Enhancing urban security with advanced surveillance solutions

By Slade Vandrau, Surveillance Business Unit Manager at Duxbury Networking.
Safer cities with Duxbury Networking.
Safer cities with Duxbury Networking.

Given the continued priority of making South African cities smarter and safer, adopting the latest in surveillance technologies becomes non-negotiable. As a leading distributor, Duxbury Networking says it is at the forefront of bringing advanced surveillance products to the local market. These include the SAFR facial recognition technology from RealNetworks and the Licence Plate Recognition (LPR) technology from FF Group. These tools are designed to transform the country’s urban landscape into a more secure, efficient and intelligent environment.

Redefining facial recognition

For instance, SAFR has been optimised for virtually any camera-enabled device. Think of it as the most effective way of bringing world-class facial recognition capabilities in-house. SAFR also offers edge processing on selected cameras to reduce hosting and bandwidth expenses. What sets it further apart is its passive liveness detection feature, enhancing security in biometric authentication. This technology can distinguish real individuals from printed photos or digital images – a crucial element for effective access control and identity verification in smart cities.

With a focus on low bias and ethical application, SAFR ensures that its facial recognition technology is fair and objective, addressing privacy concerns while enhancing public safety and convenience. This commitment to ethical standards also extends to its approach to handling data, with a stringent focus on privacy and compliance with legal standards. The SAFT facial recognition technology is also NDAA-compliant.

Taking these attributes further, SAFR’s technology handles diverse, real-world scenarios timeously, which is better suited for urban surveillance, where accuracy and adaptability are key. The advanced analytics capabilities serve as a component to provide valuable insights for urban planning and security management. This further extends the technology’s use beyond just identification to becoming a tool for smart city transformation.

Modernising vehicle recognition

Vehicle movement within a city is a critical component of urban planning and security. This is where the LPR technology of FF Group excels. Using illumination and camera systems, it captures and processes images of vehicles and their licence plates to extract vital data. This data is instrumental in various applications, from traffic management and toll collection to parking control.

The vehicle data technology extends to vehicle make and model recognition (MMR) to enhance the credibility of the licence plates attached to vehicles. Its accuracy and reliability in various environmental conditions ensure consistent performance, boasting high processing speed and low computational complexity, making it a reliable asset for modern urban management. This can then significantly improve traffic flow management and road safety. As is the case with the SAFR solution, FF Group’s LPR technology can easily integrate with existing city infrastructure, significantly reducing the upfront investment costs.

The LPR and MMR system can process and analyse data in real-time to provide metro police with actional insights to improve decision-making. Through this, it can contribute to enabling smarter traffic control strategies to reduce congestion and highlight where improvements in public transformation systems can be made.

Applications in urban environments

The integration of these advanced surveillance technologies can revolutionise city management. For traffic monitoring, real-time data collection by these systems can ease congestion, monitor violations and enhance road safety. In emergencies, rapid response facilitated by accurate data can be lifesaving.

Furthermore, the potential for these technologies in access control cannot be understated. From managing entry into parking spaces to securing sensitive urban areas, automated and efficient surveillance solutions like those provided by SAFR and FF Group ensure a higher level of security and operational efficiency, which frees up resources for urban growth.

Urban quality of life improvements from solutions like these, leverage the data-driven insights to empower city managers and optimise public services, for instance, waste collection routes and even public transport schedules. From a safety perspective, these tools enable authorities to proactively identify potential threats to prevent incidents. The enhanced capabilities of these technologies, including crowd pattern analysis and public space monitoring, are vital for future-focused urban planning and sustainable development.

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Duxbury Networking

Since its formation in 1984 by CEO, Graham Duxbury, Duxbury Networking has embraced ongoing technological changes within the ICT sector in order to provide its customers with access to the latest trends and solutions. Satisfying the evolving and diverse needs of its customer base is achieved through an emphasis on sourcing cost-effective, high-quality products from carefully selected local and international vendors. Aligned with this is the provision of uncompromising technical support, which is possible due to an extensive investment in the training and upskilling of its team. The company is driven to take an active role in reshaping and redefining the South African digital landscape in its mission to help its customers build a network that will support current and future technologies. 

Editorial contacts

Natasha Queiroz
Block 2 Riviera Office Park 66 Oxford Road Riviera 2193
(+27) 011 351 9800
nqueiroz@duxnet.co.za