Vertical Solutions

What happens in Balkan Bet Casino, stays in Balkan Bet Casino A UNV LED Project

January 13, 2022

Balkan Bet , one of Serbia ‘ s largest casino chains , was founded in 2000 and took its name from the location of the first open payment point in the Balkan Hotel. Nowadays, Balkan Bet owns more than 120 branches throughout Serbia.

As part of its core business, the company has its own production and offers good odds for sporting betting. In addition, more than 350 standard games for football matches and more than 400 special games for other sports are on offer at any given time.

In addition to betting, Balkan Bet also has slot machines; there are also bars in the pleasant ambience of the restaurant offering a wide range of drinks at affordable prices.

Balkan Bet decided to upgrade the current display equipment to a more advanced LED solution indoors and outdoors starting off with one pilot store. For the indoor LED screen, apart from the normal LED screen with 2 square meters, Balkan Bet also required a cuboid structure with seamless connection between four rectangle screens, around 5 square meters in total. For the outdoor LED screen, waterproof and higher brightness is a must. Thus UNV adopts IP65 Module Ingress protection and higher brightness to guarantee it steady and adaptive in outdoor environment. What’s more, customer also asked for a very high quality product as well as easy maintenance due to the installation environment.

Uniview and its distributor recommend Indoor fine pixel LED MW7225-M, cost effective module from XM series and outdoor routine pixel LED MW7504 in KS series.
Indoor cost-effective fine pixel pure module LED solution, MW7225-M, adopts precision manufacturing materials like top brand LED bulbs, power supply & control system and passes 680 strict tests during LED production with extensive certifications to ensure stability and reliability.

Thanks to the non –cabinet design, the module LED solution can be installed directly on the wall with steel frame for ultra-thin application and acquire better heat dissipation. Meanwhile, the compact and standard module size guarantees flexible splicing. Since the module unit size is smaller, the splicing can be flexible enough to realize the 90 ° included angle splicing.

Real seamless splicing and perfect display effect provides customer Immersive visual experience. To better protect eyes of viewers, UNV LED is equipped with eye protection technology, image enhancement and low brightness with high gray scale.

Besides, complete front maintenance mode and hot plug highly improve maintenance efficiency and make installation more convenient.
In Balkan Bet four side LED wall project, two image receiver sending boxes are used to realize display two different image on both side of the four side wall, fully meet the requirement of partner.

In Summary, as a pioneer and leading global manufacturer of IP video surveillance, UNV also aims to be Global Professional Display Product and Solution provider.
More information please visit www.uniview.com. If you have any business query, please contact huangluyu@uniview.com.

Security 50: Top technology trends of 2021 (and 2020)

December 21, 2021

By: William Pao

Technology-wise, many flourished this year. Yet none received the kind of interest, enthusiasm and inquiries than cloud, whose momentum is set to continue in the near term. But is it really the cure-all solution that addresses users’ ongoing security challenges? Is it the perfect technology that makes users’ problems go away? This note discusses cloud and other prevalent technologies of 2021.

Cloud in security, in the forms of video surveillance-as-a-service or access control-as-a-service, is picking up steam. According to MarketsandMarkets, the VSaaS market is expected to grow from US$2.2 billion in 2020 to $4.7 billion by 2025, at a CAGR of 16 percent.

Indeed, a lot of users migrated to cloud due to its various benefits. “The platform-centric VSaaS model reduces user costs, simplifies application management, and makes the infrastructure more flexible and extensible. It is not only suitable for centralized video surveillance, but also for centralized equipment operation and maintenance management and centralized alarm processing,” said Pan Lingyu, VSaaS Product Director of Dahua Technology.

“VSaaS truly allows for end users of all industries and operational sizes to have an advanced surveillance solution that can both meet their security needs and is easy to maintain in the long-term, and which can prove to be the most cost-efficient throughout the system lifecycle. The partnership and service model that VSaaS enables for end users, manufacturers, and integrators also creates much more lasting relationships and retention rates, while also ensuring that customers can access the best features and functions that fit their operation and knowing that a trusted partner is there to support them if any issues or concerns arise,” said Danielle VanZandt, Industry Analyst for Security at Frost and Sullivan.

Further, cloud adoption has been accelerated during the pandemic. “Cloud migration for data analysis and forensics has been pushed faster than I originally expected. The pandemic pushed companies to start looking at occupancy rates in buildings, seating arrangements and many other health related topics. Cloud in general has allowed for faster development of those products and faster distribution and access to those as well,” said Jason Glover, VP of Sales at BCD.

“VSaaS is not a new concept and has been a trend in the security industry for many years. But recently it has become much more popular since the online operations requirement have grown because of the pandemic. Meanwhile, the development of mobile Internet, IoT and 5G technologies also accelerates applications of VSaaS,” said Keen Yao, VP of Hikvision. “The cloud-based VSaaS applications enable users to view real-time security events through app and to accomplish remote inspection tasks. This brings vast benefits in efficiency, flexibility, cost-effectiveness, and security. From small business markets to enterprise level, we can see the strengthened trend that more and more businesses are leveraging the VSaaS applications.”

Cloud stands out, but is it the panacea to all your security challenges?

Yet this is not to say cloud is the perfect solution that addresses all user needs. In fact, a recent asmag.com “Technologies that Impact Security” survey finds VSaaS ranked only slightly above the average level for suitability and maturity.

“The cloud offerings of established major video surveillance vendors generally form a small part of their businesses. Cloud-specialist offerings from newer vendors are really only just starting to challenge the scale of many of the incumbent vendors. Presently we believe many cloud video surveillance offerings have not yet matured,” said Josh Woodhouse, Lead Analyst and Founder of Novaira Insights, and Jon Cropley, Principal Analyst at Novaira Insights. “Cloud remains a high growth area, but from a small base.

Indeed, there are certain challenges to cloud adoption. Storage in cloud for an extensive period of time, per certain industry requirements, can be quite expensive, not to mention some industries don’t even allow remote storage. There are also privacy and cybersecurity concerns, as well as other issues.

