ITRI Develops Integrated Technologies for Security Surveillance

Technology enables mobile devices to monitor remote subjects

Security has always been a background concern over the years, but has been catapulted to the foreground with the 911 terrorist destruction of the World Trade Center towers in New York, thus propelling a steadily-growing market for security-related products and services. Today, security monitoring products and services are literally built into residential. commercial and public buildings.

The Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI), Taiwan's R&D institute that engages in various projects, is developing integrated technologies for surveillance systems, aiming to boost the island's presence in this market.

Interviewed by CENS, Red-Tom Lin, the manager of ITRI's Cloud Service Technology Center and Technology Marketing Dept., talked about the institute's latest technology achievement to enhance community security.

Integration of Smart Devices
Lin says that the ITRI is inspired by the growing popularity of mobile devices to integrate smart devices into surveillance systems to make community security controllable and interoperable online with smartphones.

ITRI's security system integration technology is based on Miracast, a peer-to-peer wireless standard created by the Wi-Fi Alliance, which allows users to share video and audio streaming on mobile devices in real-time, according to Lin, who adds that the growing trend for multi-screen broadcasting also makes ITRI's idea of integrating smart devices into conventional surveillance systems marketable.

“By making smartphones and smart TVs a platform to access security services, such services are more compatible with the consumer segment than before to drive up sales of related products and services,” says Lin. So, the ITRI focuses on development of system integration between smart devices and surveillance systems, which Lin believes can be effectively applied in communities and modern residential buildings to enhance not just home and individual security but also information exchange between residents.

According to Lin, ITRI's system integration technology links surveillance cameras indoors and outdoors via the Internet to indoor phones, smart TVs and mobile devices, enabling a user in the living room, for instance, to monitor in real-time pets in the backyard, car in the garage or children in other rooms through TV, or even answer a landline phone via a tablet PC.

By connecting community web servers to home web servers, the system, Lin says, can also be used by community centers where surveillance and storage management systems are equipped to inform residents of mail delivery and visitors through mobile devices, which calls for additional packages of e-signatures and security connection.

System Structure
Lin elaborated on how a surveillance system works with ITRI's integration technology, saying that images and video captured by IP cameras are transmitted through the Intranet on RTP (Real-Time Transport Protocol) or RTSP (Real-Time Streaming Protocol) to NVR (network video recorder) and DVR (digital video recorder) systems to be stored, and then sent to community residents' smart devices via Wi-Fi networks.

Also, in the integrated system, audio from access control intercoms and central control intercoms can be streamed on SIP (Session Initiation Protocol), which makes communication among community residents convenient.

As to home security, ITRI's technology links IP cameras and indoor phones to Internet TVs or tablet PCs via a Wi-Fi access point or ADSL (Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line) modem, so users can watch shared images and talk to people shown on a screen directly. Furthermore, the technology can turn an indoor phone into a home web server wirelessly connected to household appliances, allowing remote controlling of lamps, projectors, air conditioners, and so forth.

“With the integration technology, we aim to achieve a smart connection through a surveillance security system, enabling computers, smartphones and watches to monitor security remotely, as well as looking forward to tapping this achievement to nourish the industry in southern Taiwan,” says Lin.

Derived from Another Cutting-edge TechnologyInnovative and multi-applicable, ITRI's surveillance system integration can be regarded as a derivation of another of its cutting-edge technology, Android motion sensing remote-control, which, according to Lin, is the software enabling a smartphone to remotely control sound and motion of outdoor TV walls or gaming joystick. This technology has been commercialized by a Taiwanese company who unveiled it at the International Consumer Electronics Show 2013, which just rounded off on January 10 in Las Vegas.

“The technology can be used for commercial and educational purposes, and help Taiwanese manufacturers of set-top boxes, smartphones and smart TVs enhance value in products,” says Lin.