How intelligent video surveillance can help you

The video surveillance market has experienced a constant evolution and sustained growth during the last few years, to an extent that today estimations show an annual compound growth rate of over 15%, and that this trend will remain steady until at least 2022.

This development, driven by technological advances, has led to the emergence of smart video surveillance systems, also known by the acronym IVS, for ‘Intelligent Video Surveillance’. Their proliferation has transformed the sector to the point that traditional surveillance cameras have been deprecated in favor of much more advanced video surveillance systems.

In this article we tell you what intelligent video surveillance is, what sets it apart from traditional video surveillance, and how it can help companies. You will also learn the competitive advantages offered to companies by these types of systems, and the reasons why you should choose this new technology.

Traditional surveillance cameras have been deprecated in favor of much more advanced video surveillance systems

What is intelligent video surveillance and how does it differ from traditional video surveillance

Intelligent video surveillance refers to those systems that take advantage of features offered by advanced hardware and software for the detection and analysis of images, with features based on new technologies and connectivity being their main characteristics. In traditional video surveillance, the human factor was essential for an adequate analysis of the images and videos offered by the system, to the point that several people were necessary, in several shifts, to perform this work.

The constant increase in the number of cameras used in security and video analysis systems has made human-based analysis incompatible with that job, since it has been proven that after 20 minutes of maximum attention, fatigue and other conditions hamper that function, which implies a risk under certain circumstances such as, for example, when surveilling a site for which a security breach, such as the access by an intruder, can imply a grave danger.

Intelligent video surveillance is effective to address what in a traditional system is an information overload, since it can effectively monitor and swiftly process a massive number of images. These become metadata, which is a select sequence that contains only relevant information from CCTV (Closed Circuit Television) systems.

Competitive advantages of intelligent video surveillance

Intelligent video analysis facilitates the processing of both real-time and recorded video and detects any activity that could be deemed to be suspicious, in addition to distinguishing people from objects and even differentiating behavioral patterns. These are the main advantages related to the use of this system:

• Improved efficiency: IVS record and store a larger volume of videos than traditional systems. But not only that – the quality of the images is much higher (high definition). On the other hand, unlike what happens under human supervision, the system does not suffer from errors that can be attributed to fatigue or similar issues.
• Increased cost effectiveness: even though the cost of the investment may be higher than for a traditional video surveillance system, IVS are more cost-effective even in the short term, since they need less physical infrastructure, both in regard to cabling and to cameras. The cost savings in personnel are also considerable, since the system generates metadata and does not require constant supervision.
• Remote monitoring: an Internet connection will suffice to access the images and data provided by the system, which is particularly useful for store and company owners. Both live and to recorded images can be accessed from multiple devices. When the video surveillance cameras are used for something other than surveillance, such as to know the behavioral patterns of visitors to a shop or department store, this usefulness is multiplied.
• High scalability: New cameras can be very easily added to intelligent video surveillance systems maintaining the same level of efficiency. Their integration to the network is simple and inexpensive, since the wiring required is less that for conventional systems.
• Smart alarms: visualizing every hour of recording capture by the cameras of a video surveillance system is not only extenuating, but also ineffective. Not only do IVS take care of this task, but they also detect unusual activities and specific behaviors by themselves, generating alarms and sending them to the owners, the human surveillance teams or the state’s law enforcement organizations.

Intelligent video analysis facilitates the processing of both real-time and recorded video and detects any activity that could be deemed to be suspicious

Video analytics to complete your intelligent video systems

The video analytics offered by intelligent video surveillance systems are already in operation across many sectors, such as logistical centers, industrial facilities, borders and customs and transportation hubs, among many others. The retail sector is one of the latest ones to jump in on this solid trend, which has evolved from mere surveillance to an application that analyzes the behavioral patterns of employees and shoppers. These can help count people, manage lines or map hotspots.

Thanks to intelligent video analytics, whose functioning is based on intelligent algorithms, response protocols can be optimized when an alert is triggered. This means that it is not necessary to watch all cameras at all times, since the systems are configured in such a way that they are capable of recognizing any anomaly by themselves and trigger audio alarms, popups, send warnings to connected devices, etc. Video analytics are also useful to reduce false alarms.

At Grekkom Technologies we have a wide range of video analytics for intelligent video surveillance systems. All of them are compatible with most devices in existence on the market and can be applied to almost every sector (mining, nuclear, maritime, etc.). Contact us if you want more information or ask for a demo to try any of our video analytics.