[Surveillance-Studies-l] Fwd: Surveillance Cameras Get Smarter

[Nils Zurawski]

auch hier von interesse... ?

grüße

nilz

>Here is an AP article issued via "Wired News" that might be of interest for
>the community of CCTV researchers.
>Regards,
>Eric
>
>+++
>
>Feb 25, 2:05 PM EST
>
>Surveillance Cameras Get Smarter
>http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/S/SMART_SURVEILLANCE?SITE=WIRE&SECTION=
>HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
>
>By STEPHEN MANNING
>Associated Press Writer
>
>COLLEGE PARK, Md. (AP) -- The next time you walk by a shop window, take a
>glance at your reflection. How much do you swing your arms? Is the weight of
>your bag causing you to hunch over? Do you still have a bit of that 1970s
>disco strut left?
>
>Look around - You might not be the only one watching. The never-blinking
>surveillance cameras, rapidly becoming a part of daily life in public and
>even private places, may be sizing you up as well. And they may soon get a
>lot smarter.
>
>Researchers and security companies are developing cameras that not only
>watch the world but also interpret what they see. Soon, some cameras may be
>able to find unattended bags at airports, guess your height or analyze the
>way you walk to see if you are hiding something.
>
>Most of the cameras widely used today are used as forensic tools to identify
>crooks after-the-fact. (Think grainy video on local TV news of convenience
>store robberies gone wrong.) But the latest breed, known as "intelligent
>video," could transform cameras from passive observers to eyes with brains,
>able to detect suspicious behavior and potentially prevent crime before it
>occurs.
>
>Surveillance cameras are common in many cities, monitoring tough street
>corners to deter crime, watching over sensitive government buildings and
>even catching speeders. Cameras are on public buses and in train stations,
>building lobbies, schools and stores. Most feed video to central control
>rooms, where they are monitored by security staff.
>
>The innovations could mean fewer people would be needed to watch what they
>record, and make it easier to install more in public places and private
>homes.
>
>"Law enforcement people in this country are realizing they can use video
>surveillance to be in a lot of places at one time," said Roy Bordes, who
>runs an Orlando, Fla.-based security consulting company. He also is a
>council vice president with ASIS International, a Washington-based
>organization for security officials.
>
>The advancements have already been put to work. For example, cameras in
>Chicago and Washington can detect gunshots and alert police. Baltimore
>installed cameras that can play a recorded message and snap pictures of
>graffiti sprayers or illegal dumpers.
>
>In the commercial market, the gaming industry uses camera systems that can
>detect facial features, according to Bordes. Casinos use their vast banks of
>security cameras to hunt cheating gamblers who have been flagged before.
>
>In London, one of the largest users of surveillance, cameras provided key
>photos of the men who bombed the underground system in July 2005 and four
>more who failed in a second attempt just days later. But the cameras were
>only able to help with the investigation, not prevent the attacks.
>
>Companies that make the latest cameras say the systems, if used broadly,
>could make video surveillance much more powerful. Cameras could monitor
>airports and ports, help secure homes and watch over vast borders to catch
>people crossing illegally.
>
>Intelligent surveillance uses computer algorithms to interpret what a camera
>records. The system can be programmed to look for particular things, like an
>unattended bag or people walking somewhere they don't belong.
>
>"If you think of the camera as your eye, we are using computer programs as
>your brain," said Patty Gillespie, branch chief for image processing at the
>Army Research Laboratory in Adelphi, Md. Today, the military funds much of
>the smart-surveillance research.
>
>At the University of Maryland, engineering professor Rama Chellappa and a
>team of graduate students have worked on systems that can identify a
>person's unique gait or analyze the way someone walks to determine if they
>are a threat.
>
>A camera trained to look for people on a watch list, for example, could
>combine their unique walk with facial-recognition tools to make an
>identification. A person carrying a heavy load under a jacket would walk
>differently than someone unencumbered - which could help identify a person
>hiding a weapon. The system could even estimate someone's height.
>
>With two cameras and a laptop computer set up in a conference room,
>Chellappa and a team of graduate students recently demonstrated how
>intelligent surveillance works.
>
>A student walked into the middle of the room, dropped a laptop case, then
>walked away. On the laptop screen, a green box popped up around him as he
>moved into view, then a second focused on the case when it was dropped.
>After a few seconds, the box around the case went red, signaling an alert.
>
>In another video, a car pulled into a parking lot and the driver got out, a
>box springing up around him. It moved with the driver as he went from car to
>car, looking in the windows instead of heading into the building.
>
>In both cases, the camera knew what was normal - the layout of the room with
>the suspicious bag and the location of the office door and parking spots in
>the parking lot. Alerts were triggered when the unknown bag was added and
>when the driver didn't go directly into the building after parking his car.
>
>Similar technology is currently in use by Marines in Iraq and by the subway
>system in Barcelona, according to ObjectVideo, a Reston, Va., firm that
>makes surveillance software.
>
>ObjectVideo uses a "tripwire system" that allows users to set up virtual
>perimeters that are monitored by the cameras. If someone crosses that
>perimeter, the system picks it up, sends out an alert, and security staff
>can determine if there is a threat.
>
>Company spokesman Edward Troha predicts the technology, currently designed
>primarily to protect borders, ports and other infrastructure, could be
>adapted to help prevent retail theft or guard private homes.
>
>The Jacksonville Port Authority uses ObjectVideo software as part of its
>security measures to watch the perimeter of the Florida port that handles
>8.7 million tons of cargo and thousands of cruise ship passengers each year.
>The surveillance system sends real-time video from anywhere at the port of
>possible intruders to patrol cars.
>
>Still, industry officials say the technology needs to improve before it can
>be widely used. There are liability issues, such as if someone is wrongly
>tagged as a threat at an airport and misses a flight, said Bordes. Troha
>warns humans are still essential to intelligent video, to tell, for example,
>if a person in a restricted area is a danger or just lost.
>
>And the cameras can only see so much - they can't stop some threats, like a
>bomber with explosives in a backpack. They can't see what you are wearing
>under your jacket - yet.
>
>"That is an eventual goal, but we're not there yet," said Chellappa.
>
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-- 
Dr. Nils Zurawski
Universität Hamburg
Inst. für kriminologische Sozialforschung
Allende-Platz 1
20146 Hamburg
Germany
tel. +49 (0) 40 42838 3329
fax. +49 (0) 40 42838 2328

Projekt zu Videoüberwachung: http://www.surveillance-studies.org/blog