“Cybersecurity concerns that cast doubt over cloud-based video were also compounded when hackers exploited a remote backdoor exposing 150,000 Verkada cameras in the spring of 2021,” said Joon Jun, President of IDIS Global Business Division. “There are practical challenges to overcome, too, since most VSaaS vendors offer only a small range of 2MP cameras that won’t be fit for purpose for a range of applications. For instance, a 2MP fisheye or panoramic camera is not going to give security managers the performance they need to reliably detect, investigate and prosecute crime. A lack of specialist cameras, as well as more popular ‘work-horse’ models such as 5MP and 8MP PTZs, will limit deployments to indoor settings that don’t require wide-area coverage.”

As a result, hybrid solutions have become the preferred choice for many users. “Hybrid solutions make the best use of cloud, on-premise and edge computing environments in relation to the customer need. There are many factors that will influencer a customer’s decision, both internal and external. The specific nature and functionality needed from the security solution, policies and regulation relating to data processing and protection, cybersecurity, resources for system use, management and maintenance, and many more considerations will influence the most appropriate mix of environments. Ultimately, we believe that most surveillance solutions will be based on a hybrid model,” said Ray Mauritsson, CEO, Axis Communications.

“At this point, most of the access control ecosystem does rely on some form of hybrid cloud solution. For instance, device provisioning requires the cloud as does firmware distribution. Control and access management are usually implemented partially local on-premises and partially in the cloud. Low latency and high reliability are paramount, but remote monitoring, control and analytics are also increasingly important. Our platforms are open to support these and other use cases,” said Vince Wenos, SVP and CTO of Allegion.

And this hybrid cloud model is expected to remain popular in the near future. “Cloud is here to stay. I think some of the laws and rules/regulations need to catch up to cloud. There are some areas in the world that won’t allow video surveillance data to be moved to the cloud for example; that does not stop the management of those systems from being cloud-based. I really believe that on-prem management of the directories, users, etc. will all move to the cloud and the on-prem storage will remain intact for the time being,” Glover said.

Other top technology trends

Besides cloud, other technologies also dominated the security scene in 2021. And they are set to influence security in the near term. We discuss these technologies below.

AI in video surveillance

Ranking high, in terms of both maturity and suitability, on the asmag.com survey is AI, which continues to receive inquiries from customers and whose growth is set to continue.

“Interest in AI video has ramped up considerably since 2019. With many facilities shut or partially open security managers had more time to assess AI and deep-learning based software. Early adoption was hampered by premature launches, with some vendors over promising. But today algorithms have significantly improved,” Jun said. “For instance, when we first launched our AI solution we were achieving 96-97 percent accuracy, but today the latest iteration of IDIS Deep Learning Analytics is delivering 98 percent precision. By the start of 2021, our systems integrators and end-users were expressing confidence that AI would not only improve security operations but have the ability to deliver value to wider stakeholders.

“The demand for AI has exploded in recent years, which is expected to continue in 2022. By embedding AI into end, edge and cloud scenes, more and more AI-based devices will be widely applied in related fields and various industries. With the evolution of AI technology, AI-based analytics will gradually be applied to low-end products, and user experience will be significantly improved,” said Yin Jun, VP of R&D Center at Dahua Technology.

“AI – or more accurately deep learning – is definitely an area where we see growth and innovation, and where there is significant customer demand. The benefits of deep learning will not only enhance the capabilities of surveillance solutions designed for safety and security, but open up new use cases in operational efficiency and effectiveness,” Mauritsson said.

And more and more, AI will be moving to the edge, driven by more capable camera SoCs that support complex algorithms. “Increasingly powerful edge computing has become available for security cameras now, and this makes us believe edge computing stands a good chance of ‘putting AI everywhere,’” Yao said. “Automatic number plate recognition, automated event alert, people counting, heat mapping, illegal parking detection, and hard hat detection, as well as a number of other AI applications, are becoming popular in the security market. With increased edge computing and optimized AI algorithms, it will become normal to see security cameras shoulder more intelligent tasks in the near future.”

“The latest generation of chipsets which will become more widely available in the market in 2022 allow for greater edge processing. Some vendors have already integrated these chipsets into their latest camera lines. Other vendors will soon follow suit. There continues to be development in ecosystems which allow for a range of AI-based applications to be installed on cameras. This is not a new concept. Yet, the improvement in analytics performance combined with higher processing capability of the latest chipsets, now make this concept more attractive to integrators and end-users,” Woodhouse and Cropley said.

Touchless technologies

Touchless solutions are still in high demand as impacts of the pandemic are still felt in various sectors. “Increased biometrics integration and touchless technologies remained very popular throughout 2021 as many end users began to figure out their return-to-work strategies and how to restart more normalized operations in the pandemic era,” VanZandt said. “Changing customer sentiments away from shared touch points, as well as a rise in more remote security operations and management solutions also created new operational models for internal security teams via integrated remote and on-site operations.”

Cybersecurity

Cybersecurity and related solutions also took the center stage. “With the intensification of attacks from ransomware and killware, the entire industry will need to increase its efforts to protect systems, devices and customers. While cloud and network security technologies are advancing and being rapidly deployed, the technologies for device-level security will not be far behind as we head into 2022 and beyond. Embedded hardware authentication, and the technologies needed to provide it, will become much more prevalent in the next few years,” Wenos said.

“There will also be an increasing focus on data security and data protection. Cyberattacks are on the rise and the damage is now enormous. Here, I see MOBOTIX as a pioneer in the industry. Cybersecurity ‘Made in Germany’ is part of the MOBOTIX DNA. We only install high-performance and high-quality electronic components. This principle is consistent right through to the digital world,” said Thomas Lausten, CEO of MOBOTIX. “Cybersecurity enjoys the highest priority at MOBOTIX and is lived and implemented throughout the MOBOTIX Cactus Concept. Data security with regard to the German Data Protection Act (DSGVO) is also elementary for MOBOTIX.”

