Mitsubishi Electric says that it has developed what it claims to be the world’s first system for estimating, in real time, crowd congestion at large events, using data from surveillance cameras. It claims its 80 percent accuracy rate is about 30 percent higher than that of conventional methods. The Japanese manufacturer worked with the Research Center for Advanced Science and Technology of Tokyo University (RCAST). As a way for effectively managing crowd congestion, it is hoped that the technology will be applied to visitor safety and security at events. Mitsubishi Electric will conduct a field demonstration at the 38th Tamagawa Fireworks Festival in Tokyo on August 20.
As a simulator of real-time crowd movements, using data from surveillance cameras to estimate and predict crowd movements in real time, the system is the makers say a solution for relieving crowd congestion on pathways to and from event sites. Also, the developers add, it reduces computational complexity compared to conventional methods thanks to RCAST’s human-behavior model for simulating crowd movements by focusing not on the complete crowd but nearby people.
There are 11 pending patents in Japan and nine abroad. Visit: www.MitsubishiElectric.com.
