EF 571 – Innovation & High Technology Entrepreneurship

Multi-modal Surveillance Technologies

Commercialization Plan

Group 203/05/2012

Project Title:             Commercialisation Plan for Multi Modal Sensor technologiesModule Code:          EF 571 - Innovation and High Technology EntrepreneurshipLecturer:           Dr. Teresa HoganSubmission Date:    03/05/2012

Declaration:

We the undersigned declare that the project material, which we now submit, is our own work. Any assistance received by way of borrowing from the work of others has been cited and acknowledged within the work. We make this declaration in the knowledge that a breach of the rules pertaining to project submission may carry serious consequences.We are aware that the project will not be accepted unless this form has been handed in along with the project.

Name: John F. Kennedy Student No: 11210619 Signed:_________________Name: Thomas Crean Student No: 11210663 Signed: _________________Name: James Dellinger Student No: 11210889 Signed: _________________Name: Daniel McMahon Student No: 57341865 Signed: _________________Name: David Luttrell Student No: 58405778 Signed: _________________

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ContentsProduct/Service Concept................................................................................................5

CLARITY: Centre for Sensor Web Technologies.....................................................5

History of Video Surveillance....................................................................................5

The Product................................................................................................................5

Use of Multi-modal Technologies.............................................................................6

Application Areas......................................................................................................7

Security..................................................................................................................7

Defence..................................................................................................................8

Social and Sports Science......................................................................................8

Technology/Operations Plan..........................................................................................8

Benefits of this Technology.......................................................................................8

Current trends, future directions, and competing technologies...............................10

Technological Risk Assessment...............................................................................14

Market Strategy............................................................................................................16

Market Segmentation...............................................................................................16

Market size & Trends...............................................................................................17

European Market......................................................................................................18

American Market.....................................................................................................18

Positioning of Multimodal surveillance technologies..............................................19

Pricing of Multimodal Surveillance technologies....................................................20

Commercialisation Strategy: Spin off......................................................................20

Sales Plan.....................................................................................................................21

Innovation partnership.............................................................................................21

Industry Analysis.........................................................................................................22

Threat of New Entrants............................................................................................23

Threat of Substitutes................................................................................................24

Bargaining Power of Suppliers................................................................................24

Bargaining Power of Buyers....................................................................................25

Competitive Rivalry.................................................................................................25

Environmental Analysis...........................................................................................26

PEST analysis..........................................................................................................26

Political................................................................................................................26

Economic.............................................................................................................27

Social....................................................................................................................27

Technological.......................................................................................................27

Research & Development Analysis.............................................................................28

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Key Researchers.......................................................................................................28

Publications..............................................................................................................28

Assessment...............................................................................................................29

Equipment................................................................................................................29

Labour......................................................................................................................29

IP Protection.............................................................................................................30

Commercialisation...................................................................................................30

References....................................................................................................................31

Surveys.....................................................................................................................31

Books.......................................................................................................................31

Web Pages................................................................................................................31

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Product/Service Concept

CLARITY: Centre for Sensor Web TechnologiesThe CLARITY centre is a research centre that is focused on two particular research

areas – Adaptive Sensing and Information Discovery. It was set up in April 2008. Its

main office is located in University College Dublin (UCD), but has offices in Dublin

City University (DCU) and Tyndall National Institute.

The main theme behind the work that CLARITY carries out is ‘bringing information

to life’, and requires that large volumes of sensed information, which consists of

physical and digital data, are analysed for use in information services. The centre is

focused on providing new ways to monitor health, support ageing populations, take

advantage of digital media, and improve the quality of our environment (CLARITY).

History of Video SurveillanceThe word ‘surveillance’ is a French term, which means to “watch over”. The concept

was created to assist those involved with security in preventing crime. The idea was

that areas could be monitored from afar, rather than having a guard on hand to patrol

each individual territory. This helped to reduce the amount of guards on duty. It also

accounted for any events that may have been missed by security, as the event will

have been recorded so it can be replayed at a later stage. The use of security systems

has grown through the world in recent years. In London in 1960, there were two

security cameras on Trafalgar Square. In 2002, there were over 4.2 million security

cameras in the UK, which worked out at nearly one camera for every 14 people.

Today, an effective surveillance system is a necessity for any large organisations

(Kuklyte, J. 2010).

The ProductWhen the word surveillance is heard, people automatically think of video surveillance

and the CCTV systems that they see in place in those large organisations such as

airports, shopping centres, and offices. However, surveillance is not necessarily

limited to just video and image, and if it were to be limited to those two mediums, its

potential in the fields of security and analysis would be severely limited. There are

many different kinds of surveillance, such as sound, heat, movement, anything else

that can be associated with human behaviour. The Multi-modal surveillance system

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aims to include these other forms of detection in order to improve the overall

efficiency and effectiveness video surveillance.

