Intelligent video surveillance promises to boost security effectiveness by automatically alerting personnel to take action when a security violation occurs. In theory, this frees security guards from the monotony of watching a large number of video displays. Use of such "video analytics" leverages the inherent strengths of machines and people: Automated sensors never tire, can cover large distances, and "see" what the eye would miss, even in the absolute darkness. People can then make smart response decisions. And for many indoor surveillance applications, this is often the case.


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When it comes to outdoor surveillance, too often the reality is different. Outdoors, the security officer who was supposed to be more efficient now spends his time dealing with nuisance alarms that result when a gust of wind or a change in lighting triggers the video detection system inappropriately. As a result, security personnel come to distrust the system, and may tune down the detection sensitivity or possibly even turn off the alerts themselves.

Some facilities have hundreds of nuisance alarms every week. One reason is that video intrusion detection systems are often being used outdoors in applications for which they weren't designed. The time security personnel spend addressing these nuisance alarms can negate the claimed efficiency advantages of intelligent video, while redirecting their efforts away from other areas of security importance.

The key to eliminating nuisance alarms outdoors is to use technology designed for outdoor applications rather than mis-applying analytics intended for more controlled indoor surroundings. Indoors, a camera only needs to see a limited field of view in typically controlled surroundings. It's a mistake to apply the same technologies to monitor critical infrastructure applications such as transportation, energy, utilities or large campuses in the outdoors where conditions are continually changing.

Consider the typical outdoor surveillance scene: Cameras are mounted high on poles which shake from even a slight wind or vibration. Clouds are moving across the sky, creating shadows on the ground that appear to the camera as moving objects. Trees and their leaves flap in the breeze, further creating the appearance of moving objects. When you add in snow, rain, humidity and dust, such a dynamic environment will wreak havoc for video analytics not intended to operate under such conditions.

Using intelligent video to secure large outdoor venues requires the use of specific technologies like sufficient on-board camera processing power to overcome lighting and weather issues and accurately detect and track legitimate targets from extraneous surrounding motion and clutter. Such systems can also employ geographic information system (GIS) coordinates to determine a target's location, size and velocity, even over large fields of view.

There are cost savings associated with such an approach. That's because the same image processing that gives these cameras their outdoor detection accuracy also gives them extended range. This increased coverage translates to substantial project cost savings - typically on the order of 50 percent. This is due to elimination of the extra camera poles, construction, trenching, power and network connectivity that would have been required.

Applying the right technologies to video surveillance systems can transform the performance and economics of outdoor security. Reductions in design, construction and installation costs are also possible when truly intelligent long-range cameras provide wide-area coverage with accurate data. The resulting solution will be trusted, help drastically reduce nuisance alarms and represent a truly cost-effective surveillance technology for high-security applications.


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