Digitization and integration

Technologies which augment video surveillance to provide value beyond security are important. “Video analytics are the typical example; yet, specialist IoT hardware have a role to play in the market. For example, environmental sensors integrated into the surveillance system can add new types of data streams to lead to new applications and value creation,” Woodhouse and Cropley said.

This integration trend is also being driven by the pandemic which has forced users to cut down labor-intensive processes and digitize workflows, a trend that is continuing. “It’s hardly surprising that there’s demand across the world to integrate video with a wider range of third-party systems – including intruder and fire detection, frictionless and touchless access control and visitor management, popular databases such as Microsoft Active Directory, and sector specific systems such as Point-of-Sale (POS) in retail and logistics and manufacturing operations software,” Jun said.

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Hikvision announces its Webcam debut

June 8, 2021

June 1st, 2021 – Hikvision, an IoT solution provider with video as its core competence, today announced the launch of its brand-new webcam products to the global market. The product family currently comprises four different series – Ultra, Pro, Live, and Value – designed for various scenarios and user groups, and with bespoke feature sets.

According to industry analyst firms, the global live streaming market is expected to continue growing significantly the coming years. The increase in video streaming among citizens and businesses in all verticals is reported as the main driver for market growth, with content creators diversifying their material and activities, and connecting with audiences in new ways. In addition, complete and partial lockdowns during the COVID-19 crisis also positively impacted the live streaming industry.

To provide immersive video conferencing and streaming experiences, users need webcams that deliver high-resolution imaging and excellent-quality sound in a range of scenarios. Hikvision has designed and developed its new webcam range to meet this need.

Webcams for a range of applications and scenarios

Hikvision Ultra and Pro webcams for remote conferencing
The Hikvision Ultra series of webcams are specifically designed for remote conferencing. The highlight of this series is its PTZ control capability, which offers 5x optical zoom capabilities. This means that users can see meeting presentations or discussions without straining their eyes. Additionally, PTZ control allows users to pan across 330°, helping them adjust their viewing angle easily, without missing a thing.

Hikvision Live webcams for live streaming
The cube-shaped Hikvision Live series of webcams is designed for live streaming, eCommerce, and gaming applications. If a product is being presented in a live program, for example, the webcam view can be changed – both horizontally and vertically – thanks to magnetic mountings on all four sides of the casing.

These webcams also offer Sharp Auto Focus, which ensures that images of people and objects are sharp and clear at all times. Importantly, the webcams’ ‘touchable supplemental LED light’ feature enables users to adjust brightness in accordance with the surrounding environment.

Hikvision Value webcams for online education
The Hikvision Value series is our range of entry level webcams. These have a compact design, making them perfect for online education applications that connect school teachers and students.
The webcam comes with a built-in microphone, which incorporates advanced algorithms to reduce noise and improve sound quality. Its wide-angle lens provides maximum coverage, with no image distortion. This is particularly useful for teachers giving lessons in a classroom, where both the teacher and the blackboard, or wall-mounted screen, can be viewed clearly in a single frame.

Easy and flexible installation
All Hikvision webcams are driver-free, offering ‘plug-and-play’ installation via a standard USB interface. This allows users to begin conferencing or streaming in seconds.

All Hikvision webcams can also be flexibly mounted on users’ equipment, on tables, laptops, monitors, or tripods.

Importantly, Hikvision webcams are equipped with a dedicated PC-based client software, called HIKIN. Users can use this software for video previews, and to configure image and sound parameters. Notably, the webcams can be used with all the leading third-party conferencing platforms with video parameter configured using a simple drop-down menu.

Contact Hikvision for more details
All Hikvision webcams are delivered with a standard 2-year warranty, giving end users reliability and peace of mind.

To find out more about Hikvision webcams, and how they can meet your specific application needs, visit our product page, or contact us today!

Checkpoint launches industry first, design focused NEO in-lane EAS system

May 11, 2021

Checkpoint Systems – a global leader in retail technology solutions – has today unveiled a radical new sensor addition to their NEO portfolio. The NS40 provides grocery retailers with a discreet but powerful in-lane loss prevention solution. Designed to be installed at the checkout, the NEO-based NS40 antenna features an ultra-slim design, with patented 360 circular array technology along with the benefits of Bluetooth connectivity for easy deployment, with no floor cutting.

Developed to be unobtrusive and effortlessly fit within grocery stores, the NS40 can be tailored for any checkout configuration and thanks to its innovative design, can be mounted against metal without any adverse impact on detection rates.

Secure Bluetooth connectivity provides ease of installation as no floor cutting is required between checkout desks. It also gives retailers the ability to easily reposition and remodel the checkout space, when required, without expensive re-cabling or disruption to services.

The NS40 delivers excellent, high-performance detection, through the use of 360° circular array technology. Located at the end of the checkout, after products are scanned and security labels deactivated, it effectively recognises non-deactivated tags and those being concealed.

With customisable LED light and sound files, the sensor enables alerts to be dealt with efficiently by the checkout operator. This ‘early’ loss prevention alarm helps tackle incidents of non-deactivation promptly, reducing embarrassment for customers and for shoplifting attempts, aids the retailer in the successful recovery of goods before they reach the exit doors.

Available in a brushed steel finish as standard, the NS40 can be painted, powder-coated or vinyl wrapped to match a store’s visual identity. Custom Voice messages and a variety of sounds and coloured LEDs can be created for different alarm events.

Additionally, the connectivity of NEO delivers historic trend data via the SaaS Cloud service, providing retailers with a rich source of activity data to improve shrinkage results and help monitor store performance, while also providing proactive maintenance support, with more than 50% of technical issues resolved remotely.

Simon Edgar, Senior Director of Product Management – Checkpoint Systems, commented: “ The NS40 offers retailers a revolutionary new design for their in-lane EAS systems. Designed specifically for the grocery market, our new NS40 antenna has already been trialled successfully in Spain. Voice of customer feedback was cruicial during this project to ensure the end solution exactly matched the use case requirements for in-lane grocery retailers. The design, detection and ease of installation are without doubt market leading.”

