Video Analytics & Video Surveillance to VSaaS!

Folks! This week we are going to give you a little sneak peek into the Video Surveillance as a Service or VSaaS  market out there.Video surveillance is a primary component of the video analytic technology. This blog will cover some of the main concepts of this feature and it's integration into the cloud service.

Due to massive development in the filed of video data analytic's and the everyday implementation of this technology, enterprises have seized this opportunity to take it to the next level with VSaaS. VSaaS takes the video surveillance into the cloud. Also known as hosted or managed video services, video analytic data from customer IP cameras are transmitted into the service provider's secure cloud storage. This uses nothing more than IP cameras connected to video servers, to record images away from the point of visual contact which may be thousands of miles apart.

This aspect of this technology can be seen as one of the main business value propositions. It is estimated that the VSaaS market is expected to reach $2390.9 million by 2017 at a Compound Annual Growth Rate of 31.5% from 2012 to 2017.

Some of the key benefits of video surveillance and cloud storage combined is that it reduces the technical resources required to maintain a system while systematizing the security operations in a centralized IT data centre which in turn makes them more efficient. The use of VSaaS adds more benefits to surveillance industry with the help of video analytics. For instance, if you are intending to use the camera only when an incident occurs, it is critical to know what is constantly being captured. With the such data remaining on site, there is always the risk of the data being tampered or destroyed, which in turn renders the whole surveillance data useless. This is when you can take full advantage of the VSaaS. 

One of the main challenges that VSaaS faces is privacy legislation, like any other cloud based services operating across international borders. Do check out the video below which sums up how the VSaaS works.

Useful Links:

http://www.csoonline.com/article/622365/vsaas-the-basics-of-surveillance-as-a-service

http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/PressReleases/vsaas.asp

http://www.ifsecglobal.com/author.asp?section_id=3090&doc_id=561048

Next generation billboard

Intel's chip - bringing video analytics to marketing

As everyone knows even the best product is not able to sell itself without a well planned marketing campaign. Companies use advertisements to attract customers, and create their need for products or services they sell. Now think for a second about billboards and lightboxes you pass by everyday on a street, in a mall,or  on a bus stop. Can you tell what they actually present? What product appears on it?

Nowadays, we are bombarded with millions and millions of advertisements containing  useless information. A human brain can not accumulate and process this huge amount of data, so it learned to ignore most of it . Studies show that while watching commercials our brain is a few times less active than while watching a  movie. This means that the best way to catch someones attention is to give them personalized, customized information, and advertisements. Do you remember the scene in the Minority Report movie when billboards scanned Tom Cruises eye so as to provide him with a personalized add? For most of us, this film is only a Steven Spielbergs irrational vision of future. Or is it?

Intel is currently working on Anonymous Videoanalytics Technology which will help advertisers get to their target customers. The idea is simple, Intel equipes digital signs with a powerful Intel Core i5 or i7 processor (analyzing millions of pixels every second), audience impression metric software and a sensor. This combination of high-tech components will enable the digital signage to determine basic information about people passing by (their age, gender or even the information how long is the “target” actually looking at the sign). Thanks to this one of a kind software system companies will be able to adapt their ad content so as to catch attention of a broader audience. Just imagine a teenage girl walking into a mall that immediately sees a sale on handbags and shoes! Apart from adapting the ads to passing  customers this new system will also help advertisers to measure the ad effectiveness by comparing the number of ad viewers with the sales figures. Without a doubt this feature will make planning marketing campaigns much easier.

This new approach to advertising has also its disadvantages. It seems obvious that this technology will violate our privacy. Intels managers need to answer an important question, whether people will accept that they are being constantly “hunted” on. What is more, companies using Intel solutions will have to assure society that they have clean procedures concerning gathering data. This should not be a problem though, slowly but still, we are getting used to being permanently watched and soon we will comprehend that our privacy will never be as secure as it was in pre-CCTV and internet times.

To sum up, it is certain that this new technology will appeal to many companies. After all every company constantly needs to improve its recognition. What is more, measuring effectiveness of traditional marketing campaigns (newspapers, billboards, radio, TV) has always been difficult and rather inaccurate. Intels Anonymous Video Analytics Technology and Digital Signage might prove that in the world shifting towards online marketing the traditional way of advertising can still be efficient.

Intel's Digital Signage - this advertising platform will soon be seen in every mall

http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/retail/digital-signage-core-ava-demo.html

Innovative Technologies: Can Flies Simply Revolutionize Warfares ??!

Video Analytics in a tiny Fly

Can you imagine a 15 cm insect-like aircraft that would be able to spy, record, transmit live visual information, and eventually KILL TARGETS??!!

Yes!  I found out when surfing www.timeline.net that MicroAerial Vehicles (MAV) " an innovative technology of tiny unmanned vehicles to do the previously mentioned tasks- while relying significantly on our blog topic Video Analytics.

MAV have been recently getting their inspiration from flying insects or birds. Attempting  vigorously to mimic their exact behaviour and capabilities. Which means those tiny aircrafts are using flapping wings to hover around freely in any direction possible. Also, those aircrafts don’t just have eyes… They’ve got a multitude of sensors that would allow them to detect gyroscopes, wind, and their entire surrounding. 

Check out the video below to have a clearer visualisation

MAV can be applied and provide benefits in a variety of arrays, such as Public Safety, wildlife and Environmental surveillance, infrastructure Management, Scientific Research (www.avinc.com). Yet in this blog we will focus on their military applications as they can be a major GAMECHANGER!

How MAV use video analytics?

These tiny flies are equipped with a GPS, minuscule camera, recorders, a modem and many more. Wondering why?

