Australian scientists are developing a computer monitoring system capable of identifying an unattended suitcase at a crowded airport and determining what happened to the person who abandoned it.
The designers hope that this system will one day enable security forces to distinguish between a suspicious suitcase that has been left behind (with its owner having vacated the area) and a suitcase belonging to someone who is merely lingering in a café just two meters away.
Assistant Professor Massimo Piccardi from Sydney’s University of Technology and his colleagues will collaborate with the monitoring company iOmniscient to enhance the company’s surveillance system.
iOmniscient’s technology utilizes software with security cameras that can differentiate a static, unfamiliar object – such as a suitcase – appearing in a familiar setting. The monitoring system will alert security personnel to check whether the abandoned object was left intentionally or not.
This technology is currently used to monitor airports and various other buildings around the world, including Australia. However, Piccardi notes that its current prototype is not very effective at distinguishing genuinely suspicious static objects from ordinary ones. This often results in security personnel experiencing frequent false alarms.
Piccardi and his team plan to develop tracking technology that will allow the system to determine whether the owner of the object (or suitcase) has moved far from the area after leaving it behind.
“We will track them while they are walking and analyze their relationship with the object they are carrying,” he said. “The alarm will only sound if the object is left behind and the person carrying it leaves the area.”
Piccardi admits that this goal is “ambitious” because tracking someone with surveillance technology has long been a challenge, and it currently only works accurately in areas that are not crowded. In a densely populated space, if a person is obscured by others, cameras find it difficult to keep track of them.
However, Piccardi mentioned that his team has developed techniques to identify individuals who suddenly appear on camera, such as when they disappear and re-emerge behind someone else.
Piccardi also intends to compile a list of certain objects deemed to be safe, such as wheelchairs for disabled individuals and luggage carts at airports. “But if someone leaves a suitcase on a wheelchair, that suitcase can be just as dangerous as one left on the floor,” he stated. The monitoring system will utilize geometry, color, and contrast to verify whether the wheelchair is genuinely empty, and if there are any suspicions, the security system will be alerted.
T. An (according to ABConline)
