Accurate people counting can be a difficult task. Counting individuals alone in large areas is manageable, but accurately counting groups of people entering narrow doorways is a challenge for most systems.
3xLogic is announcing a new camera that uses Time of Flight technology, which they claim has a 95-98% accuracy rate.
We spoke to 3xLogic CEO Matt Kushner about this new camera.
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Interesting Brian, thanks. I've been reading about Tof sensors for a while now, wondering when they would get into a "real" product.
Tof cameras use the same general principle that the laser on a Stanley FatMax uses to measure distance, except multiplied by the number of pixels.
Tailgating detection in access control would also have improved accuracy...
Active sensors with overlapping fields of view sometimes jam one another. Any idea if that's an issue with this device?
Thanks.
I thought we might hear from 3xLogic, but the silence is deafening.
If the active illumination is either spatial light modulation or radio frequency linear frequency modulation, performance will almost certainly suffer from mutual interference whenever these forms of active cameras are pointed at the same area.
Any user guidance, 3xLogic?
"the silence is deafening"
In fairness, last week was ISC West, so most people were on the road. Brian K will follow up with them tomorrow.
It's NIR.
The cameras are not cheap and the range is only 6 meters, why do you think the active areas would be overlapped?
Or are you concerned about a jamming vulnerability?
Active ranging applications are expanding, and both Time of Flight and Structured Light costs are following traditional camera prices downward. For example, single channel non-imaging ToF chips can be had for less than $10 in Qty 1. Today's 6 meters has a way of becoming tomorrow's 30 meters. Installers in particular would probably want to be aware of the strengths and limitations of this technology.
Horace, I'll ask 3xLogic for a comment. I have heard from other people looking into similar applications that interference from multiple structured light/ToF cameras can be an issue.
The other primary problem I have heard is that human hair often absorbs light at the frequency used by these devices, so direct overhead views can be a problem.
Brian and Horace,
There can be an issue with overlapping sensors. When the product is released next week, we will provide standard setup guidelines/directions for installing multiple sensors within the same area. We will make these available on both the Time of Flight product page and Support sections of our website. In addition, we are currently working on another sensor with a different wavelength, two different wavelength devices have no issue with overlapping; anticipated release summer 2016.
Highlighting the care one must take to avoid overlapping coverage interference, IPVM recently featured another example of the proliferation of this type of technology, from a different vendor.
