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ICCC – Third Eye
ICCCs are the eyes and ears of a city and function as a single source of information and point of resolution of the civic functions of the city. Here Kunal Kumar, Joint Secretary & Mission Director (Smart Cities Mission), Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, Government of India tells us that there is a significant focus on ICCC in Indian cities. He continues, “ICCC is improving public safety through better surveillance to enable city administration and police department to keep a watch on sensitive areas such as major traffic junctions, municipal parks, tourist places and key gathering places.”
He says, “Use of ANPR and RLVD systems have been incorporated for traffic enforcement and e-Challan. Cities are implementing Women Safety initiatives through the use of face recognition cameras, emergency call box at various strategic locations and also through mobile helpline app for the same.” (Turn to page 44 to read more about smart initiatives by various cities)
Innovative Solutions
The smart and intelligent security solutions backed by AI, deep learning, advanced VCA, ML, IoT and big data technologies are redefining the security industry with traffic and transportation specific solutions. Intelligent traffic cameras are an integral part of intelligent traffic system; they are enabling critical traffic management functions with precision by enhancing the security and efficiency quotients. As the surveillance and security boom is fed by several companies, ranging from joint ventures such as Prama Hikvision to multinationals—Honeywell, Securens, AllGoVision and Axis— these companies believe in providing solutions that innovate for a smarter and safer world.
‘Hybrid video surveillance solution is the new normal’
Richard Canday, Head – Marketing, Securens Systems Pvt Ltd
How is surveillance becoming increasingly relevant in the ecosystem of transportation in India?
India? India needs to guarantee the safety of its people, resources, private properties, and to be aware of internal and external threats; hence, the need for such video surveillance measures is increasing more than ever. In India, maximum people utilise public transport as a favourable mode of commuting, and it’s imperative to make public transport safer for people to travel. Facial detection, emergency alerts, real-time command control centre connectivity, day and night surveillance, 3G/4G connectivity for authorities to be alerted of incidents on their smartphones in real-time, are a few of the solutions that need to be installed to make public transport safer.
Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport recently started a three-month trial of biometric facial recognition entry system for domestic passengers of Vistara airline at Terminal 3. With the facial recognition technology, passengers’ entry would be automatically processed based on facial recognition system at all checkpoints, including airport entry, entry into security checks, and aircraft boarding.
How significant is the IP-based surveillance in providing a foolproof security cover?
Technology is ever-evolving, and that holds in the realm of CCTV security systems, too. In comparison to the old-fashioned analogue camera-based technology IP cameras provide the following advantages and benefits:
Image Quality: The image quality from digital security cameras is significantly higher than an analogue, with many cameras capable of recording and transmitting highdefinition video. Plus, digital cameras are more likely to have digital zoom features, which can have zoom distances over 100 ft.
Coverage Area: A single digital camera can cover an area that would require three or even four of its analogue counterparts. As a result, one may require lesser cameras and be able to maintain security surveillance over a broader area.
Video Analytics: IP cameras can be connected to monitoring platforms and surveillance software to provide video analytics.
In an IP based surveillance, the encoding and processing are done on the camera. The video footage is stored on the SD card and then streamed. As the camera records on the direct-attached storage, the video recording is available continuously even when there is a network outage.
Currently, all the users carry a minimum one smart mobile device. These devices are capable of accepting video stream or playback in .mp4 or .avi formats. This makes network video recorders (NVR) the ideal video recorder. The control and playback applications enable the users to view the video recording from anywhere at their convenience, enabling remote monitoring.
Here, the streams gathered through the network can be processed and appropriate classification and tags can be inserted while video recording. This will help during forensics as the enhanced playback capabilities allow multiple ways of retrieval. High availability of video recording is necessary for being compliant to the company’s business continuity. Hence the video recording is expected to be available locally and remotely. Using IP cameras in conjunction with NVR is easily possible by pulling video stream from the camera in parallel to store video on the local NVR and the remote NVR.
Responding about the products and solutions, Sudhindra Holla, Director, Axis Communications, India and SAARC says, “The company has implemented a project in a historical Karnal city of Haryana, which of late was plagued by an increase in cases of violence against women, mob congregation and traffic violations. Upon inclusion in the smart city project, the importance of surveillance was realised by the Haryana government.”
He further adds, “The solution by Axis Communications involved implementation of 104 Axis fixed box cameras (AXIS P1365) and 25 Axis PTZ cameras (AXIS P5635-E) which were installed across major junctions, streets and tourist spots in the city.”