Embedded Analytics Reveal the True Power of Today's IP Cameras
Embedded analytics are revealing the true power of today’s IP cameras, offering much-needed solutions for targeted applications such as utilities, correctional facilities, remote operations, and more.
How powerful are today’s Internet protocol (IP) cameras? They are literally “a computer with a lens — with the ability to do much more than just send video images,” describes Steve Carney, director, product management, Video, Tyco Security Products, Westford, Mass. Because IP cameras have improved digital signal processing (DSP) and better compression, this is enabling some analytics to be placed right on the camera, or embedded. Also, while analytics have historically required a significant amount of processing power and were a server-based application, the algorithms keep getting more efficient, requiring less processing power, says Kim Loy, vice president of global marketing and chief product officer,” DVTEL Inc., Ridgefield Park, N.J. “As a result, analytics can be DSP or chip-based and placed on the camera or other edge device, allowing the video content analysis to be applied at the edge,” she explains.
Analytics have actually been running at the edge — for example, inside the IP camera or video encoder — for more than a decade with embedded motion detection, but advances in camera/encoder chip technology and software development have led to a range of more powerful edge applications, says Robert Muehlbauer, business development programs manager and manager of the Application Development Partner Program for North America, Axis Communications, Chelmsford, Mass.