Temperature screening and weather: there is no place for humans

March 12, 2021

An ordinary thermal scanner in a guard’s hands in a mall, school or government agency is not the best way to avoid the spread of viruses. He works slowly and imprecisely. Another thing is an access control system with face recognition and temperature screening. Partizan STD-2MP, for example, takes into account a lot of related factors. Weather conditions are one of the most important.

There is no such thing as bad weather…

… but it strongly affects the measurement results. In cold weather, the temperature of exposed parts of the body can drop one degree below real. In the heat, on the contrary, to rise to 37.4 °, in reality being the canonical 36.6 °. But STD-2MP can’t be fooled! Analyzing a person’s condition, the device takes into account everything – even the temperature difference between hair and a cap.

An algorithm based on the principles of artificial intelligence comes into play. The device compares the temperature of a person and the objects around him. It captures the warmth of previous visitors and calculates their normal temperature at the current moment. For example, in the morning the average temperature of visitors was 36.2 degrees. But the day was hot and sunny. Therefore, by lunchtime, people “warmed up” to 37.2. The device takes the weather into account and makes the measurement as clearly as possible. “Come on in, guys, everything is ok.”

Failure is not an option

It is also important to note that scanners are usually installed indoors, and people come from the street, where the temperature is completely different. The intelligent algorithm of Partizan STD-2MP calculates the nominal normal temperature from the total human flow. It is enough for the device to check just 3 visitors and the algorithms for detecting persons with abnormal temperatures are activated.

Does it sound complicated? Let’s look at the example. The device measured the forehead temperature of three visitors. It turned out to be at the level of 35.4-35.8. Partizan STD-2MP compares the obtained data with real body temperature and gets the real result – 36.4-36.8. But when a visitor with a forehead temperature of 36.9 is going in, everything seems to be within the normal range. But no. The device “understands” that real body temperature is much higher. “You shall not pass!”

Put on your mask!

In addition to temperature screening of visitors, Partizan STD-2MP can also recognize their faces. The system does this even with a mask on. So no one needs to take it off. We’re still talking about fighting viruses, aren’t we?

And, of course, Partizan STD-2MP can do everything what a proper control system should be able to do:

1. Keep records of visits (including registering arrival and departure time)
2. Restrict or grant access
3. Give an alarm signal in case of violation

How does it look like

The Main Partizan STD-2MP module is no larger than a regular tablet with a 7” IPS display. There is also a temperature screening module, a white backlight, a 2MP IP CCTV camera, and a built-in access controller. Partizan STD-2MP can be installed near the turnstile, on the walk-through frame or just at the entrance doors. To do this, the accessories catalog has all sorts of different brackets – both for floor and wall.

By the way, about accessories. You can put a cover on the device, for example, in the form of funny ears. The cutest life hack that will come in handy if you take Partizan STD-2MP to use in preschool institutions. Kids will love it.

Body temperature screening at the entrance to public places has become a routine act since the coronavirus 2020. Partizan STD-2MP will make this process invisible, fast and maximum efficient. Far better than make “beeps” using manual scanner aiming against visitor’s forehead each time.

In case of any questions please contact:
sales@partizanstore.eu
tel (English and Hungarian languages): +420 608 496 889
tel (Czech and Slovak languages): +420 608 880 986
tel (Russian language): +420 608886587

Cloud Based License Plate Recognition Gains Traction With Niche Applications

March 10, 2021

As network connectivity and bandwidth availability continue to improve, the use of cloud is becoming more and more popular. Cloud-based solutions have made inroads into the day to day life of most people, right from the personal level in the form of emails to video surveillance footage.
Izvor: a&s International
E-mail: redakcija@asadria.com

Storing surveillance camera footage on the cloud allows you to run several analytic applications on them without having to worry about space and additional infrastructure. A solution that is increasingly gaining market interest in this regard is cloud-based ANPR solutions.

In this article, we explain the benefits and limitations of cloud-based ANPR solutions, along with their applica- tions, especially in intelligent transport systems.

What are the benefits of Cloud-Based ANPR Solutions?

The main difference between on-site and cloud-based ANPR solutions is where image processing takes place, according to Adrian Cseko, Head of Sales at Asura Technologies. In the case of cloud processing, the user sends data to the ANPR provider’s cloud, and results are returned to the specified database or system.

“Thus, the advantage of cloud-based solutions is that the client does not have to purchase a server and set it up on-site to run ANPR software,” Cseko said. “Moreover, most cloud-based solutions can be accessed in a subscription-type model, sometimes the pricing adjusted with processing volume. So, if avoiding CAPEX is the aim of a project, or there is simply no space to accommodate a server, a cloud-based ANPR solution may prove more beneficial. Also, as fewer elements are needed to be installed on-site, an ANPR-based operation may roll-out out earlier if a cloud-based solution is used.”

The Key Two-Fold Advantage
Evidently, there are several advantages to using cloud-based ANPR solutions. According to Gabor Jozsa, CMO at Adaptive Recognition, these can be classified under technology and cost. Jozsa listed some of the significant benefits under both these categories from the perspective of the solution that their company offers.

Cost Advantages
• Zero capital investment required.
• 50-60 percent Total Cost of Ownership reduction compared to on-premise systems.
• 3-4 times shorter implementation- and integration time.
• Start to recognize your own images in just 1 second after registration. Build your application around ANPR Cloud within one day. Start generating revenue in just days.
• Transparent and flexible pricing perfectly matches to every application.
• Adaptive Recognition’s ANPR Cloud offers credit-based, pay-as-you-go pricing packages.
• Minimal to zero OpEx: core engine updates, preventing maintenance, API updates are done by Adaptive Recognition. 99.9 percent SLA level secured worldwide, in all regions.
• Thanks to pay-per-use pricing, the actual cost of service is equivalent to practical use. There is no burden due to flat rates when the required service is low. You can recognize 1 million events at once and pay only for that. Then you may recognize 10,000 in the following months. You will always pay based on the service used.

