China’s rapidly growing video surveillance market was dealt a blow this week amid reports that Chinese cities are so polluted that the cameras can’t see anything.
Click here to view Figure 1.
In an embarrassing and expensive faux pas, reported by the South China Morning Post (SCMP), officials have had to admit that the smog that blights Chinese cities has become so bad that it could mean a threat to national security.
In a country that is increasingly investing in expensive and high quality video surveillance images, this is extremely embarrassing, and worrying for the authorities. Estimates suggest that there are already as many as 30 million video surveillance cameras operating in China, which works out to around one for every 43 people in the country.
While the government refers to the smog often as “fog,” the characteristics of the pollution are very different, with even infrared cameras struggling to make out images through the solid particles of the smog. A senior project engineer for Shenzhen Yichengan Technology, Kong Zilong, told the SCMP that as visibility drops below three metres, even the best cameras cannot see further than around 12 metres.
Now, as Chinese officials have become increasingly worried about the threat to national security, they have brought in scientist Professor Yang Aiping, who is a digital imaging expert, to try and programme the government out of their problem. She told the paper:
We need to heavily revise, if not completely rewrite, algorithms in some mathematical models. We also need to do lots of computer simulation and extensive field tests.
In the meantime, researchers are considering the use of radar to try and track any terrorists who might try to use a smoggy day as cover for an attack.
According to estimates in 2012, the video surveillance industry was estimated to be worth approximately $2.6 billion, with an predicted annual growth rate of 20 percent. This includes the background of network camera growth. reaching 130 percent in 2011, and good interest in the HD-SDI market.
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The solution to this problem will be one to watch, I would think that it would take a lot of processing power to separate the smog particles from actual surveillance imaging and that processing would have to be continual. The fall back for now is radar? I would like to see that system.
It’s always interesting when you have to step back and look at a bit of kit that has been installed and doesn’t work because of the elements, mine was ANPR cameras not liking sunlight/ reflections of sun from plates blinding the cameras. It certainly makes you more sceptical about installers promises. This one sounds like a nightmare though…. They will have to chip everyone and monitor people that way!
I agree that this will be very interesting to watch. IR not being able to see through the particles of smog is really surprising. We have some relatively dusty and smokey days around where when wild fires break out and I can’t say that it has affected our cameras that badly. Radar seems like a huge step from IR and it makes me wonder if thermal imaging is next or if the particulate in the air is going to put a stop to that as well.
Bonkers isn’t it? Sounds crazy, I know, but surely it would be easier (and more beneficial all round) to just sort out the smog…
That’s interesting, was that at certain times of the day/times of the year presumably due to the sun’s position? I’m supposing it was OK when the installer set it up and then the sun (pesky thing) went and moved…
Surprised me that IR wouldn’t work, also. I think it will work better than ‘normal’ spectrum images, but evidently it’s not good enough to monitor whatever it is these particular cameras are supposed to be looking at.
Good point, Holmes. I think manufacturers should do due diligence before slapping on guarantees that their products won’t be able to hold up to. It’s not only disappointing, but a huge inconvenience as well.
This is interesting. As SafenSane has mentioned, it’s also surprising that IR can’t take on the smog. Perhaps it’s much too thick in concentration? If so, that’s a huge environmental hazard that China should be tackling at this point.
I think the IR system are just not good enough to discharge effective monitoring
Yes, twice a year when the sun is low it blinded the cameras. And no, when it was installed the sun was nice and high, the cynical part of me wonders if this was deliberate. But I also smile when at IFSEC, the ANPR people are showing clips of reading plates on motorways, with speeding cars, when I struggled at 5 mph with the cameras a few feet away from the plates!