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CCTV’s past, present and future: How OSA remains at the forefront in CCTV technology

CCTV is something we’re all used to. Many streets, venues, stores and even homes are fitted with CCTV and it’s an accepted, as well as expected, piece of technology.

However, our modern CCTV systems were not always so advanced. Let’s take a look at the evolution of CCTV from the past, where it is today and what it could look like in the near future.

OSA-The-beginning-of-CCTV-journey

The beginning of CCTV’s journey

The earliest use of CCTV technology began in Germany in 1942. Designed by an engineer named Walter Bruch, it was used for the monitoring of V-2 rockets.

However, it wasn’t until 1949 that the technology was used on a commercial basis. During that year, an American government contractor named Vericon began promoting the technology.

But it wasn’t the system that we know it today. It could only be used for live monitoring and had no components that allowed users to record footage…

OSA-Videocassette-recordings

Videocassette recordings

But in the 1970s, videocassette recordings (VCRs) became widely available and was quickly incorporated into surveillance systems, offering a breakthrough in the use of cameras.

It was the first time that CCTV systems could be set up without monitoring the screens live. It allowed users to review the data recorded at any given time and this contributed to the popularity of CCTV systems among businesses including banks and retail stores to discourage robbery and theft.

However, despite the innovations that it held at the time, tapes weren’t always convenient. The tapes needed to be changed on a regular basis or rewritten. This meant that if users wanted to store information, they had to keep libraries of tapes.

The birth of the multiplexer

The birth of the multiplexer

But in the 1990s, multiplexing became available and it allowed video signals from a number of CCTV cameras to be combined and displayed in one monitor.

If a company had four security cameras, each of the video’s signals was synchronised by the multiplexer and recorded on the same tape.

Despite the maintenance of tapes, multiplexing made CCTV solutions efficient and still helped to increase their popularity.

OSA-DVRs-and-IP-cameras-paving-the-way

DVRs and IP cameras paving the way

Then the digital movement stepped into the room. Digital video recorders replaced videocassette tapes, making CCTV systems more user-friendly. Multiplexers were built into DVRs, meaning they became easier to install and operate.

Since then, it’s paved the way for modern CCTV systems. Later, Internet Protocol Cameras or IP cameras were also invented, allowing businesses and homeowners to view camera output through any available Internet connection using the computer or a smartphone.

Nowadays, we are used to the presence of CCTV cameras and monitoring our surroundings. Now, new technology is being implemented to take CCTV systems to the next level. And facial recognition cameras are at the forefront of CCTV’s evolution.

OSA-The-era-of-facial-recognition

The era of facial recognition

Facial detection technology developed quickly in the 2000s. Facial detection is a massive improvement from the cameras and systems that had previously filled the market. Now, business owners can identify and register names with faces, be alerted when a particular face comes into view, and the image is clearer than ever.

OSA has partnered with Luxriot, an innovative video management software vendor that creates scalable security and video surveillance software.

System Engineer Cameron Stewart shares his insight into Luxriot and how it’s paving the way for future CCTV technology.

“Luxriot EVO Global Edition is enterprise-grade software that is feature-rich in every regard to a traditional video management system. So, from that point of view, it’s a very, very capable system in the traditional sense. It has the ability for things to plug into it very easily using open APIs. This is one of the future components of current technology; lots of software are starting to open up so that you can slide things into them easily.

Luxriot has smartly taken advantage of an easy plugin. They’ve been able to write standalone facial recognition algorithms and license plate recognition algorithms without having to invest a lot of time in plugging them into the core. Getting them plugged back into the core of the video system is trivial, so they can invest a lot more time in actually making facial recognition and license plate recognition as accurate as possible.”

OSA-Luxriot-facial-and-licence-plate-recognition-system

Luxriot’s facial and licence plate recognition system

The leading-edge technology in Luxriot facial recognition assures optimal system performance and reliability with real-time face detection. This biometric face recognition application is ideally suited for human resource control applications, as well as for security and enforcement applications.

Luxriot licence plate recognition also accommodates customers with the specific need to automatically detect, recognise and register motor vehicle licence plates.

It is ideally suited for vehicle access and traffic control, as well as enforcement applications, and it offers multiple customisation possibilities for specific licence plates.

