By Somraj Bhattacharjee, Head- Products, Vehant Technologies
COVID-19 has changed perspectives and modified the way people look at their lives. Corporates, conglomerates and industries around the globe are undergoing a massive transition towards automation and smart analytics, driven by a push towards automation, artificial intelligence and machine learning. More and more companies are slowly adopting new technology platforms which use image analytics for detecting standard and specific human movements.
Convolutional Neural Networks (CNN) developments are happening at a swift pace, and technological innovations are happening at breakneck speed. As we move toward a fully automated environment, CCTV cameras which are connected on a common platform shall become the most comfortable mode of deployment for image analytics, artificial intelligence and machine learning.
Computer vision technology (CVT) is a domain of AI and ML, which will see more use-cases being developed for innovative applications. It is common knowledge that the modern society, both at work and home is vigorously accepting the integration of CCTV camera platforms for surveillance, monitoring and security purposes. CVT extends this domain further by integrating the CCTV camera feeds with AL & ML software suites which can do various types of use-case detections, such as:
- Crowd monitoring and social distancing
- Human body temperature monitoring
- PPE violations such as masks not being used properly by the people in a crowd
- Hot spot detections
- Access control mechanisms integrated with attendance systems
- Facial recognition solutions for quick and easy user control
Apart from these common use-cases, many more innovative platforms can be integrated with the CCTV feeds and run on the AI and ML platforms for quick solutions. The interesting thing about this is that the end-users are becoming more demanding with time, as they realise the benefits and usefulness of CVT platforms in otherwise common areas. The ability of deep learning systems to store, record and track the data over long periods on local or cloud-based servers is also proving to be a highly useful feature for the users. This data can help keep strict control on possible outbreak areas and also enables the users to report infected individuals at the earliest. The whole idea behind controlling the COVID-19 outbreak is to “Test, Track and Treat”, and CVT platforms with their innovative use-cases are able to fasten the first two steps of the three Ts, i.e. “Test and Track”.
Data encryption and annotation helps to secure the information of the users and the people being monitored in a highly secured way. Not only does it allow a high degree of privacy but also assures the users of complete safety and security. CVT solutions are easy to install, use and secure on local and remote servers. This feature makes them highly attractive options for safety and administrative purposes.
Beyond these points states above, CVT can also play a big part in helping to usher in an automated future. Run-of-the-mill standard home assistance systems can also move towards integrating more CVT technological platforms for creating a shared ecosystem which can track and monitor all activities while helping in making the lives of the users much more comfortable. Smart use-case developments can be the future for this technology, and the most significant advantage of this solution is that it requires negligible investment in terms of hardware. All that is needed is a working CCTV camera system hosted on a central network console, and the software suite is good to go. Beyond the usual applications, CVT platforms also make the solutions highly customized and hence, people are finding them highly enumerative.
Towards the end, it is worth noting here that organisations and businesses are waking up to the new reality of the post-COVID world at a fast pace. Almost everyone now realise that there is no going back to the “Old Normal” way of living. The “New Normal” lifestyle dictates that people and communities come together and ensure that everyone is on guard at all times. Computer Vision Technology, Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning solutions are going to be the basis on which the future may well be built, and the transition may be faster than expected by most of us.
It is the need of the hour for technology managers and administrative experts to come together and try to cohabitate in this ecosystem by accepting these technologies at the earliest.
