is really monitoring the cameras or the recorded video footage unless there is a specific alert or some incident is investigated. The justification for video surveillance is only for security and not for economic reasons.

This situation may be significantly changed by using Video Analytics technology, which can detect and analyze a variety of situations and obtain valuable information from the cameras automatically. These capabilities have been improved lately as the result of a breakthrough in Deep Learning technology. Currently, a computer system can be trained to detect and tag various events using reference video clips – a bit similar to a sniffer dog, which is trained to locate people or objects after smelling a sample object.

The video surveillance cameras in the streets may become ‘hard-working dwarfs’, serving the municipality and the citizens 24-7. Following are a few examples.

Vandalism and Graffiti detection

This ugly phenomenon is familiar at every city. Statues and monuments, public buildings, playgrounds, benches and others are damaged by vandals. The cost of handling these damages is tremendous and consumes a significant municipal budget. According to some statistics, the total annual cost (removing, painting, repairing, investigations and legal expenses) is around $20 per citizen, i.e. a small town with 50,000 citizens might pay some $1M annually (!) to handle graffiti and vandalism, not to mention the inconvenience caused to the citizens and associated bad image of the city management.

Immediate detection of graffiti and vandalism and documentation of the criminals may contribute to reducing the associated costs significantly. This can be achieved using existing cameras at city parks, near municipal building and anywhere around the city using software for detecting permanent background changes.

Traffic Analysis

Traffic planning is one of the most important factors affecting the quality of life in the city. The volume of vehicles and pedestrians at each street and its distributions along the day and week dictate the planning of roads, sidewalks, public transportation and bike lanes.

When the planning does not fit the actual needs, the result has both economic and quality of life aspects. The need exists for proper tools to constantly measure the actual traffic in order to adopt the infrastructure accordingly.

Currently, traffic measurement is done partially and ineffectively. Recruiting the existing city cameras for this task may yield valuable information for urban planners. Various tools exist to measure traffic volume and lane occupancy.

As a result of this on-going analysis, it might be concluded that a certain lane may be eliminated for the benefit of a wider sidewalk or a bike lane, or alternatively, traffic light timing should be adjusted, or a bi-directional lane is implemented.

Public parking analysis

Public parking -either along sidewalks or at parking lots – is an essential resource for the city citizens, visitors and businesses, as well as a significant revenue for the municipality.

The amount, fare and purpose (citizens, loading etc.) of each parking space, should be decided based on actual needs and usage.

Using parking occupancy detection software, the existing cameras along the city streets and parking lots may provide the urban planners, the parking department and others with valuable information regarding the actual usage of public parking.

Traffic violations

The enforcement of traffic violations usually splits between police and other security parties. Parking violations are a major bother at urban areas. Double parking, parking on sidewalk or loading at illegal zones cause a safety risk and traffic disturbance and need to be resolved immediately. A truck parking illegally only for one minute for loading during rush hour may cause a terrible traffic jam.

Automatic detection of traffic violations in real-time using existing video surveillance cameras is possible and reliable using dedicated software. Following violation detection, immediate enforcement may be performed. This immediate action both removed the disturbance and announces a ‘don’t mess with us’ message which contributes to a better driving culture for the long term.

Asset Protection

Numerous unmanned assets within the municipal area require monitoring. Statues and other monuments, warehouses, critical infrastructure and other municipal sites – all these need to be well protected from theft, vandalism, break-in, invasion, weather and other damages. Since there is a large number of locations to protect, it is not possible to locate guards everywhere and therefore many municipal assets are left unprotected, exposed to expensive damages.

The existing video surveillance cameras in the streets, associated with a special software to detect human motion at predefined areas, time and direction, may provide an immediate alert, enabling the security forces to act in real-time and avoid considerable damage to municipal assets.

Parks Security

The city green spaces are vital for citizens wellbeing. But at the same time, parks might be dangerous locations, especially during the night. An innocent jogging or youth gathering at city parks may become a nightmare. Therefore, cameras are installed at parks to provide better security. However, as mentioned, in most cases nobody is watching these cameras unless some alert is triggered. This alert can be provided using the existing cameras and a motion and loitering detection software at predefined areas and times. This will significantly improve the security level and personal safety feeling of the citizens.

