Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/1327492
January/February/March 2021 I 61 Closed Circuit Television Systems (CCTV) Perhaps the most notable use of AI in ESS at this point is in the world of CCTV. Over the past decade, there has been an increase of relatively affordable high-resolution cameras, as well as their growing adoption by many verticals (e.g., health care, hospitality, retail, detention centers). This has led to further innovation in the use of AI and machine learning to mine billions of images for patterns, features, and likeness. These systems have the ability to predict certain events with some statistical certainty in order to help prevent security breaches and criminal events (Figure 3). FIGURE 3: Sophisticated surveillance CCTV cameras can gather data to identify suspicious people and events. The use of drone technology with camera integration is a perfect complement to AI in assisting safety and security personnel with keeping an area or campus secure. For large venues with thousands of people, drones can survey large numbers of individuals and general patterns for suspicious activity or the identi- fication of wanted individuals. Drones are also a perfect complement to a traditional IP CCTV camera system. CCTV cameras are static and permanently mounted in place. A CCTV camera, for example, may alert a bank of drones that attention is needed in sector A or another specific location. A drone deploys immediately to cover that specific area for responders, capturing video information that may be needed later to analyze the security situation and identify the person(s) involved (Figure 4). FIGURE 4: AI-enabled drones are already here and in use. The possibilities of drone technology are endless.