The system will provide industries, where security is paramount to the service they

provide, with the ability to recognise any disturbances or threats that occur that would

have been missed by video surveillance, as it will be able to recognise many different

kind of disturbances and not just visual disturbances. Typically, security cameras

require human interaction to monitor the activity that is being recorded in order to

recognise any disturbances, where as this system will be able to alarm those

responsible for dealing with events, without any need for manned supervision. It is

unique in its approach, as it will be able to adapt to the environment it is in and learn

about the events that usually occur, which will in turn allow it to react to events that

are out of the ordinary, such as movement, noise, speed of movement, particular

actions, or number of people etc. The type of events that it will recognise as abnormal

will depend on the environment it is in and the kind of activity that usually takes place

within that environment.

The multi-modal surveillance system can be used in conjunction with many different

sensor types, although an audio signal is the primary type of sensor that it is designed

to work with. If an organisation were to install it, it would not require any major work

as it could be installed to work simultaneously with any existing surveillance systems

(McDonnell, E. 2011).

Use of Multi-modal TechnologiesThe use of multimodal technologies will allow the system to analyse the environment

from different points of view. Infrared can be used to help the system perform during

the night, or during periods of the day when there are low levels of daylight. It can

also be used to detect movement, which would in turn trigger the cameras to begin

recording the actions of whatever has been detected. One study showed how it is

possible to differentiate the movements of particular entities. This meant they could

decipher between a door closing and person moving for example (Pratiet. Al. 2005).

Using these techniques, it is possible to differentiate between normal activity such as

the sound of footsteps, and abnormal activity such as somebody running or a

confrontation. Figure 1.0, below, shows how different events can be recorded.

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Sound signature examples (Jogile Kuklyte Transfer Report, 2010)

Audio is another sensor that can be used to assist the surveillance process. The audio

sensors can be used to detect activity and determine sophisticated pieces of

information such as the direction of an entity or object. The audio sensors can be set

to work on a threshold, which determines the level of sensitivity they work at. During

a quiet period where there is not much activity such as the night, the threshold is

lowered. This heightens the sensitivity so the system will pick up on lower sounds.

During the day, when there may be more activity and therefore more sound in the

environment, the threshold could be raised. The audio sensors can detect an activity

and direct the video cameras to the event so it can be recorded (Kuklyte, J. 2010). It is

possible to install multiple audio sensors to connect with one camera. This will help to

determine the direction on which the disturbance is occurring.

Application Areas

SecurityThe multi-modal surveillance system will be able to improve the efficiency of most of

today’s surveillance systems. Currently it is accepted by management that they will

need to employ a security guard or somebody else to monitor what is happening

around their premises. This individual will continuously look at the images returned

by the CCTV cameras with intention of spotting any unusual events that may occur.

This approach is very inefficient when you consider that the multi-modal surveillance

system will monitor the images and alert security of any unusual events automatically

without the need for much human interaction.

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DefenceThe technology can be used to monitor property and the perimeter of landmasses. An

example of where the system would be ideal is in restricted areas such as airfields and

airports. During our research we met with officials working in security in the Dublin

Airport Authority (DAA). The idea of the meeting was to discuss how the technology

would be implemented, and to learn more about what would be required of the system

in order for it to be used in an area that requires such high measures of security. They

agreed that the concept was a good one and the technology could definitely be

employed in any major airports or high security establishments.

Social and Sports Science

The use of multi-modal surveillance technologies could also help to fast track in

eliminating queue formation, a process improvement tool. It would be possible to use

the technology to analyse the performance and movement of athletes. Video data

could be used along with other inputs such as heart rate, breathing, heat etc

(McDonnell, E. 2011).

Technology/Operations Plan

Benefits of this TechnologyThere are a number of benefits that this technology will bring with it. Here are some

of the most notable benefits that can be expected.

The ability to detect events based on multiple inputs allows for a more

sensitive form of surveillance. There are events that the multi modal

surveillance system would be able to detect, that would go undetected on a

uni-modal surveillance system, such as the typical CCTV system that would

be in place in most establishments.

Recording audio is very cost effective and a useful addition to any surveillance

system. Quite often video footage of an event can be hard to interpret,

especially if there is no sound present to compliment the images and events

that are being displayed on the screen.

The system can be adapted to work with any type of sensor. All that is

required is that the signal is continuous and digitised so it can be interpreted

correctly. The more sensors that are employed the better the results will be due

to the fact that an event will become detectable in more ways.

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The technology has been tested for use in indoor environments, but is still

being tested for use in an outdoor environment. The idea behind the

technology is that it can be used either indoor or outdoor to provide a

maximum level of security (McDonnell, E. 2011)

The underlying technologies driving the business of the use of multimodal

technologies will allow the system to analyse the environment from different points of

view.

Infrared can be used to help the system perform during the night, or during periods of

the day when there are low levels of daylight. It can also be used to detect movement,

which would in turn trigger the cameras to begin recording the actions of whatever

has been detected. Studies show it is possible to differentiate the movements of

particular entities. This meant they could decipher between a door closing and person

moving for example (Pratiet. Al. 2005). Using these techniques, it is possible to

differentiate between normal activity such as the sound of footsteps, and abnormal

activity such as somebody running, screaming, or a physical confrontation.

