The global video analytics market is growing rapidly due to the decreasing prices of high-resolution video cameras. Even small and medium-sized businesses can now purchase a standalone video surveillance system with at least basic video analytics features. Video analytics helps companies from different industries to solve a range of business problems: monitor the presence of goods on the shelves, track the movement of people, vehicles, or machinery, control the situation in the sales area, etc. Einfochips conducted excellent research that demonstrates all the benefits of intelligent videos.
According to MarketsandMarkets, in the next five years, the global video analytics market will grow by 19% a year and, in 2025, will reach a size of $11.7 billion. For comparison, in 2020, the size of it was $4.9 billion.
There are no universal video analytics systems that can be used with equal success in the workshop and the subway. Each solution is created for a specific task, described, and structured in maximum detail. This is the only way to get error-free and high-quality intelligent video analytics software. The most popular frameworks and libraries for the creation of intelligent video analytics software are:
- OpenCV v3-v4
- TensorFlow, PyTorch, Keras
- NumPy, Scikit-learn, Pandas
- Dlib, BoofCV
- Mobile SDKs: Google ML Kit, CoreML, Apple Vision
What are the Goals of Video Analytics?
The main task of video analytics is automating video content processing and analysis. The amount of video content is only increasing yearly, as opposed to human productivity. More and more people are needed for businesses to monitor and analyze video. Video analytics is the perfect replacement for human labor. Below are the most popular goals of intelligent video analytics:
- Image enhancement – with the help of noise reduction (denoising), removing blurring (deblurring), ISR (Image Super-Resolution), and other technologies, intelligent video analytics can improve the quality of the images.
- Motion detection – intelligent video analytics can detect the onset and ends of the movement of an object within the scene.
- Facial recognition – face detection and identity verification are the most common functions, which are used in almost all modern security systems based on intelligent video surveillance.
- Recognizing aimless behavior (Loitering) – intelligent video analytics has flexible algorithms that detect loitering behavior. Loitering may indirectly indicate illegal intentions.
- Recognition of missing or abandoned objects – intelligent video analytics track all the objects that are or appear in the room (street) and notify if something suspicious is going on.
- Closed area monitoring – intelligent video analytics tracks and notify if somebody enters a closed zone.
- License plate recognition – intelligence video analytics uses optical character recognition on images to read vehicle registration plates to obtain vehicle location information.
What Industries Benefit from Video Analytics?
Video analytics has enormous potential in all areas of our lives. It can be used almost everywhere with maximum efficiency. The most popular industries for intelligent video analytics utilization are:
- Smart City Systems
- Manufacturing
- Energy
- Logistics
- Banks
- Retail
- Aerial Inspections
- Smart Homes
- Public Safety
Intelligent Video Analytics Use Cases: Public Safety
Gun & knife detection. Threats of firearms in public places are pushing organizations around the world to develop new security technologies that are capable of preventing shootings. Intelligent video analytics can detect firearms before they are used. Intelligent video analytics software can detect both the weapon itself and the movements of people, which may indicate that they are about to use it. Once a threat is detected, the software will immediately alert security personnel, who can prevent the perpetrator from entering the building and causing harm to others.
Crowd management for accident prevention. Intelligent video analytics can solve the problem of detecting excessive crowds and aggressive behavior, such as fights, that can escalate into a major conflict and cause panic. Intelligent video analytics systems can perform reliable detection and tracking in crowded urban environments. Such systems can estimate crowd size in real-time, identify dominant crowd patterns and statistics, and collect all relevant information. In addition to crowd analysis, video analytics software can accurately detect suspicious human behavior – violence, assault, burglary, etc.
People and transport counting. The people counting function provides valuable information for making business decisions. Counting software can also analyze the routes and behavior of shoppers in shopping malls. For example, by counting shoppers in the area of outdoor advertising, you can evaluate its effectiveness, and you can also estimate customer demand for different types of goods.
The functionality of counting the number of people and vehicles is important for the automated intelligent transport systems, which can improve the transport situation in the city, increase the capacity of roads, optimize traffic lights, etc. The collected information can be used to calculate the macroscopic characteristics of traffic flow.
Video Analytics in Retail
Queue management. Queues to cash registers can be controlled by intelligent video analytics. For example, when a queue length threshold is reached, a warning signal can be sent to the control center to open a new checkout. This helps to increase not only customer satisfaction but also store attendance.
Facial recognition. A facial recognition algorithm compares the parameters of a face detected by the camera with those stored in a database. This makes it possible to identify frequent shoppers, track the order of their purchases, and the average time spent in the store. Facial recognition can also be used to prevent theft and vandalism. The faces of people who commit illegal actions can also be stored in a special database, and if they appear in the store, a signal can be issued to security to monitor their behavior more closely.
Heatmap. The heatmap can help to track the effectiveness of advertising in the retail space. The map shows the intensity of customers near the sales or advertising stands and the average viewing time. This helps to identify products that escape customers’ attention, as well as to take measures to increase their sales.
