Artificial intelligence software suite enables advanced people detection capabilities

Altia Systems has launched its Intelligent Vision 2.0 suite ofartificial intelligencesoftware products for its PanaCast 2 panoramic camera,which will be used to automate workflows by accurately counting people and creating “big data” for data science applications through industry-first Intel Architecture-based intelligence, according to the company.

Intelligent Vision 2.0 is designed for the PanaCast 2 camera, which is a panoramic camera system with three separate imagers. To capture images from all three imagers and to provide panoramic video, the PanaCast features a patent-pending Dynamic Stitching technology, which does an analysis of the overlapping image. Once the geometric correction algorithm has finished correcting sharp angles, the Dynamic Stitching algorithm creates an energy cost function of the entire overlap region and comes up with stitching paths of least energy, which typically lie in the background, according to Altia Systems.

The computation is done in real time on a frame-by-frame basis to create the panoramic video. Each video frame is 1600 x 1200 pixels from each imager and joining these frames from three imagers together creates a 4800 x 1200 image. Each imager in the PanaCast 2 camera are 3 MPixel CMOS image sensors that can reach up to 30 fps in YUV422 and MJPEG video format.

Intelligent Vision 2.0, which was developed in collaboration with Intel, was trained with a dataset containing more than 150,000 people and is capable of detecting and counting more than 100 people up to 40 ft. away from the camera. This was developed, according to Altia Systems, to automate workflows and help businesses with resource management, such as buying less real estate after your camera tells you that 35% of your current office space is not being used. Use cases go beyond this space and into advertising analytics, for example, to detect how many people view a digital advertisement on various days of the week.

The Intelligent Vision 2.0 product suite include:

• Built-in People Detection: Built into the PanaCast Vision Processor within the PanaCast 2 camera, this capability is based on an embedded face detector technology and can detect people up to 12 ft. away and can simultaneously count up to 40 people.
• Advanced People Detection: Based on a new artificial intelligence head detector convolutional neural network (CNN) and developed in cooperation with Intel, this technology uses a CNN network architecture that is able to detect people from all directions including partially visible heads and extends the range up to 40 feet in crowded scenarios. The CNN inference engine is highly optimized for Intel Core processor-based PCs and the PanaCast 2. Is built for the Windows operating system and can be used for large areas like classrooms, auditoriums and general gatherings.
• Intelligent Zoom 2.0: Now featuring temporal filtering and the new AI head detector CNN, Intelligent Zoom 2.0 automatically zooms the video frame in and out to include all the meeting participants autonomously, so people can focus on their meeting without being distracted by the need to manage the field of view. This feature can detect people up to 40 feet away from the existing PanaCast 2 device and works with any video conferencing application.

"Intel is investing in AI technologies on Intel Client platforms to deliver more intelligent conference rooms and meetings," said Praveen Vishakantaiah, Intel Corporation Vice President, Client Computing Group and General Manager, Client Architecture and Innovation. "The Intel Core processor optimized AI head detector technology combined with the low distortion 180º field of view video produced by the PanaCast camera enables businesses to make better decisions, automate workflows and improve business efficiency."

The Intelligent Vision 2.0 suite of products are available as an add-on to any PanaCast 2 camera. Customers currently using the 1.0 suite of products may upgrade to 2.0 at no additional cost, according to the company.

View more information on PanaCast products.

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