Audio is another sensor form that could be used to assist the event driven multi-modal

surveillance process. The audio sensors can be used to detect activity and determine

sophisticated pieces of information such as the direction of an entity or object. The

audio sensors can be set to work on a threshold, which determines the level of

sensitivity they work within.

(Joglie Kuklyte Transfer Report, 2010)

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During a quiet period where there is not much activity such as the night, the threshold

is lowered when enough data has been collected for flagging of normal vs. atypical

activities in a given area. This heightens the sensitivity so the system will pick up on

lower sounds. During the day, when there may be more activity and therefore more

sound in the environment, the threshold could be raised substantially to take this into

account. The audio sensors can detect an activity and direct the video cameras to the

event so it can be recorded (Kuklyte, J. 2010). It is possible to install multiple audio

sensors to connect with one camera. This will help to determine the direction on

which the disturbance is occurring.

Current trends, future directions, and competing technologiesMoving the product to the future we need to keep an eye for developments in sensory

tech as prices decline for what is perceived as expensive solutions in today’s market.

Trying and integrate these into the products future development. The software

integration of event driven multimodal sensor CCTV into larger Enterprise Resource

Planning (ERP) suites many organisations depend upon.

Traditionally Networked Surveillance Analysis and Response Flow

The future networked analysis systems and responses will include in links to ERP

systems and out link push to IP (cell phones, tablets and offsite computers) for event,

monitoring by professionals and principles when time sensitive decisions may need to

be made. Cloud storage systems will also aid the various needs for large onsite

storage as surveillance over IP grows as a sector of the market.

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An adaptive threshold for the difference between a model of usual scenes and

the new data can be used, which allows the system to adapt to the amount of

activity in the scenes. If for example, the busy street is being monitored, then

the threshold for events automatically becomes higher to avoid too many false

alarms. On the other hand, if the same area is monitored during the night, the

threshold will gradually adapt to the evening calmness and will automatically

lower during this period. Classification step is using higher-level information

to group similar events and to label them. Assigning labels to semantic events

has to be done manually by the user. Classification can be done for usual and

unusual scenes separately. Metadata with automatically generated

descriptions of the scenes and events can be saved for easier retrieval of the

past events. (Jogile Kuklyte Transfer Report, 2010)

Why use the addition of sound monitoring data anyway? Primarily it is better at event

detection for certain kinds of interactions. (Uzkent, 2011) Also, audio is helpful,

because of its low data storage needs, in comparison to video and its ability to add

context to an otherwise moving picture. Long-term blue sky, thinking a security

system would probably incorporation the monitors five senses and have threshold

layered event detection from many locations with deep computer learned thresholds

built in for various human interventions. However, we are far from this point today.

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First, let’s discuss a bit where we are. One problem with video only solutions is due to

the limited resolution of most mid-market mid-range cameras. Having near-life-like

resolution and zooming capabilities would make the job easier, but in addition to this

currently unfeasible, it would exponentially increase the volume and size of

computations needed and data storage requirements. In the end it would typically be

too expensive for any practical use to roll out for a live implementation.

However, multiple cameras integrated solutions with a wireless sensor network

mounting some PIR (Passive Infrared) or even active IR are the more common

systems integrating other sensor information. These are not considered expensive

implementations (Pratiet. Al. 2005).

Other than this type of solution various enhancements to video via new software, or

limited use of higher pixel density cameras allows more use of partial image

sequences for more details observations. Many projects around improving visual

surveillance have existed in recent years.

(Jogile Kuklyte Transfer Report, 2010)

We have also seen that there are a number of researchers working on similar projects

in different universities. Listed below are examples of these projects and these are to

name but a few.

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Multimodal Surveillance: Sensors, Algorithms and Systems, Zhigang Zhu and

Thomas S. Huang

Study of Robust and Intelligent Surveillance in Visible and Multimodal

Framework,

Praveen Kumar, Ankush Mittal and Padam Kumar

An Integrated Multi-Modal Sensor Network for Video Surveillance Andrea

Prati, Roberto Vezzani, Luca Benini, Elisabetta Farella, and Piero Zappi

Adaptive Fusion of Multimodal Surveillance Image Sequences in Visual

Sensor Networks, Dejan Drajic, Nedeljko Cvejic

Audio monitoring technology is evolving in a different way that acknowledges our

changed mobile lifestyles. These often have to do with SIM hardware or quieter

software solutions upon handsets to listen to private conversations (allibaba.com,

2012).

This market is largely being driven by the intelligence community and the (war on

terror, Asian internal security services etc.) However, the changes in parabolic audio

surveillance are keeping the useful to a lesser degree than the old spy movies may

suggest.

Sound integration and the fusion of that data with visual information is the unique

feature of our product concept. However, exactly how and where the sound is

integrated matters much to the value outcomes of the application implementation.

Where are the microphones located? What is the listening distance and value added at

the distance being observed. However, audio and (audio/video data fusion) is still

incredibly valuable especially in closed-in environments and limited light

environments, for example at night.

Staying current with trends in the industry will be important moving forward. Some

that have been mentioned or encountered would be: IP push to mobile smartphones

and tablets monitoring for guards and principles; system integration with corporate

ERPs; surveillance system information gathering nodes being made more mobile i.e.

