Humans can be quite difficult to find. However, that''s just what GE Interlogix''s new VideoIQ does. This new surveillance technology processes images from surveillance cameras and detects the actual presence of people in dynamic indoor and outdoor environments. It tells operators when it spots people, even where they''re not supposed to be, and draws a red box around them, right on the monitor screen.
It is not affected by factors such as those that normally plague traditional motion detection systems. It actually distinguishes between humans and other moving objects, like animals and rippling water. Effectiveness is not negated by poor field-of-view illumination or transient lighting changes.
In other words, this new technology actually studies its environment. VideoIQ essentially understands the conceptual content of a field of view, such as background, foreground, and types of objects present. This lets the system make intelligent decisions that determine whether or not events in a camera''s field of view are human related.
Adding Video Verification to Surveillance Applications
As a result, VideoIQ minimizes false detection, even under difficult situations, saving users countless dollars, especially if guards must be sent to verify intrusions or, as in many cities, police will not intervene without substantiation of break-in. It purges systems of the false alarms caused by video motion detectors, PIR sensors, and fence protection devices that are sensitive to changes in the conditions to which they have been tuned to function.
Besides reducing or eliminating false alarms, VideoIQ works seamlessly with digital video multiplexers/recorders, adding additional dimensions to alarm processing and digital recording. By alerting operators to the presence of people in monitored areas, guards only look at pertinent video, boosting productivity because they can monitor many more cameras. Security personnel can be quickly notified via alarm, pager, or email should human intrusion occur.
VideoIQ also enables very fast retrieval of human-related events. It substantially increases video storage capacities by limiting recording to only those moments when human-related activities occur.
Most importantly, users do not need to program in backgrounds. The technology teaches itself. When exposed to a new scene, it learns very quickly to ignore repetitive background motions. Later, if there''s a need to change a camera''s field of view, backgrounds again do not need to be programmed. As before, VideoIQ trains itself.
If detecting the presence of people is important but it is not feasible to supervise the area personally or continuously watch surveillance video, VideoIQ eliminates a concern of many security professionals.
Integrated High-Speed Domes: On the Front Line of Digital CCTV Systems
In the past five years, the price of quality CCTV cameras has dropped dramatically. Color cameras of today cost less than their black-and-white peers of three years ago. Today, because of their low cost, greater resolution, bandwidth, and even day-night functionality, most facilities specify and select color.
From high on a rooftop, dome cameras zoom in and get a clear image of that license plate way across the parking lot. New day/night domes provide 24/7 monitoring without the need for both a day and a night camera. They switch automatically between a color mode for daytime and a more light sensitive monochrome for nighttime, providing 24-hour coverage in all light conditions. These two-in-one dome cameras not only cut the number of cameras needed, but also divide the number of domes needed for the system in half. They also reduce the costs of other hardware and installation labor as well as future maintenance expenditures. By being able to produce clear images in low light, they save organizations the expense of installing additional lighting.
Outdoors, a typical implementation employs high speed, high resolution, pan-tilt-zoom cameras encased in a weather-resistant dome. Each dome camera follows a preprogrammed guard tour, moving continuously from one preset position to another.
Indoors, most buildings have mixed pan-tilt-zoom cameras with fixed position cameras. However, that is changing. Equipped with a high-resolution, variable speed pan/tilt color camera housed in a compact 4.9 in. (12.4 cm) heavy-duty, tamper resistant aluminum housing, the popular miniature CyberScout dome camera, available with a 3.5 to 8 mm varifocal lens, affordably replaces limited fixed position cameras and provides the increased benefits of a pan/tilt/zoom built-in receiver. With it, users can remotely control digital zoom and other programmable options for increased surveillance options. Such a miniature system provides installers and users with greatly increased flexibilities.
Once a digital CCTV system is implemented for security and safety purposes, its use migrates, amortizing costs way beyond what conventional tape-based systems were able to offer in the past. For instance, maintenance staff can be reviewed to ensure cleaning and upkeep is being performed as desired.