iCetana<\/a> is a leading example. The company is now penetrating international markets with a dynamic live-monitoring surveillance system developed, in part, from work funded by the Australian Research Council.<\/p>\nThe iCetana system monitors video captured by camera networks, using algorithms developed specifically to enable potential security and safety risks to be detected as they occur.<\/p>\n
The research was conducted at Curtin\u2019s Department of Computing, by a team focusing on anomaly detection in sensor data streams, and the development of new surveillance technologies, with the overall aim of improving community safety.<\/p>\n
Now, one of Curtin\u2019s foremost science innovations has returned to campus, working quietly behind the scenes to help ensure the safety of students, staff and visitors. However, iCetana is not only improving community safety at home; the system is deployed in transport hubs, shopping centres or other facilities that are accessed day and night, in several countries around the world.<\/p>\n
iCetana\u2019s head of business development, Stephen Bose, has recently returned from a tour of university campuses in the US.<\/p>\n
\u201cUniversities see live monitoring as the cornerstone of their campus and public security,\u201d says Bose. \u201cThe University of California, San Diego has expanded the coverage of its iCetana system within the first year of use, and the University of Texas at Arlington has just installed a new system.\u201d<\/p>\n
The company\u2019s success is particularly gratifying for the team credited with developing the algorithms behind the iCetana system. Curtin researcher Dr Sonny Pham explains the efficiencies that provide iCetana with major strengths in a competitive market.<\/p>\n
\u201cFirstly, the system not only delivers in real-time, it also has exceptional scalability,\u201d Pham says. \u201cConventional systems will accommodate only a few cameras per server, whereas the algorithms we developed enable iCetana systems to process footage up to hundreds of cameras per server\u2026and we\u2019ll continue to improve on this ratio.<\/p>\n
\u201cSecondly, because the detection technology is \u2018self learning\u2019, there\u2019s no need for technical staff to spend their time performing complex configurations.\u201d<\/p>\n
Christopher Hall from Curtin Security explains what this means at ground level.<\/p>\n
“When we connect a new camera to the network, the system analyses the camera\u2019s entire scene meticulously for a two-week period, to determine the usual patterns of motion in that scene,\u201d Hall explains.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt can then distinguish between normal activity and deviations from the norm. It will learn that people walking towards a security gate is normal, for example. But if someone starts to climb over the gate, the system sees this as an unusual event.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt immediately generates a detection and isolates the footage for the security operator to view and respond to.\u201d<\/p>\n
However, the iCetana system doesn\u2019t pose the privacy issues that other monitoring systems may present.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt doesn\u2019t see things like you or I would in video footage, it just recognises pixel flow in the scene,\u201d explains Stephen Bose.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s like a traffic-light camera. The camera doesn\u2019t \u2018learn\u2019 what you look like \u2013 it\u2019s simply detecting movement, and you\u2019re only detected if you behave abnormally and drive through the red light.\u201d<\/p>\n
Curtin\u2019s Vice-Chancellor Professor Deborah Terry welcomed iCetana\u2019s surveillance capabilities at Curtin, pointing out that \u201ca secure campus provides a strong base for community engagement\u201d.<\/p>\n
In Victoria, Swinburne University of Technology and Deakin University have also adopted the iCetana system as part of their safety initiatives.<\/p>\n
Adds Bose: \u201cBecause we\u2019re continually accommodating new camera systems, iCetana can be deployed into an existing network as a plug-n-go solution.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSo the system is well suited to organisations who have a surveillance network in place, but want to transform their operations via live monitoring, at minimum cost.\u201d<\/p>\n
At the Department of Computing<\/a>, Sonny Pham is now working on the development of advanced algorithms to solve longstanding motion surveillance issues in specific environments, such as camera shake from train vibrations.<\/p>\nHe also welcomes advances in camera technology that are enabling iCetana\u2019s progress in \u2018edge technology\u2019.<\/p>\n
\u201cRather than all footage being sent to the central server, some computation will be completed at the camera,\u201d Pham explains. \u201cThis preliminary data-processing will make the system even more efficient.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
With a population of more than 40,000 students and staff, Curtin\u2019s Bentley Campus is as busy as a small city. But unlike most cities, Curtin’s surveillance system is so smart it\u2019s off the scale.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4275,"featured_media":6095,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_oasis_is_in_workflow":0,"_oasis_original":0,"_oasis_task_priority":"","_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_research-areas":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[40],"tags":[],"research-areas":[],"class_list":["post-6094","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-technology"],"acf":{"post_options":{"":null,"additional_content":{"title":"","content":"","image":false},"related_courses":[{"title":"","qualification":"","link":"","description":"","faculty":""}],"credits":{"author":{"title":"Nick Brant and Karen Green","url":"#","target":""},"photographer":"","media":false},"display_author":true,"banner":{"image":false}},"post_components":false},"featured_image":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/Curtin-Control-Room-blurred22112016-WP.jpg","author_meta":{"first_name":"Curtin","last_name":"University","display_name":"Curtin University"},"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-24 19:37:19","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6094","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4275"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6094"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6094\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6095"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6094"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6094"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6094"},{"taxonomy":"research-areas","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/research-areas?post=6094"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}