The Olympics showcase athletes — or lunatics

By Andrew D. Smith
The Dallas Morning News

DALLAS — To keep the spotlight where it belongs this summer, security firms are blanketing Beijing with smart video systems. Computers will "watch" live video from hundreds of thousands of cameras and flag suspicious people and objects.

Such technology already protects monuments such as the Statue of Liberty and adds profit for manufacturers such as Texas Instruments Inc., which makes chips used in the systems. But the real benefits, for both security and earnings, will come over the next few years as smart video spreads from monuments to malls.

System makers realize that surveillance cameras raise privacy concerns. Still, they believe the technology offers so many advantages that people will ultimately embrace its use throughout public places where there's no expectation of privacy.

"These systems will reduce crime by several orders of magnitude," said Dr. Bruce Flinchbaugh, director of TI's Video & Image Processing Laboratory.

All security footage shows one of three things: no activity, trivial activity or security problems. The trick is teaching computers to distinguish among them.

Researchers started by adding motion detectors, which let computers weed out static images.

Web cams with motion detectors now power many top residential security systems. Movement inside your home sends a text message and live video to your phone. If something's amiss, you dial 911 and, with some systems, patch the police in on the video.

But researchers didn't stop with motion detectors. Smart video systems can now tell people and vehicles from everything else.

"That's huge because pretty much all security problems start with people or cars. If a stray cat crawls under the fence to the Olympic Village, that's OK. If a person does, that's an issue," said Marque Teegardin, vice president of sales for Nice Security, an Israeli firm that ranks among the world's largest smart video sellers.

The Beijing Municipal Public Security Bureau said last year that it expects to spend $300 million to $400 million on Olympic security. Of that, $30 million will go to video security, according to a study by the Security Industry Association.

But official Olympic spending is a tiny fraction of actual spending. The association estimates that China has spent $6.5 billion over the last seven years to build the Grand Beijing Safeguard Sphere, and most of that money has been spent on video.

Neither Olympic officials nor security companies will say much about what that money has purchased.

"Hikvison does not want to discuss its role in the Olympics at this moment, due to an agreement we have with the Beijing Olympic Committee," said Polo Cai, vice president of China's largest security technology company, Hangzhou Hikvision Digital Technology Co.

Still, it's easy to see how Hikvision's smart video systems, which use TI chips, will help the Chinese guard athletes and spectators.

Today's best systems can spot potential problems by analyzing how people move. The French government buys such technology from Nice to distinguish nocturnal sightseers from the 40 to 50 people who try to climb the Eiffel Tower each year.

"The way a tourist circles the base and gazes up at the tower is different than the way a would-be climber does. The tourist is relaxed. The climber is tense," said Mr. Teegardin, whose company works closely with TI. "We have taught the program what to look for."

Smart systems also let users "teach" computers what they should see where. Jewelry stores want them to spot missing objects. Airports and train stations want them to see unexpected additions, which could be lost bags or ticking bombs.

And that's not all security systems can learn.

Construction crews that store equipment in a different place every night can set their cameras to guard each new perimeter. Police who review tape can tell smart video systems to find certain events, such as a car pulling into a particular parking spot.

British police used this search feature last year to bust a gang of eight suspected terrorists in less than 72 hours after the discovery of two car bombs in London. Indeed, with more than 4 million cameras constantly churning out footage across Britain, police there would struggle to mine all that data without such a search feature.

Looking back at Olympics past, smart security systems could have prevented two attacks that killed 19 people, injured more than 100 others and set the world on edge. Half the police in Munich, Germany, could have reached the Olympic Village in the time it took eight terrorists to scale the surrounding fence in 1972. All of Olympic Centennial Park in Atlanta could have been evacuated long before the pipe bomb exploded in 1996.

As China completes its security preparations in Beijing, many big U.S. agencies continue to deploy smart video systems here.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security uses it to guard parts of the border. The Transportation Security Administration uses it to secure airports. Transportation authorities around New York use it to secure public transit.

New York's subway system will get an additional $212 million worth of smart cameras in the next few years.

Those and other big projects have kept smart video sales growing about 25 percent a year, analysts say. TI's security and surveillance business has grown even faster. Sales of digital signal processors in that unit jumped 63 percent over the last year.

Looking ahead, growth may accelerate as systems become more capable and costs plummet.

"The other key to increasing sales will be changing mindsets," said Ed Troha, director of global marketing at ObjectVideo, a smart video firm that makes software for TI and Intel chips.

"Local police departments have always investigated crime after the fact. The power of this technology is that it can help them stop crimes from happening or stop them as they are happening."

Some security vendors say a triumph at a high-profile showcase could spur interest in smart video -- a showcase such as the Olympics.

SEPARATING FACT FROM (SCIENCE) FICTION

Smart security systems require fast chips (largely from TI) and clever software. System smarts can reside in individual cameras, central hubs or both. Here's a look at what current systems can and can't do. Better cameras, which take better video, naturally produce better results.

Old hat

-- Distinguishing people and cars from other objects

-- Noticing intruders or escapees

-- Detecting the theft of large items

Mostly reliable

-- Identifying cars by license plate

-- Detecting abandoned baggage

-- Matching people who enter with those who leave

In the labs

-- Identifying drawn guns or knives

-- Identifying violent motion, like punching or stabbing

-- Detecting vandalism

Years away

-- Recognizing individuals in public places

-- Predicting crime before it occurs

-- Using in-camera lasers to zap bad guys

SOURCE: Dallas Morning News research

Copyright 2008 The Dallas Morning News