Summary

Using advanced Video Analytics solutions can turn the city’s video surveillance infrastructure into a valuable municipal asset and working tool for the city executives. With proper planning, street cameras may serve not only for security purposes but also as a meaningful management tool, cut municipal costs and improve the citizen’s satisfaction.

Gadi Talmon

Strategic consultant and video analytics expert

www.gaditalmon.com

February 12, 2018 admin Uncategorized Comments Off

Not-so-Physical Security – Part 3: Data, Data, Data

My previous posts presented a brief history of physical security technologies, and the effect of the digital revolution <Link to part 2> on physical security. Today, we look at the challenge posed by the Internet of Things: making sense of digital data, specifically video data.

Video Analytics

The intensive penetration of video surveillance cameras created a new challenge. Having made huge investments made in purchasing and installing cameras in the field, it is the industry recognized it was almost impossible to monitor all the cameras 24/7. Therefore, there arose a need for a method to assist in deciding when an activity at any specific camera was important enough to record or to issue an alarm. This need was the trigger for Video Analytics (also called Video Content Analysis – VCA) technology.

VCA offers a variety of software algorithms capable of detecting multiple events, from simple video motion detection (VMD), through left object or taken object detection, License Plate Recognition (LPR), Facial Recognition, loitering detection, congregation detection and other types of behavior detection.

All these valuable capabilities became possible not only inside the protected premise, but also outside of the perimeter, enabling an earlier and wider security circle.

VCA technology is a teenager now, meaning it has only achieved a fraction of its potential. Unlike in the past, the new generation of VCA products does not require setup by experts and is capable of alarming upon events and sequences spanning multiple cameras.

Mobile and Wearable

The smartphone, which changed our life — for better or worse — during the recent decade, has changed the security world as well. The ability to view video and other information anywhere, enables security personnel to manage events even while away from the scene location. Furthermore, the smartphone camera enables anyone – whether first responders or civilians – to transmit live video, audio, GPS location and more from the event scene.

During the recent few years, body-worn cameras (also called Bodycam or Police Cameras) began penetrating the law enforcement and first responders sectors. Although the original motivations for these cameras was for evidence purposes and to reduce officer liability during events, these are now being used as real-time cameras for event management and as a sophisticated sensor in the field for purposes such as suspect license plate recognition or suspect facial recognition.

C4I and VMS systems had started supporting smartphone display, smartphone camera and body worn cameras.

Other wearable sensors are available and providing a variety of alarms from the field such as smoke or hazardous gases, fall detection, virtual tripwire and more. Weapon-installed sensors provide alarms upon any weapon activity such as pullout, trigger on and shooting.

Mobile and wearable technologies create a new reality, in which most cameras and sensors worldwide are mobile rather than fixed. For the sake of comparison: about 350 million video surveillance cameras were deployed over the past five decades, while within a single decade, several billion smartphones have been sold.

PSIM

The variety and lack of interoperability of security systems poses a major problem in the market, requiring expensive integrations to connect components and systems to one another. In order to overcome this issue, a new concept of a unified protocol connecting all systems has been introduced under the name Physical Security Information Management or PSIM.

PSIM software enables managing systems and components made by differing vendors by a single application as well as ‘plug-and-play’ connection of any camera or sensor to any VMD or C4I.

PSIM provides multiple functions: Sensor data collection, data analysis and real situation identification, quick event verification, step-by-step operating instructions, event reporting to predefined users and operators performance monitoring.

Furthermore, PSIM is not limited to security systems but can rather integrate building management systems, fire alarm systems and more.

The leading PSIM standards are ONVIF and PSIA. To date, most of the leading security vendors offer compatible products.

In my next post, we’ll discuss what lies ahead for Physical Security in the coming years.

October 19, 2017 admin Security Comments Off

Not-so-Physical Security – Part 2: The Digital Revolution

My previous post presented the alarm systems of the 1970s, and the introduction of analog CCTV into the physical security arena in the 1980s. In this post, we look at the digital revolution of the 1990s.

