Intelligent Video: A Change of Perception

Intelligent video is not just for high security. How video analytics can find value at industrial facilities?

There is little dispute that intelligent video has found a place at the round-table of well-funded high-security installations.  In general a perception has permeated the security industry that intelligent video is for the heavyweights of security, such as ports, airports, train stations, and nuclear power sites.  Early intelligent video developers are partly to blame for this out-of-reach perception because they spent more time on functionality rather than worrying about delivering a usable and simple-to-install solution for the masses.

By Dvir Doron

NEW FOUND VALUE

Today, there are commercially available intelligent video systems that are high performing and proven, yet designed for simplicity of installation and operation. Despite this, corporate security directors for industrial sites have plodded along traditional routes using timeworn security programs only to be blind-sided by new trends in crime and added responsibilities of security conformance issues.

Popular criminal trends have cropped up, such as scrap metal theft, industrial-plant theft, and frivolous injury claims.  On the industrial security front, administrators found their facilities exposed with too many holes because security components deployed for industrial security were not designed for such wide area detection nor for the added dimension of anti-terrorism.  A good example of this is the problem of scrap metal thieves that cart away everything from railcars and steel rolls to guard rails and street signs.

Industrial security now needs to secure against threats not previously believed to be security issues, including theft of toxic chemicals, biomedical waste, and flammable materials.  Industrial areas inhospitable to patrolling but are accessible to determined intruders, such as confined spaces, high-voltage areas and hazmat facilities, now need protection.  With limited budgets, and a tendency to stay away from complicated solutions, industrial security was without a viable solution for protecting wide-open areas.

NEW DEMANDS

Despite the obvious problems of traditional security measures, the new demands of industrial security, and the benefits of intelligent video to fill this void, security installers lag behind in offering these more effective systems over the traditional devices they know and love.  What lays in the future for security installers is greater demand for intelligent video solutions, especially in the industrial security market where the benefits of intelligent video and the return on investment are substantial.

The benefits of intelligent video are clear.  It watches over areas that are too dangerous for security guards to patrol.  It provides the ability to monitor wide areas and detect not just short-range movements, such as an infrared motion detector, but true intruder behavior scenarios.  It can differentiate people from small animals outperforming other sensors that typically cannot tell the difference between the two.

Being Everywhere at Once

Intelligent video appliances -- DSP-based devices with self-sustained video analytics that is a snap to configure and install -- are the necessary element for delivering the plug-and-play approach.  They also provide an optimal solution for remote and stand-alone deployment.  Remote construction sites, electrical substations, agricultural sensors and pipelines, for example, can all be protected without the need of a dedicated network processing computer or onsite security guard.

Rather than erecting truckloads of fencing, fence sensors, ground sensors, and wiring, and battling city hall and residents about aesthetics, intelligent video offers a viable and easy-to-install solution as an invisible fence.  Additionally, security guards cannot be everywhere at once.  All too often, they discover a problem only after the damage is done and after the thieves have already fled with valuables.  With automatic intelligent video monitoring, security officers are tipped-off rather than having to discover events for themselves during scheduled patrols.  Because everything is being watched with nonstop vigilance and detection is accelerated, it relieves the burden of roving patrols and allows for efficient use of personnel and a system that’s easy to operate.  For example, technology today enables security guards to use portable monitors, such as PDAs that provide alarm video and camera control from the field thus adding mobility and reducing unwatched monitoring.

A Modern Deterrent

In the past, improving security at industrial facilities often meant adding more cameras and the correlated monitors and watch staff needed for the additional surveillance.

Thanks to intelligent video and its ability to automatically detect someone entering a perimeter, security guards only need to view and respond to actual alarm events rather than watching hours of motionless video.  Because the system works as a stand-alone solution, even if no one sees the video, deterrent actions can automatically be initiated, such as playing audible warnings to vacate.

For multi-site locations, the network capabilities of intelligent video appliances allows a centralized dispatcher to handle thousands of cameras from a remote location rather than stationing persons at each location.  This includes two-way communication, commanding dry contacts and controlling cameras.  Also, Pan-Tilt-Zoom (PTZ) cameras with intelligent video can provide hands-free tracking that releases guards from manually operating joystick controls.

The basic truth of intelligent video is that it gives industrial security the boost it needs to overcome modern security challenges.  There’s no question about it, intelligent video delivers value by offering an effective and reliable security solution for industrial facilities.

• Intelligent video detection can distinguish between vehicles and people and even limit detection to a specific direction, so when a scrap-metal thief climbs over a fence it will be detected, but an employee car leaving the facility would be ignored.
• Automatic detection of object removal can be used to limit detection to items that are of interest whether it be the taking of a warehouse computer or a palate of copper piping from a storage yard.
• Automatic detection of unattended objects can reveal when a box of products is tossed over the fence by an employee for after-work pickup or alarm when a suspicious package is placed next to liquid propane tanks.
• Automatic detection of stopped cars can notify when a vehicle parks outside after hours or when an explosive-laden car parks nearby chemical storage tanks.
• Autonomous pan/tilt/zoom tracking, unlike stationary cameras, can provide automatic close-ups of a moving target for better recognition or real-time tracking of a camouflaged intruder whereabouts. 

From Perception to Reality

With intelligent video interfacing and event engines, lights can be turned on, barriers raised, doors locked, and warnings announced automatically on an alarm event.

Additionally, intelligent video supports scheduling of different detection types, such as for late night or shift change scenarios, as well as PTZ camera tours that offer different detection on each preset and advanced synchronized handoff of moving intruders from stationary camera detection to autonomous PTZ cameras for robot-like tracking.

Beyond cutting labor costs and providing cost-saving security alternatives, intelligent video offers significant returns that make deployment more than worthwhile.

It makes security personnel accountable for all alarms, offers notification, recording and deterrent messages/actions for prohibited entry into controlled or hazardous areas and helps meet security conformances by avoiding non-compliance citations and negative publicity.  It also increases scene safety for responders, providing remote analysis capabilities and PTZ tracking for informed response and constant visuals on intruders.

The list of benefits of intelligent video continues, with pre-alarm recording showing the moments before an incident for identifying who left suspicious objects or parked vehicles and ancillary detection such as for smoke, fire, visible gas leaks and leaking containers, as well as recorded video for criminal prosecution or for recouping damages.  Industrial security officers will find it profitable to take a hard look at intelligent video and its benefits.  It is no longer a security solution reserved for large enterprise installations or specialized security applications, but a solution for any size security installation, industrial or otherwise that wants to effectively widen security coverage, enhance vigilance, automate surveillance, and trim costs.

Dvir Doron is Vice President of Marketing for ioimage (www.ioimage.com).

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