Intersection of AI, Drones, and 5G

The blogs on this site have taken multiple looks at these emerging technologies. Here, we will look at what a convergence of these three technologies may allow in the future of the security industry.
5G internet is of course not out yet, set to go into operation in the U.S. in the early 2020s, but once in place it is expected to provide mobile speeds of over a Gigabit/second. Because big data is the foundation of any AI, it is obviously critical to any drone security operation to have always on mobile internet with excessive speed. Better that than lagging video.
Drone tech has come a long way very quickly. They are highly maneuverable and have relatively long battery lives for the tasks they perform. However, in order to maintain a aerial security grid of autonomous machines to watch a city, equally advanced battery cell technology is also needed. The batteries made for modern electric cars are not too far off in terms of their weight/power ratio.
And now, the critical AI element. In the previous article we took a look at a research project that trained a drone to identify various violent poses (kicking, punching, shooting etc.). A project like this implemented across an entire city with multiple drones would need an incredibly robust AI underpinning the whole thing, one which would have been trained on a much wider range of images and video to be able to identify all kinds of trouble and also to anticipate it in advance.
The system might be combined with something akin to the modern AI driven service called “Predpull”, which uses old crime data to generate a daily map for law enforcement with boxes drawn around the zones that the AI thinks are more likely to see a crime take place that day. This service has proven itself effective in increasing arrests and dropping crime rates in the cities that have implemented it.
It is safe to expect systems like this to arise, because not only do they have a proven track record of working, but also because just like automation in every other field, the security drones would be able to reduce the amount of manpower behind them and eliminate the need for human surveillance in many cases.
Drones have already been equipped with AI trained on facial recognition from the top down, meaning that it is recognizing the contours of your scalp or hair to determine your identity. And so, unless the world economy collapses and we stop pursuing AI and drones, I fully expect to see this play out throughout the mid-late 2020s, and possibly sooner if we are talking about only being operational for big events or on certain days.
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Using Drones to Identify Violent Behavior in Crowds

 

The term “AI” is becoming a bit of a buzzword lately, but pairing it with drones to perform a specific task is exactly the kind of real-world application for which the kind of narrow AI that we have now is best suited. Reseachers used a drone to transmit video via 4G internet so as to allow real time analysis and processing. The algorithm, which was trained using deep learning, an AI approach used especially in image analysis, was taught to recognize 5 types of agressive poses.
For the purposes of the study, the AI was trained on strangling, kicking, punching, shooting, and stabbing. This was done by filming volunteers performing these acts in an exaggerated way. In the beginning, the volunteers are spaced apart, but move closer together over time.
The system reached a 94% accuracy rate, though that number dropped to 79% as the number of people in the frame was increased. The next step is of course to begin to train the system on real-life events. It is thought that in the very near future, systems like this will be used on a considerably larger scale to detect crime in public spaces and at big events. Inspired by the Manchester Arena bombing of 2017, the system’s developers believe that by actively watching for suspicious behavior in this way, terrorist attacks outdoors might be stopped in time.
Security Technology of South Texas does not offer still experimental technology, for now. Please contact us through email at admin@gostst.com on our website or via phone at  210-446-4863   24/7

U.S. Government Bans Government Use of Chinese Surveillance Gear

 

With the ties that China shares with North Korea, its stance on Taiwan, and its ever increasing trade conflict with the U.S., it comes as no surprise that the U.S. government would want to keep Chinese tech far away from anything they would want to secure. Huawei, a Chinese cell phone company sought to enter the Western market with a capable and good looking phone to rival the flagships of the likes of Apple and Samsung, but Huawei and companies like it have been suspected of inserting malicious code into their products under the direction of Chinese intelligence services.
Recently, a U.S. House resolution banned Chinese surveillance gear “along with OEM gear [that] has been passed and will be sent to the Senate for consideration.” (securitytoday.com)
Many of these companies, such as maker of surveillance equipment Hangzhou Hikvision Digital Technology Co. have large percentages of outright ownership by the Chinese government, 42 percent in this case. Hytera, Huawei and Dahua are also all included in the bill, along with the U.S. government advising civilians to avoid Huawei as well.
Vicky Hartzler (R-MO) and a member of the House Armed Services Committee
described the reasoning bluntly “We must face the reality that the Chinese-government is using every avenue at its disposal to target the United States, including expanding the role of Chinese companies in the U.S. domestic communications and public safety sectors…”
Financial analysts do not expect this to significantly impact U.S. based security firms, and although there is not an outright ban, U.S. companies like ADT may move away from using Chinese equipment.
If  even using a cell phone from China as a civilian is a risk, this seems like, and is a no-brain move. If a company has nearly 50% of its shares held by the Chinese government, it would nearly be safe to call the likes of Hytera (Chinese radio communications) or the Chinese Telecom giant ZTE out as nothing more than thinly disguised extensions of Chinese Intelligence agencies. This is a country that recently rolled out a type of social credit system, whereby you can end up being denied everything from residence in a certain area to travel, even by train, for non-criminal acts. At best, these firms are going to data mine the end user, or more likely, infect him with malware.
Security Technology of South Texas does not use hardware manufactured by companies owned by hostile foreign intelligence but instead uses top of the line gear made either in the U.S. or its allies. Please contact us through email at admin@gostst.com on our website or via phone at  210-446-4863   24/7

Loss Prevention and Evidence Gathering

Geovision’s GV-VMS integrates with existing Windows-based POS consoles. This allows for the transactions made at the POS machines to automatically embed into recorded video and sync with the cloud. Transactions are keyword searchable and suspicious transactions can generate automatic notifications. Read more