Access control and surveillance

Abstract

In recent years, the growing threat of international terrorism and the increasing networking of organised crime have led to a worldwide boom in surveillance technology. In Great Britain alone, where video control has been pioneered since the eighties, more than one million security cameras are in use today in the private and public spheres. In London alone, several thousand cameras are deployed in underground stations, buses, football stadiums and other public places. In other countries, too, surveillance technology is making progress. Application areas are predominantly the monitoring of objects, i. e. buildings, public spaces, stations, public transport and stadiums, as well as traffic control. The increasing use of security cameras also poses new challenges for operators. Although the installation costs of the camera systems have become rather low by now, using them is labour-intensive. Due to the great number of existing cameras there is a flood of video data that can only be mastered with high labour costs. This is raising the question of how special software for automatic analysis of video content might automate surveillance to reduce work for the users.