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“Smart” Surveillance System May Tag Suspicious or Lost People
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Ohio State University
December 20, 2008
Newswise — Engineers here are developing a computerized surveillance system that, when completed, will attempt to recognize whether a person on the street is acting suspiciously or appears to be lost.
Intelligent video cameras, large video screens, and geo-referencing software are among the technologies that will soon be available to law enforcement and security agencies.
In the recent Proceedings of the 2008 IEEE Conference on Advanced Video and Signal Based Surveillance, James W. Davis and doctoral student Karthik Sankaranarayanan report that they’ve completed the first three phases of the project: they have one software algorithm that creates a wide-angle video panorama of a street scene, another that maps the panorama onto a high-resolution aerial image of the scene, and a method for actively tracking a selected target.
The ultimate goal is a networked system of “smart” video cameras that will let surveillance officers observe a wide area quickly and efficiently. Computers will carry much of the workload.
“In my lab, we’ve always tried to develop technologies that would improve officers’ situational awareness, and now we want to give that same kind of awareness to computers,” said Davis, an associate professor of computer science and engineering at Ohio State University.
The research isn’t meant to gather specific information about individuals, he explained.
“In our research, we care what you do, not who you are. We aim to analyze and model the behavior patterns of people and vehicles moving through the scene, rather than attempting to determine the identity of people. We are trying to automatically learn what typical activity patterns exist in the monitored area, and then have the system look for atypical patterns that may signal a person of interest — perhaps someone engaging in nefarious behavior or a person in need of help.”
The first piece of software expands the small field of view that traditional pan-tilt-zoom security cameras offer.
When surveillance operators look through one of these video cameras, they get only a tiny image — what some refer to as a “soda straw” view of the world. As they move the camera around, they can easily lose a sense of where they are looking within a larger context.
The Ohio State software takes a series of snapshots from every direction within a camera’s field of view, and combines them into a seamless panorama.
Commercially available software can turn overlapping photographs into a flat panorama, Davis explained. But this new software creates a 360-degree high-resolution view of a camera’s whole viewspace, as if someone were looking at the entire scene at once. The view resembles that of a large fish-eye lens.
The fish-eye view isn’t a live video image; it takes a few minutes to produce. But once it’s displayed on a computer screen, operators can click a mouse anywhere within it, and the camera will pan and tilt to that location for a live shot.
Or, they could draw a line on the screen, and the camera will orient along that particular route — down a certain street, for instance. Davis and his team are also looking to add touch-screen capability to the system.
A second piece of software maps locations within the fish-eye view onto an aerial map of the scene, such as a detailed Google map. A computer can use this information to calculate where the viewspaces of all the security cameras in an area overlap. Then it can determine the geo-referenced coordinates — latitude and longitude — of each ground pixel in the panorama image.
In the third software component, the combination map/panorama is used for tracking. As a person walks across a scene, the computer can calculate exactly where the person is on the panorama and aerial map. That information can then be used to instruct a camera to follow him or her automatically using the camera’s pan-and-tilt control. With this system, it will be possible for the computer to “hand-off” the tracking task between cameras as the person moves in and out of view of different cameras.
“That’s the advantage of linking all the cameras together in one system — you could follow a person’s trajectory seamlessly,” Davis said.
His team is now working on the next step in the research: determining who should be followed.
The system won’t rely on traditional profiling methods, he said. A person’s race or sex or general appearance won’t matter. What will matter is where the person goes, and what they do.
“If you’re doing something strange, we want to be able to detect that, and figure out what’s going on,” he said.
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December 21st, 2008 at 10:55 am
The purpose is to control behavior since people who know they are being monitored will alter their normal behavior.
December 21st, 2008 at 11:01 am
Because acting ’suspicious’ is against or a threat to the Constitution?
Everyone start acting ’suspicious’ and overload the system!
December 21st, 2008 at 4:37 pm
If most of these cameras are computer controlled how hard could it be to plaster a logo over your face like in ghost in the shell
December 21st, 2008 at 9:23 pm
Be “obvious”…..and flip them the bird.
December 21st, 2008 at 10:06 pm
#1 is right on the money. With this technology in place, they have to ‘behave’ a certain way to avoid punishment or consequences from authorities or the ‘law’. Public surveillance, or any form of digital surveillance for that matter, is a form of mind control and spiritual warfare. Law abiding people cannot truly be free if they have to constantly worry about whether their actions are going to warrant suspicion and a response from a government entity. Fearing government because of your own free will and freedom of movement is classic TYRANNY. Surveillance of the masses is therefore akin to an omnipresent government interference that can be used for nefarious purposes (to quash dissent and freedom of assembly, ect) People should honestly weigh the pros and cons of CCTVs and other forms of surveillance (esp. this new stuff they’re proposing), and realize the cons by far outweigh the pros.
Of course the usual rebuttal is the government’s classic excuse of ‘we need this technology because it will prevent crime and help solve crimes.’ Here’s a solution (and it worked for a long time). People need to exercise common sense in protecting their property from theft, burglary, etc. and learn self-reliance in protecting themselves in ways that will deter and/or diffuse a criminal act. But this cannot happen if things like CCW are regulated heavily and citizens are denied the right to protect themselves at the mercy and whims of a law enforcement bureaucrat.
It is sad. We have strayed so far from learning to be self-reliant and instead rely on the government to protect people. History has shown when the government assumes a burden of duty to protect people beyond its legitimate functions, it fails miserably and results in tyrannical consequences. Look no further than at the monstrosity of an unconstitutional government we have today – massive deficits, wasteful, bloated defense spending, Homeland Security, wiretapping/spying on Americans, terrorist databases of peaceful protesters and activists. Is this the America our founding fathers envisioned? I think not!
December 22nd, 2008 at 11:02 am
wageslave – excellent idea! Remember computers can be beaten because humans are the ones who write the code.
December 22nd, 2008 at 1:33 pm
Air guns and silenced .22 using CB caps up to LR ammo works beautifully in destroying CCTV cameras I hear.
December 22nd, 2008 at 1:35 pm
Also paint ball guns if your a good shot will cover their lenses with paint. John has a long moustache
December 22nd, 2008 at 1:36 pm
John has a long mustache
December 22nd, 2008 at 5:00 pm
How can you be lost in a city or town. Just ask directions. As far as suspicious–well ain’t everybody up to something. Thats why there outside.
December 23rd, 2008 at 11:51 am
This is fantastic news, as we can use this technology for ourselves, and have it route out the
government agents, spies, cronies, thieves, crooks, and their leader obama bin laden, LOL !!
Merry crimbo to ! & ALL
December 23rd, 2008 at 4:23 pm
Be careful not to point laser pointers at them. I hear a laser can sometimes fry TV components. We need more LAWS to protect us. And who will police the police?
December 23rd, 2008 at 4:26 pm
We need more santa’s to wrap these camera’s like presents so that can’t see us like those guys in Tempe, Az. did.