asmag.com speaks to Joe Zhou, Managing Director of Dahua Thailand, on Dahua’s smart city solutions encompassing intelligent transportation, bus safety and coastline and harbor security. These solutions are already deployed in Thai cities to make them smarter and more livable.
Joe Zhou, Managing Director of Dahua Thailand, leads a team that operates in one of Southeast Asia’s most robust economies. The country’s nominal GDP at US$522 billion ranks second in ASEAN, after Indonesia. The country’s urbanization is also progressing at a rapid pace: the percentage of Thai people living in cities has increased from 43.9 percent in 2010 to 51.4 percent in 2020.
With Thai cities becoming more populated, municipal issues such as congestion and pollution inevitably arise. This has prompted Thailand to turn to smart city technologies and solutions to combat common municipal challenges. In 2016, the Thai government launched the "Thailand 4.0" strategy, a part of which is the construction of smart cities to improve the quality of life of local residents as well as boost local tourism.
According to Zhou, Dahua is in a good position to support Thailand’s smart city development efforts given its expertise in this area. “The company has been deeply engaged in public security, urban transportation, social governance, emergency management, nature and ecosystem, urban parking and other fields. With its several years of experience, Dahua has accumulated more than 5,000 segmented scenarios and created more than 200 solutions,” Zhou said.
In fact, some of these solutions are already implemented in Thailand. These include intelligent traffic system (ITS) solution, smart bus solution, coastline security solution and harbor security solution. We take a closer look at each below.
Intelligent transportation
Needless to say, transportation issues are major headaches in large metropolises. Thai cities are no exception. In Bangkok, for example, traffic congestion can be quite serious. “It is normal to get stuck in Bangkok for more than an hour. In peak hours, there may even be a traffic jam for more than two hours,” Zhou said. “Roadside parking is not strictly enforced, and illegal parking is rampant.”
In this regard, Dahua’s ITS solution can address dire transportation issues facing municipal operators and drivers alike. Its advanced traffic flow information analysis algorithm, for example, serves as a guide to help drivers select the best travel route, easing overall traffic congestion. Its illegal parking detection system uses video and license plate recognition to detect parking offenses and issue tickets. Dahua’s smart traffic signal control solution, meanwhile, is an adaptive traffic control system that adjusts traffic light intervals based on traffic conditions at the time.
“Based on intelligent algorithm, the Dahua smart traffic signal control solution collects traffic flow data through vehicle and pedestrian detection. It provides accurate timing of signals, alleviates urban traffic congestion and exhaust emissions,” Zhou said.
For your safe, efficient and intelligent travel
Public transportation is another key aspect of city life. Making public transportation efficient and smart, then, is a major priority for Thai municipal administrators. In this regard, Dahua has a smart bus solution that can be quite useful.
“The Dahua smart bus solution aims to solve the challenges related to security, efficiency and value. For example, AI technologies like ADAS and DSM are applied to reduce accidents and protect both passengers and drivers; and people counting is used to obtain passenger flow to help bus operators optimize bus routes, improve passenger experience and increase revenue,” Zhou said, adding the solution is already deployed in Thailand.
“Dahua has a rich experience in the public transportation sector in Thailand. In the past years, we have delivered thousands sets of smart bus solutions to assist local bus operators to track buses in real time, plan routes and record accidents,” he said.
Coastline security
With a total coastline of 3,148 kilometers, Thailand is strongly committed to coastline security. Yet monitoring coasts entails various challenges, for example lack of light during nighttime and damage caused to equipment due to high salinity. The solution, then, must be robust, ruggedized and effective for monitoring 24/7.
In this regard, Dahua has thermal solutions with range from under 500 meters to near 20,000 meters. The thermal solutions are bi-spectral, allowing users to view thermal and visible images simultaneously to obtain more information. Some models even include multiple sensors including uncooled LWIR sensor, CMOS sensor, laser illumination, GPS, electronic compass and GYRO sensor to provide situational awareness regardless weather or lighting condition.
“We have provided complete solutions in some provinces around Thailand, including front-end equipment, central storage and monitoring center, and a complete command and dispatch platform system,” Zhou said. “Such products include under vehicle scan product, ANPR, thermal product, online mobile surveillance and other products.”
Harbor security
Thailand has 21 ports/harbors. Keeping them safe and secure is a priority for port operators. Dahua again has solutions that help boost harbor security and efficiency. These include license plate recognition for entry/exit at gates; panoramic cameras for shipping lanes; PTZ cameras for berths and yards; intrusion detection systems and cameras for perimeters; low light cameras for warehouses; and control center solutions for control center operators.
“Through the application of AI products and technologies, we can improve the efficiency of daily security work and perceive potential safety hazards in advance, reduce the probability of accidents, and help port operator to build a perception ability for port security situation. For operation efficiency, the application of deep learning OCR algorithm can effectively improve the inspection efficiency of container vehicles and alleviate port congestion in the case of centralized operation,” Zhou said.
He added: “Our video surveillance system is installed in key scenes of Thailand harbors. With the expansion of Dahua in the port filed, more and more valuable solutions will be implemented.”
A word on privacy
Zhou stresses that Dahua attaches a great importance to privacy protection.
“We have developed and rigorously applied industry best practices related to data protection in all of our solutions and products. Moreover, the company has established audit and certification cooperation with a number of international security institutions, including British Standards Institution (BSI), Bureau Veritas (BV), TÜV Rheinland, Intertek EWA-Canada as well as many others,” Zhou said.
Making Thai cities smarter than ever
In conclusion, Thailand is actively pushing smart city projects in its effort to digitize economy, boost tourism and make cities smarter and more livable. Dahua has played an instrumental role in that effort, sharing its “urban digital innovation” vision to help improve transportation, bus safety and coast/harbor security in Thailand. The success stories shared by Zhou illustrate how technologies such as video, IoT and AI can make cities smarter than ever, and give us optimism that the partnership between Dahua and Thailand will lead to even more smart cities in the country.