(conceptual mono-rail’s for large area coverage by single device like airport

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parameter) cellular, wifi, and UAV based nodes (smartphones, and etc being able to

push into the surveillance system); cloud-based data management solutions to lower

on-site implementation costs; improved and cheaper facial recognition software

integration; cheaper chemical sensor technologies to detect human activities; and

software solutions like Automated Warning and Response Engine (AWARE) from

Abeo Technical Services being implemented in at risk public spaces in New York at

high costs becoming more affordable.

Technological Risk AssessmentThe primary risk is that the current system does not work or function to the

specifications identified early on as needed in monitoring both indoor and outdoor

spaces. This is the primary limitation of our product concept is the lack of conclusive

data that it (along with the integrated data fusion software) functions to project

specification.

(Jogile Kuklyte Transfer Report)

The detection of “Event Outliers,” threshold driven software not a usual concept,

however the unique context that fusing video data with audio adds remains unique to

our project.

During the detection phase, the algorithm classifies outliers while updating

the model. The model is refined over time so that slow seasonal changes or

infrastructural changes would not disrupt the process. Adaptive Threshold

Outliers are detected when the minimum distance between a new element and

the ones representing the model clusters is bigger than the set threshold. The

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threshold is calculated from the accumulated shortest distance histogram.

(Jogile Kuklyte Transfer Report, 2010)

The histogram is updated with every new element by adding the shortest

distance from this element to the model clusters. After the training phase, the

histogram S holds values of the shortest distances dmin between the model M

and all the elements from the past. This histogram continues to be updated

during the detection phase. Threshold this calculated as follows: histogram of

shortest distances S is sorted in the ascending order. (Jogile Kuklyte. Transfer

Report, 2010)

The shortest distance between the element x and the clusters in the model is

compared to the value Palarm in the histogram. Palarm is set at the beginning

of the algorithm and remains constant through out. In the experiments,

Palarm was set to 0.01 as it is suggested in [13]. If the shortest distance dmin

between the model M and the new element is above the threshold, then the new

element is marked as an outlier. Otherwise the new element x is added to the

model M and the STEP 2 from the section is executed. (Jogile Kuklyte

Transfer Report, 2010)

Figure: time-space blocks - audio example. The time interval of the audio

signal of size a is transformed into the feature vector. The overlap between

feature vectors is of the size b. (Jogile Kuklyte Transfer Report, 2010)

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The audio–visual data fusion software can be accomplished in different levels.

However, the data fusion is where the magic happens for this project, this is where the

greatest value added can be created quickest given that audio surveillance is not

common and integrated audio-visual surveillance is currently not done other than our

concept. This smart threshold event driven multi-modal process and software is where

the largest amount of intellectual property value is currently vested. Anyone could

decide to add audio options into video surveillance services tomorrow; however, the

testing and teasing out of useful events from a mass of data via threshold algorhitmic

sort is difficult as we have learned. From a buyers perspective buying or lisencing this

component would be more cost effective than redoing all of the research undertaken

in development of this project.

Market Strategy

Market Segmentation

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Looking at the Irish Market as a whole we can see that the private security industry generated €1.2 billion in revenues at the end of 2010. (See left)

One may think a slight percentage of this would be a good result to achieve but if we take Europe as a whole we can see that the private security market generated €35 billion in 2010 with an average market growth of 13.30% year on year. (See Below)

(http://www.coess.org/ 2012)

2008 European monitoring statistics from Monitoring and Alarm Receiving Centres

Serial 1 - Number of private monitoring centres that receive intruder alarm

connections

Serial 2 - Number of private monitoring centre connections

Serial 3 - Number of private monitoring centre intrusion connections

Serial 4 - Number of alerts received by the private monitoring centres

Serial 5 - Number of activations passed to the police from private monitoring centres

Serial 6 - Does a sanction exist for a false alarm?

Serial 7 - Number of fire connections

Serial 8 - Number of technical connections

Serial 9 - Number of social alarm connections

Serial 10 - Number of vehicle tracking and tracing connections

Serial 11 - Number of e-guarding connections

Serial 12 - Number of detector-activated CCTV system

The above diagram is merely to illustrate how the Irish market compares to the

European market as a whole in terms of the above mentioned factors. Now that we

have a better sense of what the private security market consists of we can determine

our best approach to market.

Market size & TrendsThere are two distinct markets we must analyse, the US and the European market.

Multimodal sensor technology is relatively new and the closest establishments to

using these types of technologies are high liability establishments, airports for

example. The algorithm which Jogile has designed is unique to all markets and it’s the

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Not to forget out closest neighbours who in 2010 had a private security industry with generated €3.97 billion and with a population of over 62 million this means more liabilities to monitor and a perfect market to establish a new multi-modal technology.

functionality of it that will be its USP. As I have stated previously the private security

market was worth an estimated €35 billion in 2010. As of 2007 the security industry

was worth at least an estimated $18 Billion, $10 billion for the security industry and

8.2 for integrators, installers and software installers. ABI research projects significant

growth in surveillance software year on year by 2013 (Dempsey, 2010). Within

industrial environments (factories and manufacturing plants) the use of multimodal

sensors could be used for safeguarding inventory and people for injury or theft.

