ROURKELA: Innovators at the National Institute of Technology-Rourkela (NIT-R) have secured patent for a fully automated next-generation intelligent surveillance technology to address the challenge of monitoring unauthorised access in large and complex building environments.
Addressing the limitations of the conventional CCTV camera-based surveillance, the new system is fully automated, non-intrusive and can detect, identify and track individuals using integrated thermal imaging technology.
The patented technology titled ‘Unauthorised Person Detection Using Thermal Imaging and Gait Recognition for Intra-Building Security’ has been developed by Prof Samit Ari of the Electronics and Communication Engineering department along with research scholar Mohammad Iman Junaid and MTech graduates Narayan Prasad Sharma and Irshad Ali.
Members of the research team said conventional CCTV camera-based surveillance systems require extensive manual monitoring and analysis, making them prone to human errors. In large setups, tracking individuals across multiple cameras is both difficult and cumbersome, especially under varying lighting conditions and occlusions. But the new technology is smart, efficient and works on its own, requiring minimum human intervention.
The integrated thermal imaging technology helps distinguish humans from the background due to lower infrared noise and enables accurate detection even in inadequate lighting conditions. The research team has used human gait as a biometric identifier. When a person enters a restricted area, the system compares his/her walking pattern with those of authorised individuals. If no match is found, it flags the individual as suspicious and alerts security.
The research team has developed a working prototype with three thermal cameras connected to a central server via USB interfaces. The system detects unauthorised individuals at entry, tracks their movement across multiple checkpoints, maintains a temporary database for unknown individuals, and determines entry and exit patterns based on movement direction.
If an individual exits the restricted area, their temporary record is cleared, while historical data remains stored for future reference and forensic use. The patented system has been developed and designed with grant support of the Science and Engineering Research Board, India.
Prof Ari said, “Developed at an estimated cost of `1.90 lakh, the system uses thermal imaging for low-light and night-time operation, along with gait-based identification for non-intrusive biometric recognition. Automated multi-camera tracking enables seamless monitoring across locations, supported by centralised data processing for logging and database management.”
The system has wide-ranging surveillance applications across academic institutions, corporate campuses, industrial and research & development facilities. It is equally suitable for defence and high-security setups where reliable identification is critical.
“Designed to perform in challenging conditions such as low visibility and complex environments, it also enhances forensic investigations through the availability of stored gait data for analysis,” Prof Ari added