Stadiums are often very densely occupied and have a lot of blind spots, making security much harder to control. Because of this, the use of private security personnel is still heavily relied on. Traditional physical security equipment such as video surveillance cameras, access control systems and alarm systems are also crucial elements of stadium security. However, with the advancement of technology has come better security tools for stadium security operators to utilize.
Stadiums are often very densely occupied and have a lot of blind spots, making security much harder to control. Because of this, the use of private security personnel is still heavily relied on. Traditional physical security equipment such as video surveillance cameras, access control systems and alarm systems are also crucial elements of stadium security. However, with the advancement of technology has come better security tools for stadium security operators to utilize.
One such technology is crowd control management. As algorithms for video analytics improve, companies are now better able to apply crowd control management technology to heavily populated stadium settings and identify possible risks.
Controlling Crowds With Software
While on-the-ground security personnel are a major factor in controlling crowds in a stadium, applying video analytics to video surveillance data can help security officers mitigate issues before they turn into full-scale problems.
“Technologically speaking, there is a need for each stadium to have a network infrastructure supporting video surveillance, access control and alarm monitoring, integrated by a powerful software management solution,” said Laura Blanc, Marketing Executive at
Herta Security.
“It is also critical to examine the type of cameras installed in the stadium," she added. “It is very important to have appropriate cameras that can provide the right image quality and resolution. This is especially delicate when the purpose is to control a highly crowded environment.”
Herta's software, which utilizes data from video surveillance cameras, can detect multiple faces in real time over multiple surveillance cameras.
Herta's software, which utilizes data from video surveillance cameras, can detect multiple faces in real time over multiple surveillance cameras. "Our technology offers high performance video surveillance solutions for facial recognition, especially for the simultaneous identification of subjects in crowded and changeable environments," Blanc said. "It is a fully automatic and non-invasive technology that works properly on changes of facial expression, illumination, beard, eyeglasses, scarves and caps."
Blanc added that the software is very tolerant to changes in illumination, pose and partial face occlusions, which are some of the main factors involved in a stadium-type environments.
Looking for patterns in video surveillance images via video analytics could also be used to help manage crowds more efficiently from a health and safety perspective. Raj Sandhu, CEO of Bikal Distribution explained: "Crowd bottlenecks can occur in venues for specific events, such as using a sports stadium for a one-off music event. As the entry points and the time of the event differs, the stadium will use certain entry and exit points that are not normally used."
"In addition, the attendees are new to the venue, in most cases, and being able to direct the attendees effectively will be a challenge. Video analytics are able to spot bottlenecks in crowds and alert the health and safety executives to change, in real time, the management processes for moving the crowd around," he added.
Facial Recognition in Crowds
The accuracy of facial recognition in crowds is getting better as algorithms improve. In a stadium, picking out individual faces from the crowd may be difficult and allow people to hide in plain sight. “Our system can detect faces within crowds, whereas most facial recognition systems require carefully positioned cameras for the face to be fully visible and only one face at a time," Sandhu said.
He went on to explain how facial recognition was recently used by the police force at a music event in Europe to detect known drug dealers. "The size of the event meant that the faces of drug dealers from across Europe were fed into the database and all of the video surveillance feeds were checked against the attendees and from some public video surveillance cameras near the venue.”