Video analytics vendors readily admit that VCA technology will never be 100 percent accurate, but very few things in life ever are 100 percent guaranteed. Accepting the flaws, working with them, and understanding them are the best way to truly take advantage of all video analytics has to offer. It is with these things in mind that has driven market acceptance of VCA technology in the security industry.
DRIVING CHANGE
VCA started as a technology focused around perimeter security. While some companies such as SightLogix still focus on outdoor perimeter security, for which VCA was first intended, the use of video analytics has permeated many other applications. Now, VCA can influence almost every aspect of surveillance. However, in order to do that, improvements and changes, not only to the technology itself, but to outlying factors need to be made.Computer processing power has very much had a direct impact on video analytics, much in the same way it affects computers. Limited processing power means limited means to process algorithms. That is why improved processing power has helped drive change in video analytics. "The locomotive pulling the train of change in VCA technology, in our view, has been the growth in ubiquitous processing power, allowing increasingly more sophisticated algorithms to be applied to the problems at hand," said Eric Olson, VP of Marketing at PureTech Systems. "The advances in computing power, including using cloud computing, have opened up the opportunity to analyze mass quantities of video with better algorithms and much faster real-time." Improved processing power and more CPU availability also allows for more accurate computing, according to Steve Viegas, Director of OEM Sales at IntelliVision Technology. Additionally, increased processing power has also helped big data processing, according to Shiliang Pu, R&D Director of Hikvision Digital Technology, which has facilitated "video surveillance transit from traditional passive surveillance to intelligent proactive surveillance, significantly helping to save on overall labor force, cost and time, and increase both security and non-security values."
Increased use of IP networks, as well as improved picture resolution, has also contributed to change in the VCA market. "The picture material, its quality, and its resolution have increased significantly over recent years. Due to the increased usage of IP networks, it has become easier and easier to access whatever picture content is required, and this is normally already provided in digital format," said Frank Brandtner, Head of Administrative Product Management at Geutebruck. Another company that highlighted improved picture quality as a key factor in VCA improvement is Aralia Systems. "As higher spec cameras begin to fill the market, end users will want to exploit them to their full potential and run more sophisticated video analytics," said Eleanor Wright, Product Development Executive of Aralia Systems.
Continued growth and maturation of the video surveillance market was also pointed out as a key point for change in the VCA market. The global market for video surveillance equipment is expected to grow by more than 12 percent in 2014 alone, according to IHS Technology. This double-digit growth provides a huge market for the growing trend of edge-based analytics. IHS forecasts the market for video surveillance devices with chargeable VCA to expand in 2014, particularly in applications where end users need advanced and reliable analytics. Furthermore, as competition in the video surveillance market continues to get stiffer, embedding Growth edge-based video analytics in network cameras is one way network camera manufacturers could add a competitive advantage, according to a report by MarketsandMarkets.
QUALITY OVER QUANTITY
In truth, there has not been much in terms of new and innovative technology when it comes to video analytics. Instead of a significant amount of new innovations, the VCA market has seen a vast number of subtle improvements in technology, which has upped the quality of the technology and made it more reliable. "It is more a case of incremental improvements in accuracy and reduction in price. It is like cars and TVs: they are significantly better and cheaper than 10 years ago, but the gains are made in the form of a large number of small improvements," said Geoff Thiel, CEO of VCA Technology.Despite the lack of "new" innovations, there are still "newer" avenues that VCA vendors are exploring. The utilization of metadata, literally data about data, is becoming increasingly popular by VCA vendors. "By employing metadata, it's now possible to apply new analytics rules to recorded video in an attempt to find, for example, any blue cars that exited the parking lot between seven and nine in the evening last week," said Shahar Ze'evi, Senior Product Manager at Tyco Security Products. The use of metadata, according to Olson, is only limited by our imaginations. "Once we have a notion of the content of the video, all kinds of applications can be written to slice and dice the data in different ways for different purposes to translate data into useful information," said Olson.
