New Surveillance Tool: Gait Recognition

New Surveillance Tool: Gait Recognition

New technology by a Chinese artificial intelligence company is analyzing the way a person walks as a means of identification.

Chinese authorities have begun to deploy a new surveillance tool called "gait recognition" software that uses people's body shapes and how they walk to identify them, even when their faces are hidden from cameras.

The software is already being used by police on the streets of Beijing and Shanghai and is part of a push across China to develop artificial intelligence and data-driven surveillance that is raising concerns about how far the technology will go.

The software, built by Chinese artificial intelligence company Watrix, extracts a person's silhouette from video and analyzes the silhouette's movement to create a model of the way the person walks. It doesn't require special cameras — the software can use footage from surveillance cameras already in place to analyze gait.

Watrix chief executive officer Huang Yongzhen said the system can identify people from up to 50 meters away, even with their back turned and their face covered.

"Gait analysis cannot be filled by simple limping, walking with splayed feet or hunching over, because we are analyzing all the features of an entire body," Yongzhen said.

For now, the technology isn't capable of identifying people in real-time yet. Users must upload the video into the program, which takes about 10 minutes to search through an hour of video.


About the Author

Sydny Shepard is the Executive Editor of Campus Security & Life Safety.

Featured

New Products

  • Compact IP Video Intercom

    Viking’s X-205 Series of intercoms provide HD IP video and two-way voice communication - all wrapped up in an attractive compact chassis.

  • AC Nio

    AC Nio

    Aiphone, a leading international manufacturer of intercom, access control, and emergency communication products, has introduced the AC Nio, its access control management software, an important addition to its new line of access control solutions.

  • ResponderLink

    ResponderLink

    Shooter Detection Systems (SDS), an Alarm.com company and a global leader in gunshot detection solutions, has introduced ResponderLink, a groundbreaking new 911 notification service for gunshot events. ResponderLink completes the circle from detection to 911 notification to first responder awareness, giving law enforcement enhanced situational intelligence they urgently need to save lives. Integrating SDS’s proven gunshot detection system with Noonlight’s SendPolice platform, ResponderLink is the first solution to automatically deliver real-time gunshot detection data to 911 call centers and first responders. When shots are detected, the 911 dispatching center, also known as the Public Safety Answering Point or PSAP, is contacted based on the gunfire location, enabling faster initiation of life-saving emergency protocols.