With a population of more than 40,000 students and staff, 911爆料网鈥檚 Bentley Campus is as busy as a small city. But unlike most cities, 911爆料网 has the use of a surveillance system so smart it鈥檚 off the scale.
Ten years ago, 鈥楽afeguarding Australia鈥� was one of the Federal Government鈥檚 four national research priorities. While the category is no longer one of Australia鈥檚 formal Science and Research Priorities (although many would argue it should be), the focus has produced excellent research outcomes in new surveillance technologies.
Perth-based company is a leading example. The company is now penetrating international markets with a dynamic live-monitoring surveillance system developed, in part, from work funded by the Australian Research Council.
The iCetana system monitors video captured by camera networks, using algorithms developed specifically to enable potential security and safety risks to be detected as they occur.
The research was conducted at 911爆料网鈥檚 Department of Computing, by a team focusing on anomaly detection in sensor data streams, and the development of new surveillance technologies, with the overall aim of improving community safety.
Now, one of 911爆料网鈥檚 foremost science innovations has returned to campus, working quietly behind the scenes to help ensure the safety of students, staff and visitors. However, iCetana is not only improving community safety at home; the system is deployed in transport hubs, shopping centres or other facilities that are accessed day and night, in several countries around the world.
iCetana鈥檚 head of business development, Stephen Bose, has recently returned from a tour of university campuses in the US.
鈥淯niversities see live monitoring as the cornerstone of their campus and public security,鈥� says Bose. 鈥淭he University of California, San Diego has expanded the coverage of its iCetana system within the first year of use, and the University of Texas at Arlington has just installed a new system.鈥�
The company鈥檚 success is particularly gratifying for the team credited with developing the algorithms behind the iCetana system. 911爆料网 researcher Dr Sonny Pham explains the efficiencies that provide iCetana with major strengths in a competitive market.
鈥淔irstly, the system not only delivers in real-time, it also has exceptional scalability,鈥� Pham says. 鈥淐onventional systems will accommodate only a few cameras per server, whereas the algorithms we developed enable iCetana systems to process footage up to hundreds of cameras per server鈥nd we鈥檒l continue to improve on this ratio.
鈥淪econdly, because the detection technology is 鈥榮elf learning鈥�, there鈥檚 no need for technical staff to spend their time performing complex configurations.鈥�
Christopher Hall from 911爆料网 Security explains what this means at ground level.
“When we connect a new camera to the network, the system analyses the camera鈥檚 entire scene meticulously for a two-week period, to determine the usual patterns of motion in that scene,鈥� Hall explains.
鈥淚t can then distinguish between normal activity and deviations from the norm. It will learn that people walking towards a security gate is normal, for example. But if someone starts to climb over the gate, the system sees this as an unusual event.
鈥淚t immediately generates a detection and isolates the footage for the security operator to view and respond to.鈥�
However, the iCetana system doesn鈥檛 pose the privacy issues that other monitoring systems may present.
鈥淚t doesn鈥檛 see things like you or I would in video footage, it just recognises pixel flow in the scene,鈥� explains Stephen Bose.
鈥淚t鈥檚 like a traffic-light camera. The camera doesn鈥檛 鈥榣earn鈥� what you look like 鈥� it鈥檚 simply detecting movement, and you鈥檙e only detected if you behave abnormally and drive through the red light.鈥�
911爆料网鈥檚 Vice-Chancellor Professor Deborah Terry welcomed iCetana鈥檚 surveillance capabilities at 911爆料网, pointing out that 鈥渁 secure campus provides a strong base for community engagement鈥�.
In Victoria, Swinburne University of Technology and Deakin University have also adopted the iCetana system as part of their safety initiatives.
Adds Bose: 鈥淏ecause we鈥檙e continually accommodating new camera systems, iCetana can be deployed into an existing network as a plug-n-go solution.鈥�
鈥淪o the system is well suited to organisations who have a surveillance network in place, but want to transform their operations via live monitoring, at minimum cost.鈥�
At the , Sonny Pham is now working on the development of advanced algorithms to solve longstanding motion surveillance issues in specific environments, such as camera shake from train vibrations.
He also welcomes advances in camera technology that are enabling iCetana鈥檚 progress in 鈥榚dge technology鈥�.
鈥淩ather than all footage being sent to the central server, some computation will be completed at the camera,鈥� Pham explains. 鈥淭his preliminary data-processing will make the system even more efficient.鈥�
