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Compucon CPD Seminar
12 March 2014 Wednesday
Compucon House Albany
4:00 – 4:15pm Outside the Square: Pick a stone in Space
4:15 – 5:00pm Review of IPVS, Video Analytics and Computer Vision
5:00 – 5:30pm What has happened in 2013 and what is new in 2014?
5:30 – 6:00pm Why should Compucon Peers do IPVS at all?
6:00 - 7:30pm Wine and Cheese
This seminar is open to business end-users but we expect it to be equally valuable to Compucon business peers.
Free of charge. Registration essential.
CCTV for closed circuit television is a well understood term but IPVS for Internet Protocol Video Surveillance is not. A Google search on IPVS may produce mixed or confusing answers as the term was not universally or uniquely defined. IP sounds modern and Video Surveillance is really the essence as it is what customers want to have. To be blunt, there is nothing special about cameras that are seen to be the focus point of any CCTV or IPVS system. A high resolution camera is almost a standard feature of a smart phone, tablet, or laptop. As products become mature and commoditised, improvements in video surveillance come from how we put everything together to serve the specific requirements of customers.
Video Analytics means analysing images captured by cameras in either real time or afterwards for useful information. Motion detection is a simple real time application of video analytics. Raising an alert when a person was caught falling down is another example. Computer Vision is a more generic term and it encompasses IPVS, Video Analytics, and control actions. Airplanes are capable of landing on an airport runway without a human pilot whether we trust it or not. It is Computer Vision in action. Human depends on eyes and light to see, but computer can do better without cameras and light. Computer vision is therefore very powerful. For example, the ultra-powerful telescope called SKA to be built in 2019 will help us find ET, dark matter, dark energy, and a lot of things beyond human vision.
It is nice to hear about big visions and big stories. However, we will stay on the ground and review what has happened in 2013 that is of relevance to us in a daily practical sense. Compucon has implemented 2 new IPVS projects in 2013, and provided regular system health monitoring service to 2 sites- one built in 2008 and one built in 2013. We have practically tested more than 10 software applications for detecting human falls, traffic counts, objects disappearing (such as in museum) or appearing (such as a time bomb on the street). We have touched base with our camera technology provider and obtained updates of their improved product features. We plan to provide a summary of the above, and perhaps our experience of remote system health monitoring is the most impressive of all.
Why should Compucon peers be involved in IPVS as an IT operation? Compucon is a computing technology company, and the link with computer vision is not unusual. Compucon is a New Zealand member of the design team for the biggest instrument in the world. Compucon has also done video surveillance systems in the country. Compucon has been mentoring university students in computer vision among other technologies since 2000. The common factor is computing technology. Compucon has been supported by a peer group of consultants and service providers over the last 22 years, and this is part of the equation. We will explain the lot in the seminar.
Pop in a coin, take control of an arm, and pick a toy of your favourite in the glass box. Chances were 9.5 failures out of 10 attempts. Many of us would have done that when we were not-too-small kids. This type of fortune trying vending machines is still seen today in entertainment centres. The idea has now been deployed to picking a stone in Space. It is not one dollar a pop. Fly an aircraft to space, align the flight path with an asteroid, capture the asteroid in a bag, and bring it back. This is a genuine story to be told in this seminar.
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