Taiwan security companies are known for their innovativeness, using cutting-edge technologies like video analytics and AI to solve user problems. We look at some examples in this article.
Taiwan has long been known as a technology powerhouse. That said, Taiwan security companies are also known for their innovativeness, using cutting-edge technologies like
video analytics and
AI to solve user problems. We look at some examples in this article.
Artificial intelligence or AI has emerged as a major trend in various sectors, including security. According to Research and Markets, the global AI-powered video analytics market has grown at a CAGR of 41.76 percent between 2018 and 2022. In this regard, Taiwan security companies have certainly caught up with this trend, incorporating AI into their made-in-Taiwan (MIT) video surveillance products and solutions, many of which were on display at Secutech Taiwan held from April 27 to 29.
For example, LILIN demonstrated its AI camera where processing is done on the edge. The company has long realized the advantages of AI in security. Putting it in the camera itself carries even more benefits including better bandwidth management and elimination of edge appliances that take up space.
“A lot of vendors claim they offer AI camera systems but they still need an edge appliance, which is hard to install at, for example, busy intersections. We put AI directly in the camera which can support any Yolo-based AI developed by the customer. It also has our built-in AI that recognizes license plates, car make/color, faces, mask-wearing, as well as certain behaviors such as illegal turns and running red lights,” said Alan Chen, Manager of Taiwan Business Unit at LILIN.
According to Chen, the AI camera is already deployed in various venues in Taiwan for security and non-security applications. “One use case is a national park in Tainan where our AI camera is deployed and provides real-time data – vehicle flow, people-flow, parking availabilities, etc. to users so they can decide whether to go during a particular day or time,” he said.
Different applications
One technology that can especially benefit from AI is
facial recognition. Taiwan-based Cyberlink is a leader in this regard and has been recognized internationally for the quality and accuracy of its solutions.
“We do all our R&D in Taiwan, and thus we’re free from certain geopolitical issues. Our facial recognition technology is also top-ranked by the US National Institute of Standards and Technology, with a false acceptance rate of 0.0001 percent,” said Michael Tsai, Director of Product Management at CyberLink.
Their facial recognition is integrated into the VMSes of different brands for security applications. But more and more, Cyberlink offers SDKs to SIs/end users who use them to develop their own unique solutions for non-security purposes.
“We have smart finance applications where, before account opening, the end-user organization can authenticate an applicant by matching his face against his ID. We also have smart medicine cabinet applications that authenticate the pharmacist before opening the cabinet, and smart factory applications that authenticate the worker before operating a machine,” Tsai said.
Speaking of
smart factory, operators need visual as well as non-visual data, such as temperature readings, to make sure equipment is not overheating or about to fail. In this regard Appro Technology has their bi-spectral thermal camera that sends visual and thermal video as one stream over 4G and other means. It’s especially beneficial in smart factory settings.
“In factories you have important pieces of equipment that, when experiencing overheating, can half production at the least and burn down the entire factory at the worst. Thermal can help prevent this,” said Jason Lai, Assistant Manager at Appro Technology. “Visible light cameras can’t see temperature variances or see through smoke or fog. Thermal cameras can. And when thermal is combined with visible, that’s superb.”
Advanced projects in Taiwan
Also at Secutech, there were non-Taiwanese companies that demonstrated their video and AI solutions. Network Optix (Nx), for example, will release its new version of VMS which features more AI integrated into the platform.
“The new version will embrace AI more. We ourselves don’t do AI, but we aspire to become the best AI platform there is. In the new version we made lots of enhancement, including the ability to customize by end users,” said Andy Wen, Manager for APAC at Network Optix, adding Nx solutions are already deployed in Taiwan by various end users from SMBs to municipalities doing city surveillance.
“The city of Hsinchu for example has some 4,000 cameras that are managed by Nx. Kaohsiung Airport and their 3,000 cameras are also managed by us. Many customers are attracted to our failover feature that makes sure video is still being recorded even during power or network failure,” Wen said.
Canon meanwhile showcased solutions from the main businesses under its wing – Axis Communications, Milestone Systems and BriefCam – offering huge benefits for end users especially law enforcement.
"We’d like to help law enforcement officials raise investigative efficiency, and Briefcam’s smart search function can do that by allowing the user to enter their search criteria – red clothes, white car, etc. – thus reducing search time from maybe 12 hours to 30 minutes. Milestone, meanwhile, can support some 11,000-plus camera models, so the user can select the cameras they prefer or continue with their existing ones,” said Yen Chun (Lisa) Hung, Product Planning and Marketing Assistant Manager at Canon, adding that their solutions are already deployed by law enforcement agencies in certain Taiwan counties and cities.