The introduction of 3D video analytics is another point of interest. By utilizing a stereo camera - a camera with two or more lenses with a separate sensor, the synchronization of two image sensors "can provide distance and height measurements that easily distinguish people with different heights, and sense whether the objects are moving toward or away from the camera," explained Jamie Wu, Marketing Manager of Huper Laboratories. This results in higher accuracy since it is less influenced by shadows and light changes, making it particularly suitable for outdoor use.
NOT ALL SMOOTH SAILING
Although the overall accuracy of video analytics has improved, there are still many quirks that are proving to be a challenge.Detection of gender, age, weight, and race is still proving to be difficult for video analytics algorithms. "VCA will not replace the human eye anytime soon," said Viegas. "If it is difficult for a person to tell race or weight, a computer will also have a difficult time." Achim Hauschke, CEO of Riva (by ViDiCore), concurred, saying "filters like gender and age detection are still a challenge, but will certainly become a lot more reliable mid-term, but mostly used for marketing purposes, not security; this will take more time as it has to be more reliable than for marketing activities."
Behavior analysis is another analytics feature that is not yet up to par. This feature, which is commonly requested for sports events and large stadiums, will require significant improvement before it can be deployed to the standard wanted by users. "The technology to differentiate between someone jumping for joy because a team scored versus someone throwing a punch is not available. It may take a combination of technologies to eventually meet some of the requirements customers are looking for today," noted Kim Loy, VP of Global Marketing and Chief Product Officer of DVTel.
Intercamera tracking is another feature that the market has yet to find a viable solution for. To be able to track a specific person across non-contiguous security cameras has obvious value. This feature, which was a topic of a National Institute of Standards and Technology technical discussion workshop in the summer of 2013, is much desired, but not yet one that has been deployed to a usable standard, according to Olson. While this feature is highly requested, the technology for this is still in its infancy and very far from being user ready.
One challenge that has less to do with technology than it does with application is environmental variables. Lighting inconsistencies, crowded environments, and obstructions can all affect the accuracy and effectiveness of video analytics. Therefore it is necessary to know where and when to use VCA in order to get the best, more accurate results. For example, the object left behind feature can work well in a non-crowded environment, but in a crowded, fast-paced environment like a train station or an airport, accuracy becomes nearly impossible. In cases like this, it is important for not just the user to understand that such requests are unreasonable, but it is equally important for vendors to know when to say no instead of promising results they cannot deliver.
Another non-technology hindrance is the cost of infrastructure, particularly in the outdoors, which in the past has inhibited the video surveillance market, as pointed out by John Romanowich, CEO and founder of SightLogix. "The cost of installing power and networking infrastructure to outdoor areas where these resources do not already exist has been one of the biggest challenges facing the industry. For this reason, manufacturers have been innovating in the areas of power consumption to make solar power and wireless communications viable options. By increasing video processing while simultaneously lowering the power consumption at the edge, manufacturers can offer accurate VCA detection systems that run on solar and wireless, eliminating the majority of the construction once required, unlocking a huge market for outdoor video security."