With a clear focus on open access software development, Luxriot has quickly grown to be a dominant presence in the global video management services market.

OSA_Future-capabilities-of-CCTV

Future capabilities of CCTV

But while Luxriot has the ability to complete facial and license plate recognition, Luxriot’s video management software implies a much bigger capacity for future technology.

“It’s a facial recognition system with liveness detection. It’s looking for movement of some kind; it’s looking for a blink, it’s looking for a twitch of the mouth, anything that indicates that it’s not a picture of a person. That’s the very start of behavioural analysis, as we call it,” says Cameron.

“So the future roadmap of this software is looking at a smile, but what is in the mouth movement? Is it happy, angry or sad? Then it can start analysing the shoulders. You work your way down the body, align the shoulders and you can see the stance of a person. Then you’re looking for things like limbs that are too far removed from the body.

These are all things that technology will keep creating. It’ll start with the face and it’ll just move down to the rest of the body to analyse further, and then keep adding on to that recognition.”

OSA-partnership-with-Luxriot

As technology continues to evolve and adapt, OSA is at the forefront thanks to our strong partnership with Luxriot. Soon, companies like Luxriot will develop video management software that can analyse a person’s behaviour and send the data to relevant authorities.

“All it has to do is be able to output messages like ‘anger detected’ or ‘face detected’ or ‘smile detected’, and then it just sends those messages to the core system and the core system can then do anything it wants with them and act autonomously.

So the core system can be programmed for no human intervention at all; it can be programmed to say, “If you get a message that says ‘anger is detected’, do this set of actions,” and that can be anything imaginable. It could send messages to people, it could ring the police— it’s almost unlimited to your imagination about what you could program the core to do on an action being received.”

OSA-Object-recognition-the-new-intelligence

Object recognition - the new intelligence

CCTV technology has also evolved into object recognition, allowing CCTV cameras to analyse objects to further understand and assess a variety of situations without needing constant human supervision.

“Facial recognition is the first phase of object recognition. We will see more widespread analysis of everyday objects. For example, the system can tell you that that is a car, and the car is driving down an area where cars are not allowed. It should be able to see an object; it should know that that is a suitcase, and it should know that that is a coffee cup. It shouldn’t stop at being able to see faces, it should be able to analyse and recognise any object in the entire world.

With neural networks, CCTV technology will train systems to be able to see absolutely anything and know what that is in real time.”

With facial recognition only scratching the surface of CCTV’s future capability, the possibilities are endless. Beyond object recognition, CCTV cameras can adapt temperature sensors, magnetic sensors, or even chemical sensors.

OSA-strong-partnership-with-Luxriot

OSA’s strong partnership with Luxriot

As information is converted into system intelligence, OSA will continue to be at the forefront of the world’s leading technology.

With OSA’s strong partnership with Luxriot, we have the ability to not only provide world-class video management systems to our customers, but we can tailor a video management system to suit specific scenarios or problems that the customer is facing.

“At OSA, we communicate with our customers to find out what their problem is and how they want to solve it. We can put the relevant technology in there because the core is that flexible. You just tell it, “They want to solve this problem and this is why,” and the core will just link the two together and make it happen.

We have a strong relationship with Luxriot. We are alpha testing their software to make sure it meets the strained conditions. We see no signs of that ending any time soon. We’re also in constant communications at Luxriot on other products we see on the market that should be able to plug into the core of Luxriot quite well.

OSA- supplying-CCTV-IP-camera-equipment-and-services

We’re always thinking of our customer’s desires and other products we find in the market that could complement theirs. It’s about enhancing the data that goes into the Luxriot core, getting more and more high-quality data in there for better decision making about what actions we want to take.”

OSA is Australia’s No. 1 independently owned designer and distributor of world class network solutions and we have been supplying CCTV IP camera equipment and services for just over 10 years.

Our extensive range of world-class CCTV IP camera equipment includes new generation CCTV management systems, network video recorders, video analytics and network cabling.

OSA delivers end-to-end IP CCTV network solutions, including the integration and remodelling of existing CCTV systems.

Our IP networks allow access to footage remotely via a variety of devices. Our entire CCTV range, including mounting and accessories, is held in stock at our Australia-wide network of fully-stocked warehouses.

Contact us to find out more.

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