European MarketAccording to www.coess.org the private security market was worth an estimated €35

billion in 2010 and Ireland was worth only €1.2 billion of that. The annual growth of

the market in 2010 was 13.30% and we can assume that this has slightly increased

thus increasing the need for more advanced technologies.

American Market

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Not surprisingly Video Surveillance is

one of the most important products

according to members in the electronic

security association.

Source: ESA’s mega trends with the

US.

As one can see from the survey to the

left these are the annual revenues from

companies who tool part in the mega

trend survey 2011. What we can

establish from this is that the US

industry is worth a much larger

proportion than the European market

and in that sense tendering to enter the

US market could be substantially

worth while.

(Coess, 2012)

In the Diagram above once can see each European county colour coded representing

the level of legislation each county are at in comparison to other countries. From this

we can assume that the use of multimodal technologies may be more sought after in

some countries as opposed to other counties.

Positioning of Multimodal surveillance technologies.This product of multimodal surveillance sensor technologies is targeted for a diverse

range of industries, some of which include:

Public and private spaces (including streets , warehouses and car parks) –

where once person can monitor a range of areas as opposed to a small team

constantly scanning each environment whilst trying to maintain focus.

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As per the diagram to the left, video

surveillance is looking at very strong

growth over the next two years as per

projected trends for the participant’s

answers.

Source: ESA’s mega trends with the

US.

Blue – Low

Green - Medium

Orange - Strict

Pink - Very Strict

**Level of Legislation per European country

Defence forces – the use of these technologies could advance border control

areas as well as parameter control areas.

Process improvement - areas such as airports, motor tax offices and

supermarkets where lengthy queues can form. This in turn can flag when a

busy area has form and senior authorities can determine what may be the

cause of such events.

Correctional facilities – the use of these technologies will learn these

environments and in turn detect the unordinary for the ordinary through the

use of a combination of sensors.

According to feedback which we received from Dublin Airport Authority on the use

of multimodal surveillance technologies, there is a market for these technologies in

their environment of use but, they feel that the use of sound and video is limited in

itself. The use of other sensory technologies would be far more sought after.

Pricing of Multimodal Surveillance technologiesBased on the diverse range of industries which could benefit from multimodal

technologies we felt the best fit practice in order to roll out this type of technology

would be licensing. We felt that getting into the hardware industry was unnecessary

and the more simplistic approach, yet beneficial was to licence the technologies to

players already in this industry.

In regards to the pricing of the licensing, we can’t put any one individual figure on

this as the licensing costs would range depending on industry, size application ect …

Each application is unique and therefore it’s not a one size fits all model.

Commercialisation Strategy: Spin offIn Regards to the commercialisation strategy we intend to use for our products, we

consider licencing the software more appropriate than other methods such as a spin

off i.e. - manufacturing the hardware, partnership or a joint venture. Although one

major concern needs to be addressed in order for the technology to be licensed and

this is the IP protection and this will be the technologies only safe guard. As Patenting

is expensive we recommend seeking venture capital funding, having the option to buy

stakes back before the technologies peak. A concern arising from this is the copying

of this technology in another country. China for example where in certain areas

technology production is a major player in industry and the copying of other

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technologies can be quick and cheap. Therefore it is recommended to act rapidly on

this. We believe the initial capital for this business will be relatively low with more of

a focus of research and development.

Sales Plan

Innovation partnershipWe feel that an innovation partnership may be another option for the

commercialization of this product. We feel that if an Irish based company seen

potential global success for this product and could help in its establishment it may be

far easier than licensing alone. We’re also aware that Enterprise Ireland provides a

grant of up to 80% towards the costs of the research product and this could potentially

fund future research and development. High potential start-ups can avail of up to

€100,000 and we feel that our client’s product is a high potential start up.

We also felt that Axis Communications would be a suitable partner if an innovation

partnership was to be formed. The combined expertise alongside their European

establishment is a recipe for success. Axis Communication are market and technology

leaders in monitoring over IP surveillance solutions. Some other potential innovation

partnership candidates could include Mobitix, Indigo Vision. Both parties are leaders

in end to end IP video security solutions and are leaders of digital security services.

There are all European companies.

Another route would be to sell our leap-frogging technology to one of the leaders of

the analogue monitoring solutions struggling to adapt to the, “digital surveillance over

IP solutions,” being provided by the previously mentioned leaders in the field.

Potential partnerships with other firms like Pelco, Siemens Security, or Bosch

Security may given their market strength in the “analogue market” and servicing it

and their deep pockets attempting to adapt to the digital revolution in security

systems.

American players to consider would be the division of the American firm UTC doing

business as Interlogix, which purchased GE Security a number of years back and is a

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large player, but lest so in Europe. Their strength is derived from strong integration

with lift monitoring systems that are built and managed by there UTC sibling, Otis.

