Master the new technology

Intelligent Traffic Management System aims to ease congestion, improve traffic management, minimise environmental impact, and increase the benefits of transportation to the public in general, says Abhishek Kumar

Everybody wants transport that is reliable, safe, cost-effective, convenient, and respectful of the environment. This is where the Intelligent Traffic Management System (ITMS) can save time, money, and lives by protecting public health as well as landscapes. It achieves this through the application of information and communication processing technologies to road transport infrastructure.

ITMS solutions provide a wide range of applications that process and share information to ease congestion, improve traffic management, minimise environmental impact, and increase the benefits of transportation to the public in general. An ITMS solution consists of the following systems:

• ECB: Emergency call button system
• PA: Public addressable system
• RLVD: Red light violation detection system
• VIDS: Video incident detection system
• ANPR: Automatic number plate recognition system
• Overview cameras
• Command and control system with e-challan software/ hardware/ storage systems

There’s no doubt that all of these solutions benefit the general public greatly. However, let’s delve deeper into the most popular ITMS solution:

Overview Cameras

While all other ITMS camera systems focus on detail and are meant for specific purposes, overview camera systems are meant to provide general surveillance over the entire junction. Generally, 360-degree panoramic cameras are preferred for this application for the following reasons:

No blind spot

Panoramic cameras provide an overview of the entire junction all the time. Normally if an operator is zoomed into one part of the scene, the camera has no visibility for the rest of the area and the only video of the viewable area is stored. However, in panoramic cameras, even when the operator focusses on any area or zooms in a particular direction, the network recorder continues to record the complete oval/ picture. Thus, there is no blind spot at any point in time and constant general surveillance of the entire area is achieved.

Retrospective tracking

The activity is visible all the time, both via live and playback, an operator is not needed to ensure the camera is pointing in the right direction to capture any areas of interest while the image is being recorded. This is especially powerful for retrospective analysis of an incident wherein different parts of the scene can be viewed independently, and without prior configuration or set up of that view. During an investigation, if an event occurred in the past, this capability enables security teams to go back in time to a specific event and literally track/follow a suspicious individual throughout the scene.

Total situational awareness

The complete coverage of activity translates to enhanced situational awareness for organisations when it comes to ensuring the security of their facilities. Operators know exactly what is taking place within their environment as it happens, with the added ability to view the recorded version of a specific situation. What’s more, the stored video includes a full 360-degree view, making it easy to access later for further investigation, and to better understand people’s behavioural patterns.

To better understand how it works, we can inspect the technical aspects of these 360-degree camera systems.

Thanks to its ability to monitor large areas and provide unparalleled views, the use of 360-degree camera technology is growing rapidly. The addition of different camera form factors and specialist certifications have further added to the influx of adoption, taking the technology use far beyond that of just a conventional security camera. But no matter the application, there’s one key element that can make or break an entire surveillance system: The quality of the technology. Inadequate surveillance technology can cost organisations time, money, and other resources that can thwart their security and business goals. That’s why it’s extremely important to take advantage of surveillance systems that leverage the highest quality features to create a usable image or video.

When it comes to 360-degree cameras, there are certain features that they should include:

• A high-speed frame rate that enables users to view live and recorded footage in high resolution without motion judder or blur, and a guaranteed frame rate, which makes it easier to comply with applicable minimum legal fps specification standards.
• The latest generation of HDR technology that reveals the finest details in both light and dark areas of every scene for realistic image quality with smooth motion and playback.
• Advanced compression technology that can work seamlessly alongside standard compression techniques to increase the compression ratio. This then saves storage costs by significantly reducing the space used by any video recording and saves network infrastructure costs by minimising the bandwidth of video data being transmitted over the network.
• Optimising imagery with low-light technology, which produces clearer and brighter images with less noise, even in low light conditions.
• Strengthening the cybersecurity of the device, increasing the security level of access to the camera, and encrypting video and other data transmission. Operators expect surveillance cameras to be their eyes for what they can’t see at all times. And in real life, if someone’s eyesight isn’t perfect, they use contact lenses or glasses to improve their vision. The same concept should apply to video technology: Businesses should look toward features that enhance image quality through the aforementioned factors to ensure that they’re gleaning the highest level of situational awareness and intelligence from their systems.

There’s no doubt that ITMS solutions are an extremely useful innovation. They add to the existing framework of inadequate traffic management systems in countries like ours, and can greatly improve that related improper structures like toll deduction, challan due to over speeding, red light violation, driving in the wrong lane, vehicle theft and so on.

(The writer is the Regional Director of Oncam.)