Technological Advantages
• Integrators can finally focus on application functionality instead of setting up and operating an on-premises infrastructure.
• Easy to use REST APIs results are in JSON format.
• Anyone can become an ANPR expert. Simply upload your still images to Adaptive Recognition’s ANPR Cloud. The rest is done by the service, which tweaks the OCR engine’s internal parameters for the best results.
• ANPR Cloud is elastic, offers an unlimited scale. It is robust and stable.
• ANPR Cloud offers practically unlimited processing resources compared to on-premise, PC / server-based systems. This gives you a real competitive edge, mainly when you feed input images from all around the world. Specific OCR engines that yield the best result for one region can be run parallel in the ANPR Cloud, while this would require expensive and complex on-premises architecture.

How to Get These Benefits?
But cloud-based ANPR may not be suitable for every installation. According to Walter Verbruggen, Sales Director at Avutech Computer Vision, a cloud solution is ideal for a single, existing camera somewhere in the field, streaming video to the cloud ANPR service. It does need some thinking about: what do you want to do with the ANPR data?

“In case a smart security management system would send packets of snapshot images to the cloud, network bandwidth (and costs) can dramati- cally being saved,” Verbuggen said. “Cloud benefits in general: no local server to maintain or support, monthly subscription-based.”

Is a Cloud-Based ANPR Solution Suited to Your Business?

Cloud-based processing is ideal where the return-time of results is not a crucial point, e.g., when gathering traffic information or registering vehicles in a barrierless access control project. This means that if you want immediate results based on the ANPR reading, like opening a gate or raising a boom barrier, an edge-based solution may work best. But there are several verticals where such applications are not required, and this is where cloud-based ANPR is more useful. Here’s an overview of the major verticals that would benefit from cloud ANPR. Please note that this is not a comprehensive list, as the continuous development in technology enables more and more verticals to use cloud- based ANPR.

1. Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS)
An intelligent transportation system (ITS) allows authorities to automate the process of managing traffic in a city to make it smarter and more efficient. ANPR has a vital role to play in ITS, especially in controlling over speeding and role rules compliance. Since these applications don’t require immediate action taken based on the plate reading, a cloud-based infrastructure that minimizes the investment on the camera side may be ideal.

2. Tolls for Motorways, Turnpikes, and Bridges
If your business involves toll collection on motorways, bridges, etc., without the use of a barrier, then a cloud-based ANPR may be suitable. This is because even as the vehicles pass through toll gates, payments can be triggered from an ANPR reading that is processed on the cloud. Such a system would help avoid unnecessary lines or crowding at toll gates and speed up the system. This may also come in handy in places where congestion charges are applicable.

3. Parking With Pay-by-Plate Services
If you provide gated parking space services, customers can make payments to use your parking space using wallets that are attached to their number plates. An ANPR solution that detects the plate can trigger the payment from wallets that may be connected to license plates. This may also be suited for other businesses like a car wash and vehicle servicing.

4. Mobile Patrols and Law Enforcement
Law enforcement officers may need to search for stolen vehicles or criminals fleeing in cars based on a number plate. In such situations, the system needs to search within video footage from multiple cameras. A cloud- based solution enables this as it is not limited to independent cameras. This application would come in useful at public facilities, shopping mall parking lots, campuses, etc.

5. Personalized OOH Advertising
A cloud-based ANPR solution can aid businesses in providing tailored services to customers. Based on the reading of a license plate, the system can recognize the customer, which in turn automates the customization process. An excellent example of this application is in targeted OOH advertising with location- based demographics based on ANPR and vehicle segmentation. This can also be used to automate loyalty programs wherein the system, after identi- fying the customer, offers specialized services as per the plan.

6. Drive-Off Prevention
A drive-off prevention system based on a cloud- based ANPR solution helps in running a license plate against a database of previous drive-offs. When the solution is located in the cloud, access to databases from third-parties like police or business associations becomes easier and real-time.

Final Word
As governments worldwide increasingly explore the concept of smart cities, the use of cloud becomes more and more inevitable to integrate different solutions. Using cloud-based ANPR would give authorities more control over services like law enforcement. Of course, there are some applications where a cloud-based system is not feasible, and, in many countries, there are challenges like lack of stable network connectivity. But if such problems are dealt with, a cloud-based ANPR solution offers numerous benefits.

Why Cloud-Based ANPR Will Greatly Benefit Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS)

With the rising popularity of smart and safe cities, intelligent transportation systems (ITS) have seen a spike in demand in recent years. According to MarketsandMarkets, the global ITS market for roadways is expected to grow from US$ 17.9 billion in 2020 to $36.5 billion by 2025, at a CAGR of 15.3 percent. The research firm expects several factors to drive this growth, including increasing concerns toward public safety, growing traffic congestion problems, rising favorable government initiatives for effective traffic management, increasing adoption of eco-friendly automobile technologies, and the development of smart cities across the world.

Aiding Public Services
Cloud solutions are integral to the development of intelligent systems, mainly because it provides centralized control which is essential for integrating multiple applications. Adrian Cseko, Head of Sales at Asura Technologies, pointed out that cloud-based ANPR may prove to be a viable choice for urban or even highway traffic enforcement projects.

“ANPR is arguably the best choice to obtain reference data of speeding vehicles or ones violating traffic rules,” Cseko explained. “In some cases, an intact traffic surveillance camera footage can be used to detect traffic violations automatically (the wrong turn, passing the red light, crossing a closed line) and obtaining the vehicle’s number plate as well as part of the process. ANPR is also a great reference tool for congestion charging and may serve statistical purposes as well as an automatized form of vehicle counting for statistical purposes.”