Audio may be very useful in the lift environment, so Otis could be approached as

well. Other possible American players in the space that may be interested in

partnering or lisencing may be: Telguard; Trieo/Northern Video; ADI; Altronix; and

Security America.

Lastly open up a Jane’s Defence Weekly and the contract procurement files of nation-

states and look at talking to defence firms like BEA Systems, Boeing, Thales, and

Saab Group, which integrated border control and management solutions to sovereign

states and local governments. As some Schengen compliant EU states make noise

about some border controls possibly being re-introduced these new solutions may

likely be more technology driven than human staff driven solutions.

Finally, emerging markets will increase their purchase of technologies and licences of

cutting edge concepts like audio visual surveillance fusion this will increasingly be

part of any company’s sales thoughts. China is rumoured to spend twice as much on

internal security than it does on national defence. This raises ethical questions for

western companies, but it does drive the technology available in the marketplace.

Other growth economies will continue to adapt more security products as new shiny

corporate campuses invade India, Russia, Brazil, and etc.

Industry AnalysisFrom analysing the surveillance industry we can obtain crucial information on

deciding whether or not multimodal surveillance technologies will be able to compete

in its niche segment of the surveillance and security market. The difference between

the different market pressures and forces may be a big factor in the sway for the

decision to commercialise the project or not. According to Michael Porter;

“Understanding the competitive forces, and their underlying causes, reveals the roots

of an industry’s current profitability while providing a framework for anticipating and

influencing competition (and profitability) over time.” (Porter, 08)

This is why we believe it is a suitable model for analysing the surveillance industry as

it will give a clear picture of the industry in terms of its profitability and competition.

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It will help us ponder how multi modal technologies will stand up against its

competitors in the industry. It will also help shape a strategy for the technology if it

were to be commercialised.

Fig 1 – Visualisation of the Porters five forces Model

So in putting these forces into practice we must now analyse these areas to come up

with an overall theory on how the product could compete in the industry.

Threat of New EntrantsNew entrants to the market space could effectively dent Multi-Modal surveillance

technologies ability to become profitable in the industry by taking up some of the

potential market share. This could also result in potential profits being dented too. In

the same regard barriers to entry could exist when existing players in the industry

have an advantage, such as economies of scale or regulatory protection. So how does

this fare in the Surveillance industry? From what we have seen is that surveillance has

been based on the same concept since its inception and multimodal utilization for

sensor event driven use of the technology would be a value add to the product.

However, this aspect of the product is quite niche. In a saturated market, built up of

infrastructure, software and security systems and in an ever growing technological

landscape it would seem that the barriers to entry into the market are quite low. This

referring to suppliers with the relevant core competencies and who are adherent to

statutory legislation, which in our opinion and what we have seen from the meeting

with the DAA to be the main barriers to entry.

Rating: High

Threat of SubstitutesIn looking at the Irish market alone there are a number of well established companies

in the Irish market who provide surveillance systems. Taking from the DAA interview

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we have found that they chose to utilize systems provided by IBM and Niscayah for

surveillance and Oracle for event driven reporting onto their ERP. There are also

several quite visible players in the market space such as Chubb and G4S who all

provide systems and solutions. The market is also fragmented into a number of

smaller segments for smaller more niche providers. Even if you were to look up the

surveillance or CCTV page of the golden pages it would be quite apparent that there

is intense competition in the market space.

Global companies such as those used by the DAA have expertise, support,

infrastructure and economies of scale that this as a start-up could simply not compete

with on a wide scale, this being on a cost or differentiation basis. Unless this product

is piloted in the market space and comprehensive and adaptable versions of the

software are availed of then we believe competition would overwhelm the product.

Rating: High

Bargaining Power of SuppliersThe switching costs of altering products from a current system in use would be quite

high, especially if supplying a new solution or a bespoke or tailored solution, one of

which we see being offered by this technology. However there would be a case for

once a contract is obtained for this service that the buyer would be locked in. If

multimodal surveillance technologies could be vertically integrated into the supply

chain then this would be a good move as then the products offered would be intrinsic

factors for companies to purchase.

We believe that due to regulatory constraints such as the Data protection act, as well

as a company’ s duty of care towards its stakeholders will on the price point but also

impact on the services that the product therefore must provide. Surveillance solutions

in general provide an impact on labour hours accounted for by reducing them

significantly by being able to monitor wider areas of premises than traditional security

personnel only solutions. Suppliers when locked into a deal have a significant amount

of control over the price point of goods and services offered, despite the fact that there

is intense competition in the industry. Looking at porters article again, security

services offered the highest ROIC of 40% in the US between the period of 1992 and

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2006. Therefore it can be assumed that if successful the technology could demand

significant profit from incumbent customers of the product. (Porter, 08)

Rating: Medium to High

Bargaining Power of BuyersNeedless to say when a company opts to buy surveillance or security product there is

an intrinsic need for them inside of the business. This will therefore increase the price

of the product as there is a demand for security services. In areas of high stakeholder

value surveillance can save a customer’s business quite a significant amount of money

also, in terms of claims, employee and customer theft. It may also save businesses

money in terms of complying with statutory legislation, avoiding fines would also be

another attractive benefit for having a good security system in place. We believe that

the customer due to their needs is willing to pay a premium on the product despite the

fact that there is intense competition in the market space. According to Narayandas,

“Customers also want the latest and best products and are willing to pay premiums for

them. Industries often ask vendors to reduce prices because their products become

commodities” (Narayandas, 05).