Digital Video

During the 90’s, digital video transmission and storage technologies spread rapidly throughout the physical security market. The old, cumbersome and unreliable VCRs were replaced by new, maintenance-free Digital Video Recorders (DVRs), which enabled immediate access to any video footage. Analog video transmission over coaxial cable was taken over by digital video, which enabled sharing and distribution to multiple users at multiple locations.

IP-Based security

At the rise of the millennium, along with the establishment of IP technology as a leading communication standard and widespread usage of IP network at any house and business, video-over-IP solutions were introduced. These included video encoders, which compressed analog video input to digital video over IP networks, and IP cameras with on-board IP ports.

Power-Over-Internet (POE) technology, which was launched shortly thereafter, enabling both powering and communicating with the camera over a single IP cable, making installation efforts much simpler and cheaper. The popular Wi-Fi technology gave rise to affordable wireless cameras and also contributed to IP-based device penetration.

Old command & control systems have been gradually replaced by software-based Video Management Systems (VMS) and DVRs have been replaced by Network Video Recorders (NVR). These trends enabled viewing video and operating from practically anywhere. Not only cameras but other sensors as well have become IP-based. Access control systems, alarm sensors and other IP compatible devices are enabling pure IP-based security solutions, eliminating the need for expensive proprietary communication infrastructure. Today, Internet-of-Things (IOT) technology offers an unlimited number of IP-based sensors and devices.

9-11

The events of 9-11 events changed the security world forever. The need for enhanced security of critical infrastructure, public transportation and city centers led to the establishment of the US Department for Homeland Security (DHS) and shifted large portions of the government budget to the security market. A thorough effort of risk analysis and requirement specification had altered the security market from being dominated by the independent initiatives of one manufacturer or another, to a market driven by clear national requirements.

One of the identified needs was integrating private security system with government managed systems. This need dictated the development capabilities of high-level communication and remote management.

The question the physical security industry now faces – and one we’ll tackle in my next post: How does one cope with the vast amounts of data these cameras and sensors generate on a daily basis?

October 12, 2017 admin Security, Uncategorized Comments Off

Not-so-Physical Security – Part 1: Guardian Angels at Your Service

Introduction

The physical security market has experienced some significant changes during the recent decades. Whereas once physical security was based solely on guards, fences and gates, the story of the physical security market has been rewritten by technological development and a change in the type of threats we face.

In this series of posts, I’ll review this fast-paced evolution, as well as the upcoming tech that will surely impact the physical security market dramatically in the near future.

Alarm Systems

During the 70’s, intruder detection alarm systems were introduced. These systems were the enabler for rapid growth of the central alarm monitoring service, providing security solutions 24/7 for the residential and enterprise markets.

These systems had the capability of intruder detection (mainly by using motion sensors and door / window magnetic sensors), but were lacking the capabilities of alarm verification and recognition. As a result, these solutions generated an unacceptable false alarm rate (FAR), which translated to high cost due to sending teams to the field unnecessarily.

Video Surveillance

In the 80’s, video surveillance cameras rapidly penetrated the market. Using these cameras (initially called Closed Circuit TV or CCTV), it became possible to remotely view events in the field in real time, verify alarms and record the video for evidence and debriefing purposes. The cameras were low quality analog cameras and were connected by physical infrastructure to the control room (and nowhere else).

Despite the high cost, low video quality and difficulty to access video footage of a specific event, these CCTV systems generated a real revolution in the security market and upgraded the security level. Eventually, the return on investment model was proven by a reduction of manpower and lower false alarm costs.

The United Kingdom led this global trend. The streets of London started to be populated with CCTV cameras. Shortly after deploying cameras in another borough, the crime rate decreased significantly. This triggered a public debate about the tradeoff between security and privacy and development of laws covering the use of CCTV at the public space.

Gradually, video surveillance had become the major tool in the physical security market.

Alarm systems, video surveillance and central alarm stations provided remote protection to properties and made security affordable to households and businesses.

In my next post, we’ll discuss how the digital revolution affected physical security.

October 4, 2017 admin Security, Uncategorized Comments Off

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