MRU first in Canada to adopt black screen, AI security monitoring

Published May 14, 2019 • 3 minute read

Mount Royal University is now using new software with its security camera system. iCetana software learns from the camera images and then can detect anomalies like criminal behaviour and then display those images to security officers. The lower screens in the security office are black until iCentana sees something that seems unusual or out of place. Gavin Young/Postmedia

Mount Royal University is turning to artificial intelligence to strengthen security across its Calgary campus.

As part of a years-long upgrade, 20-year-old CCTV cameras are being replaced with 360-degree high-resolution cameras and a software system that can learn from what it observes.

Mount Royal will be the first organization in Canada to employ the iCetana technology developed in Australia and already widely used across the United States.

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Over a 14-day period, the surveillance system learns to recognize what constitutes “normal” activity depending on the time of day and day of the week. When all is normal, the camera monitors display a black screen. Once an anomaly appears, such as movement deemed unusual for a certain area or time of day or an item on screen that is unfamiliar to the system, the affected area appears on one of the screens in real time.

“It works on a system based on fluid dynamics that takes images and converts them into pixels. Then it does pattern recognition to learn from what it’s seeing,” said Grant Sommerfeld, associate vice-president of Facilities Management at MRU.

“For example, if a person stops moving in a hallway it will flash a view of that camera into the dispatch and they’re triggered to look at it . . . It could also be a bunch of people standing together, or if someone left a backpack, and then that can be investigated.”

Mount Royal University is now using new software with its security camera system. iCetana AI software learns what is normal in a camera’s view and then can detect anomalies like criminal behaviour and then display those images to security officers. The lower screens in the security office are black until iCentana sees something that seems unusual or out of place. Gavin Young/Postmedia

Though the cameras are not equipped with facial recognition, the system is meant to allow security and, if necessary, emergency services to track the anomaly and be proactive in their safety plan.

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In addition to providing a better range of coverage, the new system ensures that things aren’t missed, which can happen when one person is tasked with watching upwards of 300 live feeds across the 118-acre campus at once.

The new system has already caught a car doing doughnuts in a parking lot and another car hitting a street light on campus.

Part of the safety upgrades include nine blue safety telephones with their own 360-degree cameras nicknamed “Code Blue,” which will be fully operational at various points on campus by the end of the summer.

“We are currently working to augment the process with these (Code Blue) stations so that people can call for help from mostly anywhere at any time, and it will give us a lot more in-depth coverage for those heavily used pedestrian corridors,” Sommerfeld said.

Mount Royal University is now using new software with its security camera system. iCetana AI software learns what is normal in a camera’s view like from above this code blue emergency call box and then can detect anomalies like criminal behaviour and then display those images to security officers. The lower screens in the security office are black until iCentana sees something that seems unusual or out of place. Gavin Young/Postmedia

Card readers on the doors will also help the process, Sommerfeld added, and by 2021 at the latest, the entire campus will be able to be locked down in an emergency with the push of a button.

“With longer hours at our new library, we wanted to ensure people could get in and out easily . . . it will also prevent security from having to manually lock and unlock 58 exterior doors on a daily basis,” Sommerfeld said.

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The project’s three components have been funded by three different revenue sources, including the university’s operating budget, the library project fund and the provincial government’s Infrastructure Maintenance Act. Sommerfeld wouldn’t comment on the total cost incurred to date.

An app called MRU Now is available for download on iTunes and the Google Play store that alerts users to safety concerns on campus and will allow them to report an emergency from their phones. It features a “work alone” and “friend walk” option for users to share their location so someone can follow their walk across campus in real time.

ocondon@postmedia.com

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