Machine vision is moving outside the factory

Those looking to grow our industry are starting to look beyond industrial inspection applications. The new frontier, according to Winn Hardin (“Security Comes Knocking on Machine Vision’s Door,” Machine Vision Online, August 11, 2009,) is security applications. It seems an obvious application area: we all know that humans are lousy at monitoring tasks while computers never get bored or distracted. But while CCTV is great for recording events, so far there has been little effort at adding image analysis capabilities to security cameras.

You might wonder why this fusion of image analysis with security hasn’t happened already. Well one of the challenges is that the environment in which security cameras have to operate is far less predictable than that in the factory. Day and night, for example, then there are stray reflections, wet surfaces when it rains and so on. But challenges create opportunities for entrepreneurs, and there’s a lot of work going on.

For a great summary, you might like to read “Smarter Video Analysis Techniques Mine More Data,” (Electronic Design, July 23rd, 2009.) Author Richard Quinnell explores the efforts underway to develop smarter algorithms, incorporate more intelligence into cameras, and gain a better understanding of application issues. For an example of the last point, he notes that it’s usually preferable to work with monochrome images rather than color. Color images are too susceptible to variations in lighting, which is something that can rarely be controlled in security apps.

Bottom line; if you’re looking for new opportunities in machine vision, look to see how the tools we use in manufacturing can be applied to CCTV applications.