This could be good for multimodal technologies as they provide a differential

advantage over traditional means, while traditional products become “commodities”

the new fresh outlook on the technology provided by multimodal systems could

become the premium edge in the market space.

Rating: Low

Competitive RivalrySo how do these factors culminate in generating a competitive rivalry in the

surveillance market space? On the face of it competition does seem quite intense with

a significant number of competitors and potential competitors in the marketplace.

However, it goes without saying, as long as the potential commercialisation shows

ability to win contracts then we believe it could be commercially viable in the

industry, especially due to the high profitability seen in the US market space. If the

product could be licensed as a vertically integrated solution, to a number of

manufacturers or producers like Microsoft did with the Windows operating system,

competition could potentially be bypassed. This is a possible commercial path for the

product.

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Rating: Medium - High

Environmental AnalysisIn this section we plan to analyse the macro environment of which multi modal

surveillance technology would face pressures or forces from. We plan to do this in the

indigenous Irish market space in order to get a better grasp of the initial environment

the product would be entering or swaying the market in. When trying to enter another

market space we would state that it would be difficult to apply these points to it, as

market and environmental pressures would be different in each sovereign territory.

The benefits that this type of analysis could possibly bring to this product can be seen

from the insights it could obtain into its environment. According to Kotter and

Schlesinger 1991, “In analysing the macro environment it is important to identify the

factors that are likely to influence the organizations supply and demand levels and its

costs” (Kotter and Schlesinger, 1991)

PEST analysisSo in analysing the macro environment in Ireland today in relation to multi modal

surveillance technology we have decided to use the pest framework. This will analyse

the environment under four different areas. In terms of the political environment of

the country, this basically consists of how the government and statutory bodies

specifically intervenes in the areas of the technology, surveillance and other

applicable sectors. Economic Pertains to the economic situation for businesses in the

country at this current time. Social factors are any people factors that we deem

relevant to analysing the environment for our business. Technological are any

improvements in technology that will help us sell our product.

PoliticalIn the Irish market there would be two main technical statutory frameworks which the

technology would have to comply with in order to be sold as a product to market; the

first the communications act of 2011. This act outlines provisions for the retention of

data in a company and the specific allowances it must include and provide as part of

its service provision. (Oireachtas, 2011) The company would also have to comply

with the data protection (amendment) Act of 2003. This outlines the necessary legal

compliances needed for the processing and use of data inside an organisation.

(Oireachtas, 2003) Also as part of a 2004 act, the company would have to adhere to

private security standards if aimed toward a private market (PSA, 2004).

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The proposed business would also have to comply with mandatory business

legislation for the setting up of a commercial enterprise. Acts like the Sale of Goods

and Supply of services act, Consumer Information act, Employment legislation, the

companies act, taxation statutes and contract law should be taken into account in

setting up the commercial aspects of the business. These are the main political and

legal issues that the company should be aware of when entering the Irish market.

EconomicAccording to the ERSI the value of internationally traded goods and services in 2011

in Ireland was equivalent to 190 per cent of GDP, which amounted to €156 billion for

the year. Compared to 2000, this represents an increase in the importance of

internationally traded goods of 4.7 percentage points.  Services are the largest

component of Irish output: in 2010 they accounted for 67 per cent of gross value

added to the economy and computer products 17.2 per cent in 2009. (ERSI, 2012)

These are encouraging figures which show that there is a positive trend in our fore

mentioned industries for our product. If a product could even obtain a fraction of a

percent in these industries it would mean it could become quite profitable. This also

would mean that there is quite a considerable amount of resilient competition in the

market that FTT would have to put up with.

SocialIreland was ranked 9th in the world on the ease of doing business rank. (World Bank,

2012) As we have experienced the Irish workforce is well educated and well skilled

employees could be included in the project. Unemployment currently stands at 14.3%,

so there are gaps for employing people, in this sector. (CSO, 2012) However

technology companies have found it difficult to fill jobs in the sector. The GDP per

capita of the nation is approximately $37,300, converting this into euro, would make

the wage rate around €28,400. This could mean quite a hefty wage rate in developing

the product in the Irish market comparing this to developing markets.

TechnologicalAt this current time the Irish environment is showing quite a healthy climate

conducive to the technology sector. As seen above nearly 20% of the balance of trade

is deduced via computing related products. Incentives such as grants and job schemes

are being ploughed back into the Irish Economy by the government. Also in terms of

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a technological landscape, some of the big global players are setting up business on

our island. As mentioned in the industry analysis IBM and Oracle have a presence

here. Cisco has recently announced jobs, as well as Apple. Google and Facebook have

their EMEA headquarters based here in Ireland. There is a high broadband adoption

for the general population with nearly 65% of the population having access to the

service according to the ITU (ITU. 2010).

