A CCTV system for scene analysis facilitating personnel enumeration and tracking.
Publisher: University of Wolverhampton
Published: 2002
Place of publication: Wolverhampton
Language: eng
Number of pages: 202
First sentence: The research work that this thesis describes involved the development and testing of a people counting and monitoring system ‘SensUs’ and a target tracking system.
Description: Abstract
This thesis describes a SERC Teaching Company Programme carried out at Molynx Holdings plc in collaboration with the University of Wolverhampton. The aim was to research and develop a PC-based intelligent sensing system, using distributed sensors, capable of detecting the presence, location and activity of occupants of a room or other area indoors or outdoors. Previous work had been confined mainly to defence and national security and there were no cost-effective products available to perform such functions in real-time for commercial applications. Based on initial research to discover what potential users required, a survey of appropriate technologies was carried out and a solution was adopted using conventional closed circuit television (CCTV) cameras. A demonstrator system was developed using image processing techniques and a multi-layer perceptron neural network (NN). The positions and quantities of detected targets were displayed on a floor plan of the area under surveillance and data acquired was sent via a serial data link to a PC for subsequent analysis. The necessary software tools for configuration, calibration and NN training are detailed. It is shown that the NN discriminated between isolated targets and small groups well but became less accurate when detecting larger groups.
Following an evaluation of the demonstrator, prototypes of the personnel enumeration and real-time tracking systems were designed, developed, and tested using real-life scenarios and the data derived from the systems were analysed. The thesis details the techniques adopted for the personnel enumeration system prototype, including image thresholding and background average differencing. The counts were overlaid onto the images and software was developed for system configuration, relating counts to floor plans, camera views, graphs and third party spreadsheet applications. The thesis also details the techniques used in the tracking system prototype, including frame differencing to detect a moving target. The positions of the detected target were transmitted to a control system enabling a camera mounted on the pan & tilt head to follow the target in real-time and provide close-up images of the target. Software tools were developed to facilitate the system configuration. The system was evaluated in real office, exhibition and supermarket applications. Typical results are presented and the value of the system to retail management for analysing store layout is described.
It is shown that the prototypes were novel in their abilities: counting using security surveillance cameras; relating the numbers of people counted and crowd densities to building layout by superimposing onto floor plans; providing analysis tools and customised reports; automatically acquiring and tracking a target in real time; controlling a conventional CCTV pan & tilt head giving close up views of targets; displaying target positions on the image and a floor plan. The personnel enumeration system was launched as a product called SensUs, being the first commercially available video-based population measuring and monitoring system of its kind. It was uniquely capable of counting people over wide areas rather than just those passing underneath a ceiling mounted camera. Its cameras could be used for conventional surveillance and it could be deployed in existing CCTV surveillance systems without the need to purchase extra cameras making it a cost-effective solution. SensUs has proved to be a most successful development: It has been adopted in many applications, particularly in the retail environment, with systems installed in shops and shopping centres. The tracking system prototype was featured on a BBC Television Tomorrow’s World Security Special. SensUs went on to win two prestigious international innovation awards: the IFSEC (International Fire and Security Exhibition and Conference) Award in 1994 and the 1995 Information Technology European Award (ITEA).
Notes: Dissertation(Ph.D.) - University of Wolverhampton 2002.
Table of contents: value: Abstract; value: 10. Conclusions