Video-based multi-camera automated surveillance of high value assets in nuclear facilities
C.-H. Chen, Yi Yao, David Page, Besma R. Abidi, Andreas F. Koschan, M.A. Abidi · Transactions of the American Nuclear Society · 2007
In a nuclear facility, asset monitoring and chain-ofcustody protocols are essential to maintain safety and security. Most existing surveillance systems require human interaction where security guards watch the monitor wall and manually trigger alarms when they detect security violations. Due to fatigue, the possibility of missing alarms is high, even for well-trained security personnel. These issues lead to the need for a multicamera surveillance system that automatically detects, tracks, and records security violations in nuclear facilities. In the literature, one popular choice for such a surveillance system is the combination of an omnidirectional and a pan-tilt-zoom (PTZ) camera, referred to as dual-camera system. Omni-directional cameras, equipped with a field of view (FOV) of 180°×360°, are promising candidates for monitoring latent activities in an area of interest. However, omni-directional cameras have non-uniform resolution and are unable to provide close observations of particular targets. The PTZ cameras are more suited for this role. With high mobility and zoom ability, PTZ cameras compensate for the deficiencies of omni-directional cameras. Considering the scale and complexity in monitoring a nuclear facility, it is almost impossible for a single set of dual cameras to fulfill both the detection and tracking tasks with an acceptable degree of continuity and reasonable accuracy. Systems with multiple sets of dual cameras require research into consistent labeling [1] and camera handover [2] not only between the omnidirectional and PTZ cameras but also among the dualcamera sets.