[Infowarrior] - Surveillance Cameras Get Smarter

[Richard Forno]

Surveillance Cameras Get Smarter
Sunday February 25, 2:05 pm ET
By Stephen Manning, Associated Press Writer
http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/070225/smart_surveillance.html?.v=1

COLLEGE PARK, Md. (AP) -- The next time you walk by a shop window, take a
glance at your reflection. How much do you swing your arms? Is the weight of
your bag causing you to hunch over? Do you still have a bit of that 1970s
disco strut left?

Look around -- You might not be the only one watching. The never-blinking
surveillance cameras, rapidly becoming a part of daily life in public and
even private places, may be sizing you up as well. And they may soon get a
lot smarter.

Researchers and security companies are developing cameras that not only
watch the world but also interpret what they see. Soon, some cameras may be
able to find unattended bags at airports, guess your height or analyze the
way you walk to see if you are hiding something.

Most of the cameras widely used today are used as forensic tools to identify
crooks after-the-fact. (Think grainy video on local TV news of convenience
store robberies gone wrong.) But the latest breed, known as "intelligent
video," could transform cameras from passive observers to eyes with brains,
able to detect suspicious behavior and potentially prevent crime before it
occurs.

Surveillance cameras are common in many cities, monitoring tough street
corners to deter crime, watching over sensitive government buildings and
even catching speeders. Cameras are on public buses and in train stations,
building lobbies, schools and stores. Most feed video to central control
rooms, where they are monitored by security staff.

The innovations could mean fewer people would be needed to watch what they
record, and make it easier to install more in public places and private
homes.

"Law enforcement people in this country are realizing they can use video
surveillance to be in a lot of places at one time," said Roy Bordes, who
runs an Orlando, Fla.-based security consulting company. He also is a
council vice president with ASIS International, a Washington-based
organization for security officials.

The advancements have already been put to work. For example, cameras in
Chicago and Washington can detect gunshots and alert police. Baltimore
installed cameras that can play a recorded message and snap pictures of
graffiti sprayers or illegal dumpers.

In the commercial market, the gaming industry uses camera systems that can
detect facial features, according to Bordes. Casinos use their vast banks of
security cameras to hunt cheating gamblers who have been flagged before.

In London, one of the largest users of surveillance, cameras provided key
photos of the men who bombed the underground system in July 2005 and four
more who failed in a second attempt just days later. But the cameras were
only able to help with the investigation, not prevent the attacks.

Companies that make the latest cameras say the systems, if used broadly,
could make video surveillance much more powerful. Cameras could monitor
airports and ports, help secure homes and watch over vast borders to catch
people crossing illegally.

Intelligent surveillance uses computer algorithms to interpret what a camera
records. The system can be programmed to look for particular things, like an
unattended bag or people walking somewhere they don't belong.

"If you think of the camera as your eye, we are using computer programs as
your brain," said Patty Gillespie, branch chief for image processing at the
Army Research Laboratory in Adelphi, Md. Today, the military funds much of
the smart-surveillance research.

At the University of Maryland, engineering professor Rama Chellappa and a
team of graduate students have worked on systems that can identify a
person's unique gait or analyze the way someone walks to determine if they
are a threat.

A camera trained to look for people on a watch list, for example, could
combine their unique walk with facial-recognition tools to make an
identification. A person carrying a heavy load under a jacket would walk
differently than someone unencumbered -- which could help identify a person
hiding a weapon. The system could even estimate someone's height.

With two cameras and a laptop computer set up in a conference room,
Chellappa and a team of graduate students recently demonstrated how
intelligent surveillance works.

A student walked into the middle of the room, dropped a laptop case, then
walked away. On the laptop screen, a green box popped up around him as he
moved into view, then a second focused on the case when it was dropped.
After a few seconds, the box around the case went red, signaling an alert.

In another video, a car pulled into a parking lot and the driver got out, a
box springing up around him. It moved with the driver as he went from car to
car, looking in the windows instead of heading into the building.

In both cases, the camera knew what was normal -- the layout of the room
with the suspicious bag and the location of the office door and parking
spots in the parking lot. Alerts were triggered when the unknown bag was
added and when the driver didn't go directly into the building after parking
his car.

Similar technology is currently in use by Marines in Iraq and by the subway
system in Barcelona, according to ObjectVideo, a Reston, Va., firm that
makes surveillance software.

ObjectVideo uses a "tripwire system" that allows users to set up virtual
perimeters that are monitored by the cameras. If someone crosses that
perimeter, the system picks it up, sends out an alert, and security staff
can determine if there is a threat.

Company spokesman Edward Troha predicts the technology, currently designed
primarily to protect borders, ports and other infrastructure, could be
adapted to help prevent retail theft or guard private homes.

The Jacksonville Port Authority uses ObjectVideo software as part of its
security measures to watch the perimeter of the Florida port that handles
8.7 million tons of cargo and thousands of cruise ship passengers each year.
The surveillance system sends real-time video from anywhere at the port of
possible intruders to patrol cars.

Still, industry officials say the technology needs to improve before it can
be widely used. There are liability issues, such as if someone is wrongly
tagged as a threat at an airport and misses a flight, said Bordes. Troha
warns humans are still essential to intelligent video, to tell, for example,
if a person in a restricted area is a danger or just lost.

And the cameras can only see so much -- they can't stop some threats, like a
bomber with explosives in a backpack. They can't see what you are wearing
under your jacket -- yet.

"That is an eventual goal, but we're not there yet," said Chellappa.