Jonas Andersson’s Thoughts on the Past and Future of Video Surveillance

Jonas Andersson was appointed senior Vice President for product planning and strategic marketing for the security solutions division of Samsung Techwin in January 2013. He had previously worked for Axis Communications for 18 years in a number of senior roles including Director of Video Product Management and Video Solutions and for the last five years, Business Development Director. He was also Chairman of the ONVIF (Open Network Video Interface Forum) Steering Committee from November 2008 until December 2012.

It seems hard to believe, but just ten years ago there were still large numbers of CCTV systems in operation around the world which were recording images captured by security cameras onto tape via VCRs. Multiplexers introduced during the 1990s had enhanced the effectiveness of analogue based CCTV systems by allowing images from more than one camera to be recorded at the same time, albeit on a time lapse basis, but it all seems so primitive now. With the arrival of the digital revolution came the introduction of DVRs which became the automatic choice for new installations. There were some initial concerns within the electronic security industry about the acceptability of digitally captured images as evidence in a court of law, but these concerns were quickly overcome and the cost saving and convenience of not having to buy and manage the replacement of tapes was however a major driver in the adoption of digital video recording.

Over the last decade customers have been spoilt for choice with countless manufacturers competing for their business, and a competitive environment has created a situation where we have constantly seen improvements in the features and functions of DVRs. New compression technologies, for example, have been being introduced to allow more effective use of onboard storage capacity and the transmission of video to remote monitoring locations.

Over the last ten years we have also seen dramatic improvements in the quality of the images captured by CCTV cameras and over the last two years in particular, with the price of High Definition cameras falling, they have become a cost-effective option for most CCTV projects.

To Go IP or Not Go IP? Is That Still the Question?
Surprisingly there are still people who question the inevitability that Video over IP should become the norm and there has of course been a lower uptake of the technology than was expected ten years ago at a time that it was being presented as the ‘next big thing'. I could dedicate the whole of this article as to the reasons why it has taken until now for IP network based solutions to be specified for the majority of projects, but perhaps this is not necessary as the good news is that there are clear signs that the majority of installers and system integrators are now embracing the technology which can deliver considerable advantages over conventional analogue based CCTV systems.
There is no doubt that ONVIF is playing a significant role ensuring that there is increasing interoperability between network video products, regardless of the manufacturer. This, combined with the availability of a wide choice of user-friendly video management software (VMS), will help accelerate the specification of Video over IP for projects of all sizes.

The Next 10 Years
Without wishing to give Samsung Techwin's competitors an insight as to our future product strategy, I will share with you some of my thoughts as to where the electronic industry may be heading over the next ten years.
One thing can be certain and that is the customer will remain ‘king', and in a tough economic climate which is likely to prevail for some time to come, ‘return on investment', ‘future proofing' and total cost of ownership' will be phrases which will constantly come up in discussions when new systems are being specified.

True integration and full interaction of cameras and recording devices manufactured by different companies as well as with non-security systems, will mean that video surveillance for many projects will just become a component, albeit an important one, of an Eco system or building management system.

Continued advances in DSP chipset design is likely to facilitate dramatic advances in the functionality of edge based video analytics. Face detection, which is at this time only available in a small number of cameras, will undoubtedly be surpassed by facial recognition software which will provide an extremely powerful tool to combat criminal activity and terrorist threats. We should also not lose sight of the fact that video surveillance cameras are increasingly being deployed for non-security applications. It will surely not be too long before the scene in the Minority Report movie, (where a customer is automatically recognised upon entering a shop and is greeted by a computer generated announcement informing him that some new clothes were now in stock which matched his previous purchase), does not seem so farfetched.

We are likely to see software developed that offers accurate behaviour analysis. This will open up so many new opportunities for users to gain maximum benefit from their investment in a video surveillance system. From a security point of view, behaviour analysis has the potential to provide predictive information about, for example, groups of people who may be loitering for longer than may be expected. The potential applications for its use in business environments such as retail, leisure and transportation, seem endless, whilst just imagine from a Health & Safety point of view if a system could be relied upon to create an alert if something happens out of the norm, such as a person falling over.
With the exception of high security, mission critical and/or city surveillance type applications, there may be less demand for the services provided by traditional remote monitoring control rooms during the next ten years. Higher speed and increased bandwidth capacity will make ‘Cloud' based monitoring services a viable and cost effective option, and we can perhaps anticipate that new compression technologies will be introduced which further minimises bandwidth requirements. For new projects, it is likely that users will begin to question why they should incur the cost of server based video recording when they can pay on a rental basis a Cloud based service provider to store and provide access as and when required, to recorded video.

The universal availability of Wi-Fi will make the possibility of ‘on the move' remote monitoring of live or recorded video a practical proposition for everyone. It may seem a little limiting to do so on the small screens of a smartphone or even via the current generation for tablets. Letting our imagination run loose however, we could perhaps envisage a situation where in the not too distant future, a loss prevention manager responsible for a number of retail stores could after receiving an alert, unfold to say A3 size or even larger, a thin screen which instantly connects to the Cloud allowing them within moments to view video of any incident. Depending on the layout of the store and the number of cameras installed, a pre-configured screen layout would with the help of 3D mapping, allow the loss prevention manager to make a fast and effective decision on what action to take, and it could be done from the comfort of their car or a service station coffee bar. With the exception of the unfolding screen, all the other technology is already potentially available and with glass technology advancing at a rapid rate, the above scenario will certainly be possible within the next 10 years.