Well according to Air force that are currently developing a technological outbreak for the U.S Military “Data will be communicated among the MAVs to enable real time, reliable decision-making and to provide an advanced overall picture for other platforms or operators'.

The video posted below is a beta demonstration of the Flapping Wing Micro Air Vehicle have a look and see how it works.

Business Intelligence

 “To Hover, Stalk, and Even Kill target” according to an article posted in the DailyMail  .

Those technological flies can work in groups to provide detailed battlefield surveillance, reaching locations that were seemed inaccessible before.

Another unique Video Analytic feature is that those flies navigate by “sight” provided from the sensors rather than GPS. Advantages? The Enemy cannot jam the network by any means.

Group Masacre in Syria

You can also think of them as tiny spying agents providing the government with Intel on their enemies’ hideouts and strategies. It might be of great help such as speeding up the revolutionary war in Syria.

Those MAV can even fly anywhere searching for victims, spotting bombs that harm civilians and infiltrating terrorist cells. Keeping the example of Syria in mind with a death toll of 115,000 people in 3 years, imagine how many of those lives could have been saved with just those tiny FLIES.

Risk and Challenges:

We need to keep in mind though that there’s a major other side of the coin. Especially if this innovative technology was placed in wrong hands. Those risk and challenges can be majorly related to privacy, battery difficulty and assassination.

Privacy is self-explanatory; we would be so easily spied at like never before. Also, inserting a battery in such a small object is a major challenge. However, thankfully to development in nanotechnology this can be solved in the near future. Another solution viewed in the video is the ability of the MAV to draw power from electrical wire (or any electrical source provider).

Answering our blog post title “Can FLIES simply revolutionize Warfares ??!”

In our opinion and based on the video posted … Definitely YES. Especially if those MAV get furtherly developed with the ability to assassin selected targets. Piercing the human skin with a tiny needle without even realizing!!

Feel free to let us know what you think of MAVs?

http://www.futuretimeline.net/subject/military-war.htm

http://www.avinc.com/

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2281403/U-S-Air-Force-developing-terrifying-swarms-tiny-unmanned-drones-hover-crawl-kill-targets.html

BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE BEYOND SWEETHEARTING!

VIDEO ANALYTICS IN RETAIL STORES

There is a significant difference in video surveillance and the use of complex video analytics.  One major type of retail fraud, sweethearting, where a cashier intentionally fails to enter one or more items into the transaction in an attempt to get free merchandise for the customer, can be easily detected by a surveillance video camera that is monitored by an employee. This helps prevent losses and increase cost efficiency but does not substantially improve efficiency and increase sales since we have not captured any knowledge of what is influencing a client in a store.

Thus, understanding consumer behavior can be a very useful tactic to maximize store productivity and add value to a store’s business operations. Sucess is crucially dependand on understanding the PSYCHOLOGICAL PROCESS BEHIND A CLIENT’S PURCHASE BEHAVIOR.

Video analytics comes into play by using refined algorithms that calculate what factors are influencial on the clients experience in a retail shop and DELIVERING A BEHAVIORAL SNAPSHOT of the shopper.

Surveillance captures consumer behavior

By analyzing captured video material, basic data can be collected such as the simple counting of entrance and exit data, queuing behavior and respective waiting times or the effectiveness of the customer flow within the store. We can collect traffic statistics to determine optimal staff deployment and promotional plans and optimize overall planning. This gives information about specific customer as well as employee experiences and conclusions can be drawn how they may be marketed to. Moreover, Video Analytics helps to identify potential stock cuts and reports on shelf availability. The retailer is given the possibility to establish an automated anticipation alert and is able to replace products on the shelves that are running out.

Something revolutionary about video analytics is that it allows retail managers to gain insights into customers’ interaction with the employees and analyze consumer behavior. Touch points of engagement are videotaped and analyzed, making it possible to draw conclusions out of these interactions and improve them towards the client’s desires. Furthermore we can observe which parts of the store are the most frequented and follow the customer’s buying pattern. Trough surveillance we observe the paths customers navigate through the store, observe dwell time etc. This gives valuable information as to how to arrange product placement, take merchandizing decisions, improve customer satisfaction, product promotions, optimize staff allocation and deliver valuable, personalized customer messages. Moreover, organizations can use consumer information to learn about the needs and opinions of shoppers in ways not previously possible. Big data analysis offers companies a way to identify those shoppers who are the most valuable as returning customers. DATA COLLECTION BOOSTS CUSTOMER LOYALTY. We may thus add value through better customer service and are also by utilizing the ability to influence the customer’s buying pattern subconsciously.

Video Analytics shows a motion path and the dwell time of consumers

The productivity and accurate data interpretation is also crucially enhanced by the use of Video Analytics. In order to make managerial decisions, executives need accurate and reliable information. Retail Video Analytics is providing the means to drive business decisions that rely on hard facts. Retailers used to have to draw their own conclusions from obersavation. Now, the hiring of trained personnel becomes obsolete due to an automated data analysis displayed on dashboards that PRESENT,VISUALIZE AND INTERPRET LIVE METRICTS FROM THE STORE.

References:

http://www.forbes.com/sites/xerox/2013/09/27/big-data-boosts-customer-loyalty-no-really/

http://www.agentvi.com/images/Agent_Vi_-_Retail_Applications.pdf

http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpl/login.jsp?tp=&arnumber=4425348&url=http%3A%2F%2Fieeexplore.ieee.org%2Fxpls%2Fabs_all.jsp%3Farnumber%3D4425348

http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpl/login.jsp?tp=&arnumber=4959867&url=http%3A%2F%2Fieeexplore.ieee.org%2Fxpls%2Fabs_all.jsp%3Farnumber%3D4959867

http://www.retailnext.net/analytics-technology/visualization