Canadian university draws on Deakin technology for security through lockdown

Computer vision technology co-invented by Alfred Deakin Professor Svetha Venkatesh, Co-Director of the Applied Artificial Intelligence Institute (A²I²), is helping Canada’s Mount Royal University keep tabs on campus security throughout the COVID-19 shutdown.

Perth-based video analytics company icetana Limited (ASX:ICE) has harnessed the unique technology to supply high-level security systems to a growing number of organisations around the world. The technology uses self-learning artificial intelligence to monitor camera security systems and alert staff about motion anomalies.

For Mount Royal University’s Calgary campus, the system monitors more than 200 cameras and provides real-time notifications to the security control room if unusual events are detected. Mount Royal Director of Security Services Peter Davison said while the campus had used icetana software for more than a year, it proved particularly valuable in the way it quickly adapted to deal with the changes in movement around the campus when COVID-19 struck.

“When our campus access was restricted for COVID-19 safety reasons, we found the self-learning system readily adapted to the reduced movement of students and staff,” Mr Davison said.

“This automated learning meant that we quickly started to see pretty much all the interesting movement taking place on a relatively quiet campus.”

icetana's technology was originally co-invented by Professor Venkatesh and began as a PhD project by Dr Saha Budhaditya exploring anomaly detection in compressed data. The research was funded through several ARC Linkage projects.

icetana received the Broadband Innovation Award, Tech23 in 2010 and the 2011 “WA Innovator of the Year” award. Deakin University has retained a close association with the company including:

• Collaborative research into computer vision innovations

icetana has been working with the Deakin A²I² team on cutting-edge computer vision techniques for video surveillance. This collaboration has led to top publications in the field of computer vision (Conference on Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition 2019 and International Conference on Computer Vision 2019).

• icetana is a participant in the Deakin-led ARC Industrial Transformation Research Hub for Digital Enhanced Living

As a commercial partner, icetana provides input on smart camera technology to improve understanding of people’s mobility in aged care premises.

• Deakin security is an active client of icetana

Deakin security uses icetana on a substantial portion of the University’s surveillance network to identify unusual events in real time and enhance the active response of the Deakin Security team.

More information about ARC Laureate Fellow Alfred Deakin Professor Svetha Venkatesh, Co-Director, A²I²