Addressing challenges for 4K Surveillance in Transport Industry

Security in transportation is a major issue in different cities worldwide which majorly contributes to an increase in demand of surveillance systems. In addition, urban transit authorities are under pressure to prevent fatalities due to road and rail accidents, while dealing with the rapidly growing problem of traffic congestion and overcrowding in public spaces. While governments and business establishments, airports, retail stores and city streets are increasingly adopting highly capable 4K cameras, the same benefits of safety and convenience have to be extended to public transportation systems. In addition, businesses also need to track and monitor their on-road vehicles to ensure that each delivery is secure, and on time.

The Challenges

Meeting the present day surveillance requirements of the transportation industry can be an extremely challenging affair. Here we list a few major concerns that fleet operators have.

• Visibility and tracking: “Never lose sight of your vehicle” is a universal guiding principle of fleet management systems worldwide. This is needed to ensure public safety, maintenance cost optimization and on-schedule arrival of vehicles.
• Security: Transportation companies are in need of innovative solutions to prevent theft, break-ins and rash driving. Camera technologies can help supplement the eyes and ears of law enforcement to prevent untoward incidents.
• Urban logistics: Major cities are frequently dealing with the challenges of traffic congestion and non-availability of parking spaces. To address these problems, municipalities are adopting the use of camera surveillance technologies for efficient routing of traffic, making the lives of citizens easier.

The Solution

4K surveillance solutions address the unique needs of a diverse range of transportation environments. Capturing live footage in extreme light and weather conditions is important, which can be used to ensure that the best picture quality is always achieved.

• 4K systems enable innovative and practical use of camera-based technologies at a high resolution of 3840 x 2160, offering an exceptionally high standard of video monitoring.
• As fast moving transportation systems often deal with unpredictable dangers, 4K cameras offer excellent monitoring capabilities to prevent accidents.
• 4k supports extreme zoom levels to enable maximum coverage options. 4K also greatly eases capturing imagery in low light and night conditions. Using a single camera, operators can automatically follow multiple objects in their field of view, while tracking each one of them independently.

Key Takeaways

• A technology like 4K can bring a higher degree of safety through increased precision and clarity of captured videos.
• The transportation industry can utilize 4k technology to improve its ability for round-the-clock tracking of moving objects.
• 4K technology is a sure bet to offer 24*7 surveillance capability.
• 4K surveillance can enable more efficient traffic management across networks.
• Cities can achieve proactive traffic monitoring, identify traffic violations and respond quickly to emergency situations.
• 4K systems can help fleet management companies provide safer working conditions for their operations, maintenance, and delivery staff.

The Future Beckons

eInfochips has designed various solutions for camera design services including edge devices like 4k transit surveillance cameras, car NVRs etc. that have been deployed in mass transit, collision avoidance and school transport.

In one of our innovative use cases for camera-based surveillance in transportation systems, eInfochips has designed a camera configuration module in firmware design for a US-based client, consisting of H.264 encoding with different bit rates of 8 MBPS and 5 MBPS in front and rear respectively, and a mechanism to enable/disable wide dynamic range (WDR) on the camera and more.
The video storage unit is further mounted on SD cards using a container format to allow video, audio and sensor data to be fused together on a single timestamp (GPS, accelerometer and panic button details), dividing containers into multiple chunks/files, event trigger support for accelerometers and panic buttons, logging of all sensor data and more.

You can find out more details about this interesting use case in this whitepaper on intelligent transportation systems.

Have any ideas to share? Do write us at letusconnect@einfochips.com