What does this mean for commercialising a product? There is a clear technologically

motivated business landscape in Ireland. In terms of competition it may be deduced

that it may be difficult to persuade the best talent to work in the market space. Also it

shows that there is intense competition in the market from global competition. This

may inhibit our business starting out. However in taking this negative this could

possibly mean that there could be a good opportunity to partner or licence our product

into the market space due to these big players. This could be one possible option of

doing business by vertically aligning the product into the supply chain, as talked about

before.

Research & Development Analysis

Key ResearchersThe principle individual overseeing the development of this technology is Prof. Noel

O’Connor, Principal Researcher at the Clarity Centre for Sensor Web Technologies at

Dublin City University. Dr. Edward McDonnell, Commercialisation Manager at the

Clarity Centre is overseeing potential commercialisation of the technology. Jogile

Kuklyte, a Ph.D. student in the School of Computing at Dublin City University has

been working in the practical design and experimentation of the Multi-Modal system

to date. Her sole aim was solely to develop the technology and this target has now

been met.

PublicationsThere is no evidence that a patent for such technology exists at present worldwide,

though there are several other parties currently developing similar technologies. As

mentioned previously. Zhu and Huang have conducted research in the area of sensors,

algorithms and systems associated with of Multimodal Surveillance. Kumar, Mittal

and Kumar have conducted a study of Robust and Intelligent Surveillance in Visible

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and Multimodal Framework. Finally Drajic and Cvejic have explored the ‘Adaptive

Fusion of Multimodal Surveillance Image Sequences in Visual Sensor Networks.

AssessmentThis technology start-up does not require significant investment in fixed assets such

as bulky machinery or equipment. Any major investment in such assets will be made

by the licensee. The business model is service-based and demand-pulled. The initial

capital is relatively small and so there is no need to worry too much about quantifying

a return on investment.

It must be noted that satisfactory investment must be guaranteed to allow the research

and development process to reach the goals of the technology prior to company

registration. This will be mainly spent on experiments and testing the technology in

outdoor environments.

EquipmentThe researchers are currently using a studio containing equipment provided by the

University to carry out experiment and testing of the multi modal system indoors. At a

later stage, the researchers may need additional space in order to carry out similar

experiments and testing in an outdoor environment. As an outdoor environment is

likely to be substantially more dynamic, additional audio and visual equipment will be

required. As the product is to be licensed out, the potential licensee will be making all

the investment in infrastructure.

LabourJogile Kuklyte, who was involved in the development of the technology, knows it best

and is most appropriate to be involved with assembly as well as on-going research,

mainly in outdoor environments. Employees will be required to assist Jogile to

develop the technology in this area. They will need to be trained to familiarise

themselves and be brought ‘up-to-date’ with the operation of the technology.

Marketing of the technology will be the other major function of the proposed

company. A Marketing manager will be required to research and report on external

opportunities, develop the marketing strategy and plan as well as managing the

customer management relationship.

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Here are the proposed employees of the company:

CEO - The key researcher is the ideal selection as they are most familiar with

the technology’s strengths, weaknesses and possible future development.

Marketing/sales Manager

Research Assistants (2)

IP ProtectionWe believe that this technology has minimum prospects of securing patent protection,

due to the complexity of the technology. It is simply a combination of audio and

visual sensors used together in an existing application environment. However,

intellectual property is to be confirmed, after the company has been registered, by

establishing a brand closely associated with the multi modal technology in the main

areas of use, which should give it protection.

CommercialisationFinally, we believe that the Multi-modal surveillance technology should be

commercialised via means of licensing or an innovation partnership. The company is

to start as a ‘spin off’ from Dublin City University to help get a flow of funding going

directly from the CLARITY Research Centre. The technology will be relying on its

brand for intellectual property protection instead of a patent which it is believed this

technology is unlikely to receive.

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References

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Kuklyte, J (October, 2010). Event Detection in Audio Visual Sensor Network.

Porter, Michael E (2008). HBR Must Reads on Strategy. Harvard Business Review, page 23 – 45.

Prati, A. Vezzani, R. Benini, L. Farella, E & Zappi, P (2005). An integrated multi-modal sensor network for video surveillance. Proceedings of the third ACM international workshop on Video surveillance & sensor networks -VSSN, page 95.

Burak Uzkent, Buket D. Barkana (2011). Pitch-Range Based Feature Extraction for Audio Surveillance Systems. IEEE Computer Society.

Dempsey, J. S (2010). Introduction to private security. Pgs.30-38.

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Act of the Oireachtas, COMMUNICATIONS (RETENTION OF DATA) ACT 2011, Act 3 of 2011, [online], Available: http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/pdf/2011/en.act.2011.0003.PDF

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CLARITY. About Us.[online], Available: http://www.clarity-centre.org/content/about-us. Last accessed 24th April 2012.

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DejanDrajic, NedeljkoCvejic (November, 2007). Adaptive Fusion of Multimodal Surveillance Image Sequences in Visual Sensor Networks, IEEE Transactions on Consumer Electronics, Vol. 53, No. 4 [online], Available: http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?arnumber=04429237. Last accessed 24th April 2012.

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