Stop Heisenberg!

We know the story, a company’s assets are entrusted to a group of bumbling security guards who, in turn, are duped by master thieves that are only discovered to have infiltrated the facility after they have robbed the company blind and made a clean get-a-way. The company must then review the tapes and track down the thieves at a huge cost of time and money in order to recover its assets. It’s the real life Walter White stealing Methylamine from a chemical supply depot.

What if you could be alerted by the camera while the crime was still happening. The camera not only records the intrusion, but also alerts you and the authorities that a crime is taking place. You could be tanning on the beach in Maui and a break-in occurs at your server warehouse. No need to put down the Mai Thai, your cell phone alert can be forwarded on to the authorities who then apprehend the thief. The intelligent video analytics in your security system has comprehended that an irregularity has occurred and notifies you accordingly.

Let’s now discuss the Intelligent Video Analytics (IVA) technology. This innovative technology is explained by market research firm, Research and Markets as:

“Intelligent Video Analytics provides an advanced solution that performs intelligent video analysis and fully automates video monitoring. It automatically tracks and identifies objects, analyzes motion and extracts video intelligence from analog, digital, or IP video streams.”

 This industry is expected to be the fastest growing sector of the Surveillance Industry. The total IVA market was worth $180 Million in 2011, and is expected to explode with a compound annual growth rate of 30.4% from 2012-2017 equaling roughly $868.4 million. This innovative technology has turned the security and surveillance industry upside down. No longer do you need security guards to monitor your cameras, the cameras can monitor themselves 24/7/365. The cost savings are abundant for any firm that has assets to protect.

 These analytics have the capability to output real-time events, such as the aforementioned intrusion in process, and retain the information for data-mining through data collection. Existing security technologies can be retrofitted with the new analytics and add value by creating innovative solutions to emerging security issues.  The range of industries that can benefit from this technology are myriad.

 For example the mining industry, or even a wiring manufacturer has a need to protect their raw materials.According to Video IQ, a Video Analytics vendor, “Theft, sabotage and vandalism are on the rise, and metal theft has risen over 83% in the last two years. Copper theft represents a whopping 96% of this growth.” Along with asset protection, critical city infrastructure such as power plants, water towers, communication lines, and transportation hubs can all be secured with constant monitoring via IVA. 

   

The choice of provider of this game changing technology can be an important strategic decision for any firm with a tight budget for security. In future posts, we will profile some of the industry leaders. Included below is an example of how IVA can protect your company's assets:

Stop any potential Heisenberg in his tracks!  

Sources: http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/qcz3xx/intelligent_video

http://www.videoiq.com/product/critical-infrastructure-protection/

The invisible chauffeur

Driving a car is one of the most basic and common skills. For many driving means excitement, pleasure, relax for others the opposite, driving becomes synonym of stress and tension. The latter group will soon be relieved by the currently developed technology that will allow them to hit the road with a much more relaxed attitude.  Google, Mercedes, Nokia, Nissan are working on this technology that will soon revolutionise our lives.

So how does it work?

While driverless cars look exactly like normal vehicles from the outside, the inside is a whole other story. The idea is rather simple: they take a regular, as seen on the street, car and fit it with hundreds of cameras, lasers, sensors, next generation 3D cloud-based mapping system and sophisticated computer software. This system will have to be powerful enough to cope with and analyse tons of data. It will have to process information such as: the driving conditions, weather, traffic, maps, speed limits and make decisions about the route, lane, speed of the car and so on. Cars will be provided with two types of communication: V2I, vehicle to infrastructure and V2V vehicle to vehicle communication which will enable them to avoid random collisions.

Automatic cars pioneer, Google, is building a fleet of Priuses and Lexuses that can drive themselves through a laser emitters, mounted on the roof. Google’s position as leader in the sorting of colossal amounts of information, allows it to develop and gain the most from 3-D virtual maps upon which driverless car will rely.

What are the benefits?

Automatization of the driving process will redefine the concept of driving. Road safety will improve, fuel efficiency will increase, traffic flow will be reduced. People who drive a lot, will be able to gain back all the hours spent in their car by being able to work, rest, play while on the road.

Disabled and old people will gain mobility by being able to drive.

