Be first to read the latest tech news, Industry Leader's Insights, and CIO interviews of medium and large enterprises exclusively from Applied Technology Review
How Video Surveillance Systems will Evolve in the Future?
Since the invention of the surveillance system in 1942, video surveillance technology has evolved continuously.
By
Applied Technology Review | Thursday, February 02, 2023
Stay ahead of the industry with exclusive feature stories on
the top companies, expert insights and the latest news delivered straight to your
inbox. Subscribe today.
Video Surveillance Systems have various advantages, such as reducing theft, vandalism, and loss, facilitating storage and accessibility improvements, and scaling and reducing costs.
FREMONT, CA: Since the invention of the surveillance system in 1942, video surveillance technology has evolved continuously. In the last eighty years, advancements in surveillance cameras have been largely focused on improving image quality and enhancing hardware capabilities. Over that period, cameras have evolved from static box cameras that capture grainy images to dynamic cameras that can move (such as multi-sensor and pan-tilt-zoom cameras) and capture high-definition video. Camera evolution is currently characterized by the widespread adoption of network video systems over wired analog systems, providing better options for both camera networking and video archiving.
Video surveillance systems, however, are undergoing a less tangible technological revolution. Video technology's future lies largely in landscape-altering innovations in software, camera quality, and storage options rather than improving hardware and physical connections and abilities. Business owners stand to reap the rewards of these innovations.
Camera quality: 4k cameras are currently the "it" cameras for surveillance arrays, providing crisp, vivid feeds that far exceed those provided by 720p and 1080p cameras. As a result of the dense amount of pixels it packs into its image, a 4k camera avoids the choppy, blocky, pixelated look of a zoomed-in lower-resolution camera. Moreover, 4k cameras can capture these high-quality images at a baseline of 30 frames per second, creating smooth, fluid movement over strobe-like footage recorded at lower frame rates.
Although 4K has been around for a few years now, the technology is becoming cheaper to produce, making the cameras more accessible to businesses. In comparison to the substantial price tags found when the technology first became available, entry-level 4K display monitors can now be found for around $500. Despite 720p and 1080p cameras being common on many surveillance systems, 4K is quickly becoming the standard by which all surveillance cameras are judged and is often installed by EPS technicians and engineers.
Cloud storage: In most video systems, the footage is stored on a video recorder with dedicated memory. For businesses with extensive surveillance needs, the larger the system, the more memory is needed to store footage. In the past, cloud storage has not been a viable option for camera storage because of the bandwidth requirements and the cost of purchasing high-powered recorders. In addition, many internet service providers do not provide the necessary internet speeds for efficient uploading and downloading from the cloud. There is, however, a change in tide, and cloud storage technology is slowly improving. As internet speeds continue to improve across the board and options for unlimited cloud storage become both technologically feasible and cost-effective, surveillance systems could see a substantial shift in cloud-based video storage, although it will take several years for this to happen.
Facial recognition: Facial recognition software is now being used in everything from law enforcement to unlocking smartphones, which seemed like science fiction only a decade ago. Even though facial recognition software is still in its infancy, the possibilities for integrating it into commercial surveillance systems are endless. Using facial recognition in surveillance systems would obviously have security implications since "smart" surveillance software could refer to a database and identify criminals as they are captured on camera. A more mercantile approach could use facial recognition to discern demographic information (age, sex, even previous purchases) to enhance the customer experience and tailor sales accordingly.