Lower Costs, Better Performance
Gabor Jozsa, CMO at Adaptive Recognition, further explained that cloud- based solutions are faster and easier to set up, potentially reducing costs and increasing efficiency. “ITS system transition to the cloud, including applications like smart city applications, toll enforcement, stopping congestion relief using hard shoulder running, etc. can be done in 3-4 times shorter and with 50-60 percent cost reduction in TCO,” Jozsa said. “Other benefits include maximized scalability and optimized OpEx. Traditional, on-premise Intelligent Transportation Systems must be scaled to the peak workload, while ANPR Cloud flexibly adapts to the required workload.”

Highlighting his own company’s ANPR engine, Jozsa added that there is also the advantage of low false-positive rates when using a cloud solution for ITS. Also, AI-based data filtering and flexible business intelligence functions empower smart predic- tions and data-based decisions. Finally, wireless communication (4G, 5G: in the coming years) combined with cloud-based ANPR requires signifi- cantly less installation cost.

Benefits to large transportation companies
License plate recognition is not limited to public or government use for purposes like law enforcement. Transport companies that own their fleet would also benefit from automated license plate recognition to improve their operations.

However, not all transport companies may find a cloud-based ANPR worth the investment. Walter Verbruggen, Sales Director at Avutech, added that with regard to ITS, a cloud-based ANPR solution is particularly for larger transport organizations and distribution centers where there are many perimeter efficiency improvements to make for ANPR in general. Such organizations would need safe and secure parking areas for trucks along the highways, offering multiple services to truck drivers as well, all of which could be made easier and more straightforward with a cloud solution.

Conclusion
To sum up, cloud ANPR solutions are useful to ITS as they enhance the possibilities of the technologies that are in use. But technological improvement is not the only advantage. From a customer perspective, the reduced costs and easier installation are also attractive to implement an ITS system better. Finally, the use of cloud ANPR for ITS purposes would benefit large private transport organizations would have to deal with lots of vehicles in their fleet.

Challenges and Limitations of Cloud-Based ANPR Solutions

Despite their advantages, cloud-based ANPR solutions are not without limitations or challenges in their implementation. These are mostly technical but can, at times, be the result of budgeting concerns as well.

The most obvious limitation is that analytics on the cloud may not be suitable for solutions that require immediate actions taken based on the insights. For instance, a solution that opens a gate or boom barrier to a parking lot after identifying the user through ANPR needs to open gates within seconds. Failure to do this will cause in irate users or customers. You cannot afford to have network-related delays here, and hence, solution on the edge works better.

Internet Connectivity
Cloud-based solutions – as the name suggests – require an Internet connection to work, so they may not be feasible for projects where having an Internet connection is out of the question.

“Event detection is also an issue in case of cloud-based ANPR, which can be avoided if the bandwidth allows for a continuous video stream of the monitored areas (as in this case our solution uses video analytics-based triggering), but this is not yet realistic in terms of accessible infrastructure and also when considering economic reasons,” explained Adrian Cseko, Head of Sales at Asura Technologies. “Another way to tackle the problem is either an image pre-selection mechanism set in place, triggers (like inductive loops) or cameras that include some sort of triggering mechanism, the latter solution, however, may prove more costly due to the price difference compared to standard IP cameras that provide sufficient image quality for ANPR.”

Camera Quality
The basic rule of the thumb when selecting a camera for ANPR is that if a license plate is recognizable to a human eye, an ANPR solution will recognize it too. Having said that, since cameras on highways often have to deal with rugged conditions, there are several instances where they failed to give continuous clear visuals.

“Camera image quality is essential during all weather and lighting conditions,” said Walter Verbruggen, Sales Director at Avutech. “A dedicated ANPR camera system will always outperform another type of camera, as it is optimized for ANPR image quality, offers more speed and does not require any image or video compression, compromising the image quality.” Camera placement is also essential to capture license plates. Too far or too near would result in images that are not useful. Similarly, installing cameras too high or too low would also be problematic.

Finally, when the visuals are blurred because of rain, fog, dust, or other such elements, the ANPR solution would have difficulty recognizing the plates. It should be noted that these kinds of problems pose a challenge to any ANPR solution regardless of whether they are located on the cloud or the edge.

Lack of Customizability
Gabor Jozsa, CMO at Adaptive Recognition issues like network connectivity, is not limited to ANPR but could define any cloud-based system. However, a more significant limitation is the difficulty of providing services that may need certain unique recognition features.

“Limitation in customized features is an issue,” Jozsa said. “Sometimes, the customer’s application requires specific OCR engines and recognition functions.”

Limitations vs. Advantages
To conclude, both cloud-based and edge-based ANPR solutions have their advantages and disadvan- tages. Both are suited for different verticals and applications, which makes comparison difficult as well. Any decision to purchase from customers should be based on the application.

Bringing Trust to the Workplace

March 10, 2021

HID Global became its own case study in safely opening its sites

Author: By Jaroslav Barton, Director Product Marketing, Global Regions, HID Global
Contact: chris.gibbs@vol4comms.com
HID Global: https://www.hidglobal.com/access-control

As businesses and governments enter a new era of workplace safety, two prerequisites are preparedness and the ability to pivot quickly. Widely adopted access control, authentication, Internet of Things and other trusted identity offerings provide the foundation for safely and confidently reopening workplaces.

Facing the challenges
HID Global faced the same challenges in returning its employees to work. The first step the company took was to develop a strategy and comprehensive playbook, as well as processes for communicating to employees in a time of rapid change. These elements help guide the safety and security of employees while ensuring operations continue to run smoothly. The Return to Workplace playbook provided clear recommendations and reassurance for site leaders, employees and support for customers in an ever-changing environment.

Health and safety are front of mind for employees. It is essential to anticipate very real emotions and valid concerns. Equally important is looking ahead and showing what the ‘new normal’ looks like for employees by defining and providing reassurance about the new behaviours needed in an otherwise familiar place. The playbook provided this reassuring clarity.

Every office or facility has to adapt to its individual needs, but for HID Global they concentrated on four core areas: protection, cleaning, messaging and distancing.

