The 5 Trends Changing the Face of CCTV

The security landscape is constantly evolving with rapidly developing technologies. See how CCTV's role in the industry has been impacted through these five major trends.

Facial Recognition

Predicted to reach a value of $9.6 billion (US) by 2022, the facial recognition market has seen rapid growth in recent years. Becoming increasingly common in our daily lives, facial recognition is being used for everything from unlocking smartphones and opening doors, through to streamlining passport queues, diagnosing patients with autism and helping retailers predict customer behaviour in their stores. In Australia we will soon be seeing the technology on the streets of Perth, as part of its $ 1 million smart cities trial and its already been used in Melbourne to combat exam fraud in universities and to exclude problem gamblers from casinos.

AI and Deep Learning

The role of CCTV has evolved from recording evidence and being used in a reactive way, to offering a whole array of powerful features. Artificial intelligence and machine learning are providing solutions such as automated event detection, behavioural analysis, object detection, classification and indexing. Deep learning has brought a never before seen level of accuracy that widely extends the possibilities of video analytics. Indeed, it almost raises the question of whether the power of today’s video analytics could eventually obviate the need for human intervention entirely. That said, what we have been seeing so far, is the technology aiding the user’s comprehension of scenes and to identify critical risk rapidly. If the machines will replace us eventually, it is definitely still a long way off.

Home Automation and CCTV

The advent of smart home technology has brought increasingly affordable CCTV and access control solutions into people’s homes. Many of these products offer video analytics using facial recognition, intelligent event detection features to provide both enhanced home security and convenience. Artificial intelligence, integrated intercoms, CCTV cameras, alarms, automated gates, doors and locks, and smart sensors are combining to deliver sophisticated home security solutions to homeowners. For instance, systems can be configured to recognise people and pets who live on a property, expected visitors or parcel deliveries, whilst also detecting intruders and sending instant alerts. With almost 110 million smart devices and 66 million smart speakers sold in 2018, this sector is surely only going to see more growth.

Cloud vs Edge Computing

Almost 9 out of 10 organisations are expected to be using cloud services by 2021, and the cloud marketplace slated to reach US $260.2 billion by 2020 according to Gartner. However, with an increasing number of IoT devices demanding real-time, failsafe and secure operating environments, the intelligent edge is starting to dominate. Processing data at the ‘edge’ of the network, close to where it is collected, such as by a video camera or access control device, brings down bandwidth and storage requirements considerably. The launch of 5g is will allow Telcos to embed networking across the entire processing chain, anticipating the fusion of cloud and edge by enabling real-time intelligence closer to the point of data generation. For this to succeed, architecture and software will need to factor in wireless connectively, something that cannot always be guaranteed in the real world.

Cybersecurity

Cybersecurity and data privacy have continued to dominate the news this year. In Australia, we have already seen that Medicare details have been sold on the darknet 2 years after the original breach, and the Australian National University revealed a data hack going back 19 years, which has potentially affected up to 200,000 people! Just recently, the new PayID system, which allows instant transfers between banks, was targeted in an attack that left the PayIDs of almost 100,000 Australians exposed. As the number of connected devices and smart systems continues to proliferate, we cannot let our guard down. Cybersecurity looks set will remain one of the biggest challenges of our technological age.

---

For more innovations, register free for Security 2019, on from 24-26 July at the ICC Sydney.