Abandoned Object Detection with Video Surveillance

Date : Sep 2017 - Aug 2018

Terrorism and global security are one of the major issues the world is facing today. Abandoned object detection is one of the most practically useful areas of computer vision due to its application in automated video surveillance systems for the detection of suspicious activities that might endanger public safety, especially in crowded places like airports, railway stations, shopping malls, movie theatres and the like. This project captures live streaming from the camera and using advanced techniques from machine learning and image processing for determining if any abandoned object has been set up. It then raises an alarm, to alert the authorities of the presence of an unattended(abandoned) object at the scene. An abandoned object is defined as one that has been lying stationary at a certain place with no apparent human attendance for an extended period. Such objects are usually inconspicuous commonplace objects that people often carry around including backpacks, suitcases and boxes. Detection of abandoned objects is of prime importance in uncovering and forestalling terrorist activities since it is a reasonable supposition that an abandoned object, if left behind on purpose, may be hiding dangerous items like explosives.