For protection and distancing, HID Global turned to its own product and solution portfolio. Site-specific distancing guidance was provided related to face-to-face meetings and the time and spacing constraints, as well as greeting practices, dining habits and managing mail and package deliveries. The guidelines also covered activities related to meeting rooms, personal offices and workstations Site leaders also concentrating on how they could reconfigure assembly stations and other density- management challenges. Ongoing focus areas include ensuring compliance in cube arrangements, traffic flow pattern design and management, and the use of plexiglass and other barriers for ensuring separation.

Putting the guidelines in place
With these separation guidelines in place, HID then applied its own technologies to automate the process of compliance. There are two key components:
– Dynamic Workplace Safety – Cloud-based visitor management, remote employee and visitor badge issuance, and fully touchless access solutions reduce person-to-person contact. Rule-based physical distancing management provides immediate insights and alerts to keep employees compliant with safety and sanitation requirements.
– Automated Rapid Response and Compliance – Automated visitor compliance, contact tracing, physical distancing, and hygiene behaviour removes the burden of tracking new health and safety procedures.

HID piloted its solutions with 200 essential workers soon after public health distancing guidelines went into effect. The solutions were deployed across different physical environments from manufacturing floors to cubicles, eating areas and entrance lobbies. Each employee was given a Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) fog on a lanyard, which uses peer-to-peer capabilities to sound an alert if people are closer than 2m for a specified time period. Simultaneously, this data was sent to the cloud for analysis and location information to identify where the incident took place within the building.

As an alternative to fobs, the same capabilities can be delivered using a badge/ badge holder that is easily added to existing ID cards. In either case, there is a full digital trail of an employee’s whereabouts and historical interactions while at work. Fobs can be issued to all onsite visitors and contractors as well. Employers define distancing policies and alert parameters for mitigating an infection outbreak per public health guidelines, and zones can be created with geo-fences around high-traffic areas (breakrooms, hallways, lobbies) to minimize large congregations of people.

Playing a key role
The solution also plays a key role when someone tests positive. With a click of a button, detailed reporting enables contact tracing using historical data on movement and interactions. This triggers safety protocols based on reporting that includes a chronological list of all the times two people were in the same zone or had a distance incident. The facility can assess the risk of each employee exposure and minimize disruption as it rapidly responds to cases and activates isolation procedures as needed.

The HID Global pilot revealed much about employee reactions to the global health crisis. They generally wanted to be part of something that could have a tremendous impact on the worldwide workforce. Their participation in the pilot also revealed how best to implement guidelines while also creating the optimal experience for employees. Additionally, the pilot underscored how an IoT ecosystem can quickly scale and adapt to the dynamic requirements of hospitals, manufacturing facilities and enterprise organizations. Real-time time monitoring and analytics capabilities can help ensure compliance with a number of other safety requirements, such as hand hygiene policies and other regulations introduced as part of the ‘new normal’. At the same time, organizations can leverage their investment in these IoT solutions beyond today’s global health crisis, since they lay the foundation to easily add even more IoT applications, all of which can be centrally managed on a single platform.

Hikvision launches new ITS camera for improvement of road safety and traffic flow

March 10, 2021

The new All-Rounder ITS camera is engineered with an all-in-one structure, embedding video, radar, and supplemental light in one module, helping traffic authorities to easily ramp up the detection of violations
February 4, 2021 Hikvision, an IoT solution provider with video as its core competency, today announced its latest traffic product offering – the All-Rounder ITS camera – designed to improve road safety and optimize traffic flow. As the name implies, the camera encompasses different skills and abilities, boasting speed detection, traffic violation detection, automated plate recognition, and vehicle attribute analysis in one housing.

“Hikvision is always pushing the boundaries of video technologies. Beyond the visual range that is perceived by video cameras, the abilities to understand other kinds of “senses” would allow even more precise monitoring and reporting of events or accidents,” says Frank Zhang, President of International Product and Solution Center at Hikvision. “This is multi-dimensional perception, a trend that we think will affect the security industry in the future.”

The new ITS camera is designed and developed with this multi-dimensional concept in mind. It is Hikvision’s first camera to integrate three otherwise separate modules in one unit with no compromise on performance, making the camera neat and flexible to be deployed for demanding environments, all in an easy and cost-effective manner.

Improving road safety and optimizing traffic flow
The product provides an HD camera, speed radar, and light array inside one housing. Specifically, it works with a multi-tracking radar that continuously monitors up to two or three traffic lanes – depending on the camera model, and identifies the speed and position of objects in the monitored area at a speed of up to 300 km/h. If a vehicle violates the speed limit, the embedded radar triggers the connected camera and a picture is taken of the vehicle and its license plate.

In the event of infringements of traffic rules such as wrong-way driving, improper lane usage, or even failure to use a seat belt, the camera will capture images of the corresponding vehicle, recognize its license plate and relevant information including vehicle type, color, brand, and direction of movement, which can be addressed to the authorities in real-time or stored on board.

Incident detection helps to improve overall driving standards, which ultimately reduces the number of accidents, improves road safety and further evens traffic flow.

Inside the camera
Employed with Deep Learning algorithms, the camera is able to recognize a much higher number of license plates and with higher efficiency than conventional ANPR systems. Its GMOS sensor further ensures brighter and smoother images to be reproduced in challenging lighting conditions, especially in low-light environments.

The camera’s embedded supplemental light features a 16-bead light array, offering an IR range of up to 40 meters at night.

As all of these functionalities are integrated, the single product itself outperforms conventional ITS products with space-saving and less cabling for easier installation. It supports flexible pole- or side-mounting, which makes onsite configuration effortless.

The Hikvision All-Rounder ITS camera is ideal for various scenes such as urban roads, highways, tunnels and toll stations. For more information, please visit product page at iDS-TCV907-BIR.

