Rapid technological progress drives the video surveillance industry into the era of Big Data. Higher resolutions, higher frame rates, excellent dynamic ranges and better light sensitivity are key when it comes to capturing images that can distinguish individuals or objects for irrefutable evidence around the clock.
Rapid technological progress drives the video surveillance industry into the era of Big Data. Higher resolutions, higher frame rates, excellent dynamic ranges and better light sensitivity are key when it comes to capturing images that can distinguish individuals or objects for irrefutable evidence around the clock.
At the same time, the amount of data is getting larger by the minute: As of 2015, the world's video surveillance cameras capture more video data within one single hour than the entire sum of TV programs in the archives of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC).
But here lies the problem. According to a recent report by Big Blue, over 90 percent of all collected data is never analyzed or acted upon, although large amounts could potentially be relevant. To make sense of this flood of data, security operators increasingly rely on video content analysis software to automatically detect threats, register security breaches and monitor critical infrastructure – thereby shifting the focus on relevant data.
A Paradigm Shift: Relevant Data Instead of Big Data
Responding to this trend, Bosch makes a long-term commitment to relevant data. The company will continue to deliver the resolution, light sensitivity, frame rate, dynamic range and form factors that suit customers’ needs. But to fully support security and non-security applications in the era of Big Data, Bosch is also committed to adding sense and structure to data by implementing video analytics at the edge – pre-loaded into cameras – as a standard feature starting in October 2016.
It's a paradigm shift driven by an essential insight: The industry's focus on image quality is no longer enough. Users also need the ability to focus on relevant data and easily extract relevant information from it – and do so in a way that suits their applications. For Bosch, adding video analytics at the edge as standard, with no extra investment or license fees, is the way forward.
Video Analytics at the Edge as Standard Feature
As of October 2016, users can choose from two types of Bosch video analytics at the edge: Essential Video Analytics and Intelligent Video Analytics.
Essential Video Analytics, introduced in the DINION IP starlight 6000 fixed box and FLEXIDOME IP starlight 6000 fixed dome cameras as standard, can be used for advanced intrusion detection, as well as enforcing health and safety regulations (e.g., parking in a restricted area or a blocked emergency exit). However, it also possesses business analytics capabilities for retail environments, such as people counting and crowd detection.
Taking capacities a step further, Intelligent Video Analytics features all the capabilities of Essential Video Analytics, plus specifically designed functions for the world's most demanding environments. It delivers the required level of accuracy for mission-critical applications such as perimeter protection for airports and critical infrastructures, as well as traffic monitoring.
What makes Intelligent Video Analytics stand out is its ability to differentiate between genuine security events and known false triggers caused by challenging conditions such as weather effects (wind, heavy rain, snow), water reflections and substantial shaking of the camera, thereby minimizing costly false positives.
Security Scenarios: Video Analytics in Action
Bosch's Essential Video Analytics and Intelligent Video Analytics both offer the same intuitive interface to help users configure rules based on applications and security needs. Here are some use cases:
Perimeter security
When it comes to securing the perimeter of buildings and vital infrastructure, commonly used alarm triggers include movement and behavior patterns near a fence line, as well as objects left in the vicinity. Intelligent Video Analytics automatically triggers an alarm (for example, if someone climbs a fence or leaves behind an object) and also allows for intelligently tracking moving objects.
Retail environments
Video analytics at the edge not only wards off shoplifters and detects unwanted behavior. Smart video surveillance also unlocks critical data sets on performance in retail environments by counting customers, tracking times of day with the most footfall, and analyzing behavior.
Traffic management
Perfect for parking garage operators and to monitor access roads, video analytics solutions are able to count traffic, detect cars stopped at the emergency lane, and trigger alarms for cars parked in restricted areas.
Crowd control
Count people and monitor irregular crowd activity in protected areas or assembly of crowds in critical zones.
Forensic search
By automatically adding metadata to recorded feeds, both Essential Video Analytics and Intelligent Video Analytics can provide event recognition during playback of recorded video, even for events not originally set up as alerts. With forensic search, users can simply review archived footage using new detection criteria.
Outlook
As the number of cameras – and the demand for more detail – continues to increase, we need to enable users to focus on relevant data and easily extract relevant information from it. Bosch focuses on delivering relevant images through the ideal combination of light sensitivity, dynamic range and form factors – for various applications, under the most demanding conditions. In order to future-proof our customers’ investment in video surveillance solutions, we’ll be offering video analytics at the edge as a standard feature to help keep video data usable and manageable.