ADABTS

Automatic Detection of Abnormal Behaviour and Threats in crowded Spaces

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 Obiettivo del progetto (Objective)

'ADABTS aims to facilitate the protection of EU citizens, property and infrastructure against threats of terrorism, crime, and riots, by the automatic detection of abnormal human behaviour. Current automatic detection systems have limited functionality, struggling to make inferences about the acceptability of human behaviour. ADABTS aims to address one of the key problems, the definition of abnormal behaviour, by extracting characterizations in realistic security settings based on expert classifications and the analysis of CCTV operator behaviour. A set of behaviour descriptors will be defined and models of threatening behaviour will be built. Algorithms will be developed that detect pre-defined threat behaviours and deviations from normal behaviour. For accurate and robust detection, data from audio and video sensors will be combined with context information. The trade-off between system generality and capability is addressed by extracting a set of intermediate-level behaviour descriptors that are observable from sensor data. This makes the system configurable to specific needs and improves scalability and cost efficiency. A real-time evaluation platform will be developed based on commercial heterogeneous hardware. Such hardware, in rapid development driven by the video game industry, represents a huge potential for high-performance low-cost surveillance systems. The evaluation platform will demonstrate pro-active detection of potential threats. The context will be large-scale events, represented by a football arena, and critical infrastructure, represented by international airports. The consortium partners are well known experts in the area of security and protection of infrastructure. Experts on societal and human aspects are in the consortium. The involvement of stakeholders (security system operators and integrators, police organizations, airports, event organizers) will ensure relevance and exploitation.'

Introduzione (Teaser)

The rise in deliberate threats against Europe and its citizens necessitates the widespread use of public surveillance cameras and other monitoring tools. An EU initiative developed cutting-edge automatic detection technology to better protect people, as well as public and private property.

Descrizione progetto (Article)

Modern video surveillance equipment fails to detect hostile or threatening activity in crowded areas before an incident or attack. What is more, operators responsible for observing countless hours of real-time footage or analysing post-event footage are often subject to human error.

Thanks to the EU-funded project 'Automatic detection of abnormal behaviour and threats in crowded spaces' (http://www.adabts-fp7.eu (ADABTS)), an automated detection system was designed to offer a more effective, accurate and cost-effective alternative to manual surveillance.

The team started out by creating models for various kinds of threats and for abnormal behaviour at an airport, stadium and town centre. It devised techniques for detecting these threats and signs of unusual behaviour in video and audio surveillance data.

Today's surveillance systems cannot effectively distinguish between normal and uncharacteristic, possibly threatening behaviour of masses or individuals, particularly prior to a harmful or destructive event.

Researchers developed and tested visual and acoustic sensor processing and inference mechanisms that enable long-term monitoring of the location and behaviour of people close to an acoustic event. These include gunshots, breaking glass, screams and offensive songs.

The sensors, algorithms and user interface work together to deal with problematic, crowded scenes, including tracking movement and flow patterns of multiple people, and recognising unusual sounds and then categorising them accordingly. In combination, these will be able to automatically reject the majority of recorded footage and just keep suspicious events.

ADABTS will help security stakeholders in their fight against crime, terrorism and rioting through early detection and alerting of potential threats. European citizens will ultimately feel safer in public.