BIROSAFE Strong room doors tested according EN 1143- 1 – ECB•S Certified

December 17, 2020

Today we understand that high-resistance burglary protection for the valuables is especially important in maintaining the organization process. This is especially true for risk sites such as banking, retail, logistic, pharmaceutical or industry sectors, as large amounts of cash, valuable or sensitive items are often kept on premise.
To effectively manage this risk, the clients are choosing strong room doors or if the walls are not strong enough than they choose strong room modular, which is made from strong room door and strong room panels in same security class.
The strong room modular BIROMOD, unlike the vaults made on site have the following advantages:
• they are lighter and give less burden to the object’s construction
• can be built into older, adapted objects
• there is a possibility for transfer from one object to another.
The BIROMOD strong room modular can be made in different dimensions according to available space and purpose in several classes according to EN1143-1.

Birosafe high-security strong room doors BIRODOOR are certified by the European Certification Board Security Systems (ECB-S), in accordance with the EN 1143-1 standard. To obtain this certification, a variety of tools are used to put the vault’s ability to withstand break-in to the test.
They can be built into vaults built on site, or on modular vaults.
The strong room doors can be equipped with an additional security grid, for daily closing.
Except the minimum assigned locks for each class, extra locks can be built on the BIRODOOR strong room doors, in order to meet the requirements and needs of the client.

All Birosafe strong room doors are with European certificates for security, issued by ECB-S Germany. These doors are manufactured by the European standard for security EN 1143-1 and are classified in different resistance grades.
The certification according to the European Standard EN 1143-1 suggest security.

Birosafe team is trained to assess the wishes of each client and to give the best solutions for each project, from difficult access and old buildings to rooms with unusual dimensions. They define the specifications of each vault room and devise a solution that meets all specific requirements.

“BIROSAFE” – Strumica is an engineering company founded in 2001. The company is present in the business of manufacturing, sales and mounting of security, fireproof and bank equipment (security and fireproof safes, cabinets, security doors and vaults, etc.)

BIROSAFE produces and offers different types of security equipment: safes, cabinets, deposit safes, weapon safes, cash transfer safes, vault and vault doors, security doors etc.; as well as fireproof equipment: safes, cabinets, doors etc.
Usually the products are made by standard dimensions, but there is also a possibility for tailoring the products according to client demand.

The company follows the trends and creates series of security products which are at the same time, aesthetic and adequate for the most modern and well-equipped banks and other institutions from different sectors.

BIROSAFE has successfully passed the tests for several types of products and has gained the following EUROPEAN CERTIFICATES, issued by “ECB•S – Germany”:
– EN 1143- 1 – for security safes and strong room doors.
– EN 1522 – for bulletproof walls, doors and windows.
– EN 1627 – for burglary resistant doors.

In-Store Analytics optimize the shopping experience in retail

December 17, 2020

Home appliances retailer BSH measures customer engagement with metrics from smart cameras

The next generation of retail stores optimizes sales floor presentations by tracking customer traffic. At home appliances store BSH in Vienna, Bosch cameras with built-in Intelligent Video Analytics collect metadata on how customers respond to special displays. Drawing on this actionable data from in-store analytics, retailers can create more inspiring customer experiences at brick-and-mortar locations.

When it comes to allocating display space in brick-and-mortar stores, retailers face a challenging question: How efficient are special product presentations in generating customer interest and, ultimately, sales? Unlike online shopping, where every click is tracked for analysis, stationary retail lacks hard data on how customers navigate through product presentations. That’s why the home appliances retailer decided to adopt In-Store Analytics at its Vienna brand store for a new level of insights into customer traffic and engagement.

Actionable data for store operators
In particular, the retailer wanted to measure the effects of a new design concept for the sales floor. It relies on displaying key products, for instance washing machines, prominently on special ‘highlight walls’. The walls feature plexiglass backdrops in light blue color and special lighting to attract customers’ attention. But from a logistics perspective, highlight walls cost more and provide less display space than ‘regular’ product stands. So are these specialized displays worth the investment?

Privacy and business intelligence
The data-based answers arrived with Bosch In-Store Analytics. Already trusted in retail environments across the globe, the analytics suite relies on Bosch IP cameras equipped with Intelligent Video Analytics (IVA) to gather metadata on customer traffic. Embedded discreetly into the ceilings, six panoramic IP cameras create an anonymized position data stream of shoppers’ movements. In-Store Analytics further processes this data into performance results and visualizations, shared through web interfaces with the store team. In comparing the impact of highlight walls versus other store displays, the team can draw on an unprecedented level of traffic data.
The engagement funnel provides precise metrics for behavior in specific areas of the store, including: The number of shoppers to have “passed by” a section. Also the amount who “dwelled” and slowed down in front of a display. And most importantly, the “engaged” shoppers interacting with a product. For long-term insights, these metrics can be compared to past data to see whether updates and special initiatives make an impact on engagement. At all times, full customer privacy is maintained by sending customer position data from the cameras directly to the Bosch In-Store Analytics Cloud, without video streams ever leaving the site.

Optimizing the retail store experience
The comprehensive data analysis, precise down to the level of an individual product display, yielded important insights. The store team learned that a washing machine displayed on a highlight wall achieves an 84 percent higher customer engagement rate than comparable, non-featured products. And these metrics were just the beginning of more data-based optimizations of customer experiences in stationary retail. Visualizations of in-store foot traffic allow the design team to select store layouts for optimal customer experiences and product discoveries. Based on findings from its Vienna location, the retailer implemented highlight walls to display featured products in its latest physical storefront in the town of Graz, opened in 2020.
Beyond product-specific metrics, In-Store Analytics also measures the success of initiatives such as live cooking events. By adopting In-Store Analytics, the retailer can leverage precise data sets in strategic decision-making. The team is able to calculate conversion rates for specific products as the basis for effective product positioning and evaluating the product portfolio on display at stores. In this new generation of retail experiences, ensuring high profitability per square footage is no longer a guessing game, but part of an ongoing optimization process to enhance the customer experience based on smart data.

“Thanks to engagement funnel, we can evaluate success of different design concepts based on a product-level experience.”

Stefan Tenor, BSH Home Appliances Group

More information: boschsecurity.com

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