NEC develops crime-fighting and bus scheduling technologies

• Command and control centre system for detection of unusual activity
• Optimisation algorithm analyses various data to help bus operators and drivers

 

NEC Asia Pacific announced today it has developed a command and control centre system for advanced security operations to detect unusual activity and potential crime in crowded areas, as well as a bus schedule optimisation technology that can reduce commuters’ waiting time.
 
The command and control centre involves technology that can detect activity behind blocked areas without a clear line of view, NEC Asia Pacific said in a statement.
 
Advanced video and audio analytics are deployed which detect unusual behaviours. Video analytics detect crowd congestion and running crowds, while audio analytics identify and analyse sounds suggesting conflict and suspicious activity such as shouting, thus circumventing the issue of blind angles of fixed cameras and enabling operations without need for a clear view.
 
Upon detection of potential crime scenarios, an alert can be sent to the central command system for further investigation.
 
READ ALSO: F&B outlets experiment with drones and robots as waiters
 
Patent-pending mobile surveillance technology, which utilises wearable cameras and face detection technology, provides a means of verification for investigating officers at the potential crime scene.
 
A first of its kind, the mobile surveillance system works under limited network bandwidth to send face detection results to the command centre for verification.
 
The technologies here were developed by NEC Central Research Laboratories in Japan.
 
The command and control system would be targeted for security related agencies within Asia Pacific countries.
 
“The solution addresses the issue of crowds and blockages faced by video analytics surveillance solutions that hamper behaviour detection efforts, thus enabling a truly effective criminal surveillance system,” said Keiji Yamada, head of NEC Laboratories Singapore and senior vice president, NEC Asia Pacific.
 
“Audio analytics are innovatively deployed in this command and control system to solve this challenge. Combined with mobile surveillance, the system can provide a powerful tool to identify potential criminal activity and enable a quick response from the command centre,” he added.
 
Shorter waits

NEC Asia Pacific also announced that it has developed a bus schedule optimisation technology that will reduce commuters’ excess waiting time by providing information to bus drivers that will help them adjust their driving speeds.
 
The technology uses an optimisation algorithm that will perform analyses to determine delays to the bus based on bus data, including its location, distance from the next bus or headway status, crowd size, as well as external data, including weather, traffic conditions and road incidents.
 
Based on the analysis, feedback will be provided to bus operators and drivers to improve arrival times and excess waiting times.
 
Data can be analysed to ensure regular spacing between buses or equalised bus headways, as well as ensure demand-based bus dispatch, which matches demand at bus-stops with the supply of buses to ensure reduced excess waiting times.
 
Data on bus loading and crowds can be derived from tap-in-tap-out payment devices on buses and video analytics cameras at bus stops.
 
Simulation results show 50% reduction in excess waiting time, NEC Asia Pacific claimed.
 
The technology, developed by the NEC Laboratories in Europe and Singapore, can also be applicable to logistics vehicles to help in planning delivery schedules. Trials are currently being implemented with bus and logistics operators in Singapore and Indonesia.
 
Both the command and control centre system and the bus optimisation technologies will be showcased at the NEC Innovative Solutions Fair 2015, at the Ritz Carlton Hotel in Jakarta on Feb 10.
 
Singapore-based NEC Asia Pacific is the regional headquarters of Japan’s NEC Corporation.
 
Related Stories:
 
Singapore emerges top sustainable city in South-East Asia
 
Community, personal safety social network MyHero powers up
 
Malaysian startup CatchThatBus raises money in Singapore
 
 
For more technology news and the latest updates, follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn or Like us on Facebook.