Video Analytics: A Job For Deep Learning Software

A video surveillance network is an important component of any modern security system. If you combine it with video analytics software, it can also unlock a host of benefits that go beyond safety and protection.

Until very recently, video analysis was a labor-intensive task that required humans to watch hours of footage and report relevant observations. This task was manageable if isolating footage around a possible crime, or significant event. However, there is a low number of video feeds that one person can monitor and analyze. The work doesn’t scale very well, and thus few organizations have used video footage as a valuable resource — it is just part of a contingency plan.

Then we entered the age of artificial intelligence and deep learning, opening the door to intelligent video content analysis.

Image processing is a complex task. A single frame contains layers of shapes, colors, and inferred action that human eyes and brains are uniquely designed to handle quickly. A single second of video footage contains a minimum of 24 individual images, thus a minute of footage contains 1,440 discrete images. Hours of footage are orders of magnitude more intensive to process.

Video footage is an excellent candidate for leveraging deep learning (a sub-category of artificial intelligence and machine learning). In deep learning, an algorithm is trained on a set of images and improves its ability to identify desired elements or interactions as more images are fed into the system.

Although human beings also can improve their ability to analyze video footage over time, they fatigue quickly. Computers get better and faster as the algorithm advances.

So if you’re looking to monitor human traffic flow through a corridor or vehicle occupancy in a parking lot, you can set certain parameters for the video analysis software and watch the results emerge over time. You may need to pay someone to optimize the algorithm, but that’s work that compounds over time.

Eventually, you may even be able to use the analysis to automate other tasks, such as limiting traffic flow or triggering the process to open additional capacity. One novel application is to use video analysis algorithms to watch for fires, collisions, active shooters, or other events requiring an emergency response.

If you’re using digital video surveillance cameras in your facility, chances are that you can benefit from deep learning video analysis. Odds are that you’re using recorded footage to reduce liability or produce evidence in the event of a possible crime. Analysis software can help isolate incidents worth reviewing. On the other end of the spectrum, you can use video footage as a resource to learn about how people use your facility and how you can optimize for the desired outcome.

Although facial recognition is a controversial practice, there’s no question that intelligent video analysis can give your security personnel a big advantage when it comes to managing access and dealing with unauthorized visitors.

Here are some common types of scenarios where video surveillance cameras and video analysis can be used for great effect.

A health care facility is a prime example where video surveillance and video analysis shine together. Hospitals need to monitor and respond to fluctuations in vehicle traffic, human traffic, as well as limit access to medicines, machines, and specific wards of the building. What’s more, a large hospital campus may need to collate hundreds of video feeds and analyze the footage for events of interest. Deep learning algorithms can help transform petabytes of video footage into useful insights.

If you’re interested in monitoring parking lot occupancy, building occupancy, and enhancing the security in your facility, then video surveillance and analysis can be a cost-effective way to accomplish that. It can even help you reduce utility costs by identifying periods where the HVAC can idle or when lights can be dimmed.

Similar to hospitals, schools deal with large fluctuations of people. They also have a strong incentive to watch for unauthorized individuals or prohibited behaviors. Video analysis can help sort through the rush of bodies and a variety of daily activities (is that wrestling practice or a fist-fight?).

Many municipalities are already implementing video surveillance and analysis to help optimize vehicle traffic through urban environments or constrained areas (such as bridges, tunnels, parking structures, or construction zones). If you’re looking for ways to manage traffic flow in real-time, then video surveillance and analysis can probably help.

Customers may follow seasonal patterns, but predictability isn’t something that any retailer can depend on. Video surveillance paired with analysis can help you comply with occupancy limits and help staff respond to peaks and lulls.

Whether you’re looking to process footage that you’ve already recorded or you’re installing a completely new digital video surveillance network, it’s worth planning for how you’ll analyze the footage and what you’ll do with the results. And video analysis is something you’re better off doing before it becomes a necessity, such as when you’re fighting a lawsuit or trying to prove someone’s innocence.

i.e.Smart Systems is a Houston, TX based technology integration partner that specializes in design and installation of audio/visual technology and structured cabling. For more than three decades, our team of in-house experts has partnered with business owners, architectural firms, general contractors, construction managers, real estate developers, and designers in the Houston market, to deliver reliable, scalable solutions that align with their unique goals.