Last but not least automatic cars will severely reduce the carnage of car accidents. In 2011, in the U.S. there were five million auto accidents and more than 32,367 people were killed. According to the AAA, all of this entailed a cost to the U.S. economy in terms of lives and lost productivity of $300 billion per year. These figures can be dramatically improved thanks to to this new technology.

There can be also reasonable opportunities for new businesses. Considering that private vehicles are 90% of the time unoccupied or parked, it is easy to see how this new technology can lead to the development of car sharing services (such as Uber) with invisible drivers, where cars appear in front of your house when you need it and disappear when you don’t. 

When?

Although according to Daimler head of development Thomas Weber: “Autonomous driving will not come overnight, but will be realised in stages", many companies declared that they will start selling such vehicles by 2020.  Even before that, driverless car will come in instalments in the form of features such as the “assisted driving”.  They will be available even in mass market car models and will be able to keep safety distances, measure parking spaces, read road signs and warn the driver when to break. It will make driving easier. 

Experts say that driveless car will be the biggest revolution in the automobile industry since the invention of the car.

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References:

 1. http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424127887323808204579085271065923340

 2.http://www.popsci.com/cars/article/2013-09/google-self-driving-car

 3.http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2418526/Self-driving-Mercedes-Benz-sale-2020- unveiled.html

 4.http://www.extremetech.com/extreme/166598-frankfurt-auto-show-mercedes-shows-off-fully-autonomous-s-class-production-cars-coming-by-2020

 5.http://www.economist.com/news/special-report/21576224-one-day-every-car-may-come-invisible-chauffeur-look-no-hands                   

To Infinity and Beyond

The potential applications of developing a technology like video content analytics is immense and still at a very young stage of development. Nowadays it is widely used in the field of entertainment, social security CCTV systems, surveillance analytics in mostly office premises, outdoor surveillance, education, health-care, sports and so on. It is a tool that can be designed to be incorporated to your daily life needs.

It holds such great promise enhancing the current applications of surveillance looking for a specific objective. It is an automated way of analysing video contents thus reducing manual human interface. The way video analytics works is mainly based on two main principles, which are

• Motion Detection, and
• Pattern Recognition

For example, one of its application could be in entertainment Casinos, where there is a lot of money involved and the risks of foul play are high. Video analytics can be used to monitor such fraudulent activities immediately, bringing into the attention of the security personnels.

Another growing application of it is in the field of sports, where it can be used to track the performances of athletes, thus enabling them to analyse their performance instantly as they practice.

In basketball,the Houston Rockets of the NBA, have recently spent $7 million, in creating their locker room incorporating video analytic screens and trial courts, enabling the players to improve their game by analysing their statistics. The video below gives a brief view of the new technology adopted.

      

Intro

Video Analytics 101

Video Analyitcs : under these two almost mysterious words hides a revolutionary technological upturn, which will soon affect all our lives. Despite the fact that this concept is in its early stage of development even now we can find some examples of usage of this technology in some very different environments.

VCA (video content analytics) is a truly brilliant and universal technology that brings monitoring to a whole new level. Not only will it prove useful to strengthen security in the cities (detect motion, find possibly dangerous abandoned luggage at the airport) help manage them (analyze traffic), but it even can be used to cater to our more trivial everyday needs (for instance entertainment: Xbox Kinect/PS Move controller).

So how does it work?

Very Simple: video analytics is a process of analyzing algorithms and images recorded by cameras with  a complex  software developed specifically for this purpose. More infomation on this will be provided in the upcoming blog, with great videos and infograms.

“In our competitive environment every behavioral pattern or trend can be used for intelligent management. Sellers as well as managers are looking for opportunities to cut expenses, increase security and effectiveness. Programs such as VCA’s will certainly help them plan their strategies and take important business decisions”.[1]

Despite being on the entry level of its development this technology has a huge potential, which should not be underestimated. That is why we, students at the IE Business School have decided to deeply research this topic and start a blog about this remarkable innovation. The future starts now, and we will be here to bring it to you every week with updates on the development and implications of this exciting new technology  

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[1] http://www.frost.com/prod/servlet/press-release.pag?docid=140800305