Video Analytics for Public Safety Applications

By Sam Liao

Chief Technology Officer

Winmate Inc.

February 12, 2020

Story

With the growing number of installation of infrastructure, cameras in the public safety and transportation sector, video analytics is becoming an essential part of public safety.

The Future of Public Safety Sector

Nowadays, artificial intelligence (AI) is no longer a mysterious term. This is the trend, and it is now driving many industrial and commercial solutions. With the growing number of installation of infrastructure, cameras in the public safety and transportation sector, video analytics is becoming an essential part of public safety. AI allows monitoring real-time events that offers an advantage of immediate response that can save lives.

Video Analytics in Action

Some of the applications of video analytics in public safety applications include advanced license plate recognition, object detection and classification, video color search with video summary, and face recognition.

Advanced License Plate Recognition (ALPR)

ALPR is used in various public safety applications from traffic enforcement to tracking down stolen vehicles. The technology combines the use of morphological transformation and character recognition. A camera placed at fixed location along the road or mounted in a vehicle captures the license plate number a vehicle. With the wireless technologies the image or video then is instantly uploaded to a central server that is any time available for viewing. The applications of ALPR include public safety, managing parking facilities, electronic toll collection, traffic control, public alerts, and crime prevention.

Object Detection and Classification

Deep learning enables object recognition, a combination of object detection and object classification techniques. It uses Generic Object Detection techniques with neural networks for classification. The applications of object recognition in public safety are broad, and include searching and identifying vehicles with or without license plate information, identifying potential offenders who carry weapons, and even finding drivers who use mobile accessories and phone while driving.

Video Color Search with Video Summary

Colour indexing techniques can be employed for indexing and search, coupled with video summary option. New technologies allow police to monitor commercial districts, neighbourhoods, and high risk areas 24/7. Officers can provide immediate response when a problem is detected. Immediate actions minimize response time and maximize safety and effectiveness of public sector.

Face Recognition

The face recognition technology is able to provide a sophisticated surveillance technique that can be more accurate than the human eye. The technology uses a database of photos to whitelist blacklist recognition with time dependent matching.

All of this technologies combines together can help to create safer public environment. For example, in a police car, a vehicle server can handle LPR, public addressing, vehicle switch and gateway, and fleet management at the same time.

Adding AI-powered video analytics platform to already existing Internet-of-Things (IoT) eco-systems where everything is connected is the way to provide life-saving information for the public wellbeing. Winmate, a rugged computing and embedded solutions provider for industries operating in some of the most challenging environments, offers edge computing solutions to enable your intelligent applications.