How Is Intelligent Video Used?

Earlier I talked about what intelligent video is and why it is used.  This post tackles how intelligent video applications are used.

Keep in mind that intelligent video is an emerging market comprised of relatively new technology so, it’s not perfect and it may not quite be able to work the way you want it to yet.  In short, it’s best to have realistic expectations.

However there are some well-developed and well-used intelligent video features that won’t require a whole lot of finagling or adjustments on your part and, they will significantly boost IP camera performance.  Features such as:

• Video Motion Detection
• Camera Tampering
• Image Enhancement
• IP Camera Audio with Advanced Detection

Speed is important in IP video surveillance. Early and accurate detection are key to properly responding to events and these intelligent video applications help to make that possible and are a big reason why intelligent video is used.

Video Motion Detection

Video motion detection (VMD) has been around the block a few times.  It’s the veteran intelligent video appliction.  The original and most widely used feature. 

As such, VMD is now the foundation for advanced intelligent video applications like people counting, digital fences, object tracking, license plate recognition, and facial recognition.

Video motion detection prioritizes video recordings by only higlighting the video when changes occur.  This saves on storage space and bandwidth by not having to record everything making searching for occurences easier as well.

Camera Tampering

Camera tampering alarms in an intelligent video system work great in applications where vandalism is a threat such as schools, prisons, subway stations or other transportation hubs.

Camera tampering detection will notify you when the camera’s view is obstructed (spray painted or covered), out of focus, or re-positioned so that potential threats do no got undetected.

Either someone does not want to be seen by the camera or occasionally the camera could be unintentionally redirected or covered.  Whether it’s vandalism or simply an accident, it’s important to have this detection so that hours, days, or months go by and you’ve been recording nothing of value.

Image Enhancement

One of the issues with video surveillance from outdoor ip cameras is that they captures only as well as the weather cooperates.  Rain and snow, fog and smoke, shadows and bright sunlight can severly affect image quality.

When adjusting brightness and contrast only do so much, intelligent video image enhancing algorithms step in, in real-time, to analyze the images and rebuild them to be as clean, clear, and crisp as possible.

Advanced Audio Detection

Having audio integrated into your surveillance simply gives you more information about a situation. Many times something is brought to our attention first by what we hear, not what we see. Car alarms, gunshots, breaking glass, and screams will not be recognized by a surveillance camera without audio. With 360° coverage, an event happening behind a camera can still be detected.

In the same way that an IP camera can analyze video, they can intelligently analyze audio as well. As noted above, audio can hear what the video cannot see. IP camera audio detection complements video motion detection very well because it reacts to events in areas that are too dark for the video motion detector to pick up on.

More Advanced Applications

Next time I’ll examine the advanced intelligent video applications.  The ones that are based on the classic video motion detection such as object counting, people counting, crowd detection, object tracking, digital fences, and license plate recognition to name a few.