Retail Security: Intelligent Video

As brick and mortar companies continue to drive the level of competition up in the retail market space as they compete against online companies offering free shipping and very low prices, they must seek every possible advantage so as to grow their revenues while still addressing conventional security threats such as inventory loss through internal and external theft, also known as “shrinkage”.

Fortunately for those working in a retail space, the security industry has developed products allowing for greatly enhanced security in addition to a whole range of features that are useful in tracking customers and streamlining various processes. There are five key areas associated with the concept of “Intelligent Video”: People counting, traffic pattern analysis, customer satisfaction, the reduction of theft, and monitoring the exterior. Here we will look at these aspects of “Intelligent Video”, more commonly known as analytics enhanced video surveillance.

Unlike a company that operates strictly online, traditional storefronts have a difficult time determining just how many people visited their location each day. Counting visitors can enhance efficiency and make it easier to make decisions which could affect conversion rates and per-customer transactions. Cameras at the entrance should use WDR or “Wide Dynamic Range” so as to bring the clearest images to the analytics software.

Using analytics to monitor and analyze traffic patterns can involve heat mapping, which visually shows a hot and cold flow on screen based on customer flow. Regional people counting analysis helps show how people move through the store. Data like this can be used in determining where to place products, how high on the shelf, and etc. This software can also show how much visitors look at any particular display. Ultimately, all this data can be combined to get a very clear picture of what your customers do on average, and therefore what your best options are for the store.

As far as improving customer satisfaction goes, it simply follows from the implementation of the aforementioned changes based on analytics information. Line times can be reduced or eliminated in the store. On a broad scale, analytics will determine how many people to bring onto staff on any given day and what hours they should work. HD cameras can also be used to individually capture transactions at the register.

As for reducing theft, a wide range of options is available. IR cameras for very low light areas to motion detection or more advanced tech such as tripwire or removed object analysis will enhance the overall effectiveness in managing inventory and reducing theft. PTZ (Pan, Tilt, Zoom) cameras are useful in monitoring the exterior of the building. Having a camera for every corner and corridor also eliminates the possibility of false injury claims and confirms facts in the case of a burglary.

Security Technology offers the integration of security solutions such as these, along with analytics to get the best overall picture of what goes on in your storefront.

Please contact us through email at admin@gostst.com on our website or via phone at  210-446-4863   24/7

Sources: Security Today Magazine

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.
 Please contact us through email at admin@gostst.com on our website or via phone at  210-446-4863   24/7

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
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Building A “Hack-Proofed” Access Control and Surveillance System with CheckVideo

Part 1

CheckVideo, a manufacturer of a full range of high-end video surveillance and access control gear, as well as servers, gateways, and cloud-based software solutions, is a partner with which Security Technology of South Texas is an authorized dealer. Let’s take a look into what makes a CheckVideo system different, and all said and done, a superior product to what you will find “off-the-shelf” or in a retail environment.

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