Customer counting. This feature allows you to count the number of people entering and exiting the sales floor. In most cases, customer traffic varies depending on the time of day and days of the week. Shopper counting allows you to understand better when to expect more customers and take appropriate actions.
Video Analytics in Energy
Security. Video surveillance is the primary means of preventing and investigating theft, unauthorized entry, vandalism, terrorism, and other undesirable acts against energy facilities. Valuable metals that makeup components of electrical equipment are a desirable target for criminals.
Seldom-maintained remote power facilities usually do not boast good protection against thieves. This can lead to unscheduled repairs, increased maintenance costs, blackouts, and rolling blackouts. Intelligent video analytics software can notify personnel of intrusions on their premises to quickly dispatch appropriate personnel to prevent crimes and damage. Video recordings of incidents are also helpful in the investigation of crimes.
Equipment monitoring. Intelligent video analytics provide early warning of wear and tear, degradation, and impending malfunctions, thus ensuring the efficiency and reliability of electrical systems without the need for additional personnel. The probability of equipment failures, in this case, is significantly reduced and the service life of components can be significantly increased by preventive maintenance of components whose deterioration is detected by intelligent video analytics software.
Power system automation. Intelligent video analytics can use cameras that detect the temperature of substation equipment components. With fairly sophisticated algorithms for detecting anomalies, all thermal characteristics and their trends can be analyzed with the help of cameras. If video analytics software detects possible overheating problems, it automatically sends warning signals.
Video Analytics in Banks
Fraud, robbery, and vandalism are constant threats to successful banking. The wider the network of ATMs and offices and the more accessible the bank’s services, the more critical situations arise and the more difficult they are to prevent. Many locations require extensive video surveillance staff, and each ATM must have access to a broadband network infrastructure.
Intelligent video analytics is capable of independently detecting a potentially dangerous situation and raising the alarm in time. Video analytics in banks is used for counting visitors and identifying new customers, as well as for:
- Ensuring security in the operating room and meeting rooms
- Providing security in the self-service areas and ATMs
- Ensuring security in the working area of bank employees and clerks
- Preventing the entry of robbers and intruders to the bank premises
- Notifying security officers about blacklisted scammers and other undesirable persons
- Preventing terrorist acts (detection of abandoned objects)
- Prevention of vandalism leading to damage of ATMs
Video Analytics in Logistics
License plate recognition. Intelligent video analytics make it possible to add license plates to black-and-white lists, fast registration and vehicle admission to the logistics center territory, and upload data in XLS or CSV format. This helps to prevent unauthorized vehicles from entering the territory and to automate the lifting of the barrier at the entrance and exit.
Searching and tracking of suspicious persons. The video analytics software can freeze frames, create a video clip of images on other camera footage in chronological order, and build a trajectory of the person on a building plan. It is also possible to reconstruct the route of the person within a period. This allows you to quickly find the suspect and give a command to security forces to apprehend the intruder.
Object tracking. Thanks to intelligent video analytics, personnel are not required to pay attention to monitors 24 hours a day. Moreover, thanks to the logistics center’s security of property, cargo, and infrastructure stay at a high level. Intelligent video analytics also ensure the safety of the building and its personnel and help to prevent possible terrorist attacks.
Facial recognition. Intelligent video analytics make it possible to create databases of “trusted” and blacklisted persons, search for people in the video archive by their photos and get automatic notifications on the monitor or telephone about attempts of unauthorized intrusions.
With intelligent video analytics software no need to have security personnel at all checkpoints. It provides automatic access to the territory and restricted areas of warehouses for authorized personnel only and can control the time they spend in the area. All these help to maintain high security for personnel, stored valuables, and warehouse infrastructure.
Heatmap. Intelligent video analytics software can track the frequency of personnel and vehicle movements within the territory, overlay a heatmap on the camera image, create a heatmap of the building, and generate reports on traffic density within certain time intervals. It helps to optimize personnel movement routes, track the time an employee spends observing the required product or device, and also optimize the efficiency of the staff, and reduce costs.
Personnel monitoring. Several activity monitoring zones can be defined within one camera’s field of view. Intelligent video analytics can detect movement or inactivity in the monitoring area in real time. This allows you to improve the efficiency of the logistics center or warehouse, as well as to monitor the time and quality of work of employees and reduce the risks of undesirable situations related to the absence of the employee at the workplace.
Final Thoughts
Previously, the introduction of video analytics has often been hindered by technical problems and the high cost of solutions, which prevented the use of this technology on a large scale. This situation has changed, and almost every business can use intelligent videos.
Video surveillance software with intelligent functions allows us to get more effective solutions – with less effort and at a higher quality level. Fatigue and inability to concentrate for a long time begin to show after half an hour of work with a few cameras, which leads to a sharp drop in surveillance efficiency. At the same time, intelligent video surveillance software provides stable and high-quality results. Intelligent videos are the most effective tool for providing high-quality surveillance.