ENCOURAGING ACCEPTANCE BY ADJUSTING EXPECTATIONS
One of the main obstacles that thwarted early acceptance of VCA technology was the idealized expectation of a technology that could do the impossible. On top of already inflated expectations, vendors oversold and overpromised, resulting in disappointment and letdown. False alarms, or nuisance alarms, caused more problems than it helped, but VCA manufacturers have since worked hard to improve algorithms to reduce false alarms and better educate the market. "The industry has taken notice and worked diligently to improve analytic sensors and algorithms," said Steve Gorski, GM of the Americas at Mobotix. "Today, there are solutions that look closely at video footage to recognize the traveling movement of people and objects while dismissing extraneous and repetitive changes and movement in the scene. This drastically reduces the number of false alarms in video motion detection applications."User education has also played a major role in growing acceptance. While there will always be companies that overpromise, end users are now savvier and more aware of where, how, and when video analytics can and should be used. "We can see a clear trend towards a better understanding of the limits and the benefits of VCA since a year ago, not least because of the growing number of publications about video analytics," opined Hauschke. "We [ViDiCore] are selling every second to third camera with a VCA license, with a clear trend upwards, so it looks like this technology will be accepted as a standard within 2014/2015." Better understanding of VCA technology is also helping end users to find different uses and applications. "Gone are the days when VCA was solely used as an intrusion-detection system," said Charlie Erickson, EVP of Product Management at 3xLogic. "Integrators, as well as the organizations and businesses they serve, are realizing that the video asset they have come to rely on for loss prevention and security can now be cross-purposed as an asset benefiting the entire organization." By leveraging VCA technology, security and loss prevention departments are able to gain valuable insights into their organization, which can optimize overall operational efficiency and profitability.
VERTICALS GETTING SMARTER
User acceptance has allowed video analytics to spread into various verticals. In its beginnings, VCA was mostly used for outdoor perimeter detection, but lately markets such as transportation, city surveillance, critical infrastructure, and especially retail have shown enthusiasm for video analytics. "Video analytics enables organizations to enhance security in both public and private spaces by detecting not only perimeter or area breaches, but also unattended objects, and atypical activity more rapidly and consistently," said Ely Maspero, Product Line Manager of March Networks, an Infinova company. "VCA can detect camera tampering in real time and also promotes more proactive system maintenance by alerting staff to camera obstructions or changes in camera positioning that may otherwise go unnoticed."Retail Takes Advantage of Intelligence
In recent years, there has been noticeable growth in business intelligence applications, particularly in retail. "This intelligence enables the cost of a video surveillance system to be spread across multiple departments with a retail organization because now marketing and human resources can tap into the value of video," explained Gorski. Video analytics can help retailers highlight customer service issues and provide insight into the effectiveness of merchandizing based on customer traffic patterns via heat mapping. It can also be utilized to quickly and effectively identify unusual events including loitering, unauthorized access to secure areas, blocked doors and fire exits, and even slips and falls.
Return on investment (ROI) is important to those who invest in any kind of technology; VCA can provide an immediate ROI for retailers. For example, "Tracking and counting people in a supermarket with all detailed information (how many people, when, where, and for how long) is a very successful analysis, with an immediate ROI, that can be sold far easier than a video security system," added Hauschke. Visible and tangible customer ROI is an important factor for the future of VCA, and it seems that business intelligence may be able to provide just that, thus helping to propel VCA to a new level.
NO VERTICAL LEFT BEHIND
Aside from the retail market, video analytics has found acceptance in many different verticals, such as transportation, critical infrastructure, and city surveillance, which are no strangers to VCA as they are clear beneficiaries of the technology. Perimeter security is where VCA got its start, and although the technology has branched out, video analytics has continued to be vital in this application. Companies like SightLogix, who only deals in outdoor perimeter security, have continued to propagate the use of analytics as a tool coupled with hardware such as a thermal camera, making it a strong outdoor detector. Due to its strength in detection, "VCA technology is often considered to be a satisfactory primary detection method for the perimeter security which is prominent in oil and gas, critical national infrastructure, and high security environments," said David Aindow, Product and Technology Director of Synectics.Banking is another vertical that can benefit from video analytics, according to Maspero. "Banks can reduce losses from fraud and other criminal activities, monitor customer services, assess marketing displays, and improve security in ATMs, drop-boxes, in parking lots, vaults, and cash-counting rooms with video analytics."
The hospitality market can also take advantage of VCA features to improve operational efficiency - it can even provide a better five-star experience. By using analytics for queue management or even license plate recognition to detect when VIP guests arrive, the hospitality sector can better ensure that guests have a pleasant experience at their establishment.
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