A combination of RFID technology on plane tickets with high definition CCTV cameras may someday track people in airports.

From www.computing.co.uk –

Scientists at University College London (UCL) are developing a system that combines radio frequency identification (RFID) tags and high-definition CCTV cameras to track passenger movements in busy airports.

The EU-funded project, known as Optag, is intended to help airlines keep track of passengers and help them reach departure gates on time, reducing the risk of missing valuable take-off slots.

The system could also be used in places such as theme parks to find lost children, or delegates in large conference centres.

One of the project’s leaders, Dr Paul Brennan of UCL’s department of Electrical Engineering, says the system will work by placing RFID tags on boarding passes.

‘We are working to create an interface between the tags and the cameras so that while the tag locates the passenger, the camera can pick them out in a crowded departure lounge,’ said Brennan.

‘So, if someone is late for a flight, for instance, they can be located instantly and shepherded to the departure gate.’

The project also involves vendor Innovision, a UK RFID specialist that will provide technology for the system.

Phil Bacon, the project’s EU co-ordinator, says the system will be especially helpful for large aircraft such as the Airbus A380, that carries up to 700 passengers.

‘There is a problem of how to get that many passengers onto the aircraft in time to meet a scheduled departure,’ he said.

‘It could also be used to track the movement of large numbers of people within an airport, so that queues could be cleared.’

A recent BusinessWeek article details the emerging smart surveillance systems and video cams that use high technology to catch shoplifters.

From the article –

There are 6 million video cameras mounted in stores across the U.S., according to market researcher J.P. Freeman Co. Their unblinking eyes are everywhere, watching exits and peering down aisles. You already knew that. But you probably had no idea how smart some of these cameras are getting.

Some Macy’s (FD ), CVS (CVS ), and Babies ‘R’ Us stores have installed a system called the Video Investigator, whose advanced surveillance software can compare a shopper’s movements between video images and recognize unusual activity.

Remove 10 items from a shelf at once, for instance, or open a case that’s normally kept closed and locked, and the system alerts guards sitting in a back room — or pacing the sales floor — with a chime or flashing screen. The system can predict where a shoplifter is likely to hide (at the ends of aisles, behind floor displays). A search function spots sudden movement that might indicate a large spill, prompting workers to clean up before it leads to a slip-and-fall accident and a costly lawsuit.

Source: Attention, Shoplifters -
With $30 billion in theft, there’s a revolution in surveillance systems

Wired.com is reporting on a group of volunteer researchers in the San Francisco Bay area, who are getting a headstart on the Department of Homeland Security’s plans to patrol US ports with radiation scanners by building their own do-it-yourself, portable nuke detector that will patrol San Francisco Bay.

From the article –

The Department of Homeland Security announced plans last month to bolster U.S. port defenses with radiation scanners. The program, primarily aimed at detecting nukes smuggled by terrorists in shipping containers, will cost an estimated $1.15 billion, but won’t be completed until 2011.

Here on the San Francisco Bay, a group of do-it-yourself volunteer researchers is not waiting for the mushroom cloud. They say they are close to perfecting a portable device that could do much the same thing right now, for total out-of-pocket costs of about $12,000.

The group, led by physicist and Sandia Lab weapons subcontractor Stanley Glaros, says it has already built a boat-mounted scanner with off-the-shelf parts that might reliably spot radiation spikes in container ships at sea from a kilometer away. The team’s detector has been up and running for eight months, and the group plans to publish its test findings in the Review of Scientific Instruments.

“Can we detect hazardous material at a distance?” said Glaros. “Yes, easily.”

You can read the entire article on Wired.com @ DIY Nuke Detector Patrols SF Bay.

The Zillow Real Estate Valuation Search has released a beta search for cell phones and mobile devices that have text messaging enabled for email addresses.

Zillow Mobile allows property searches “on the go” by sending a text message with the property address to a Zillow email address; Zillow will then return a text message to the user with the property address, the Zillow valuation ( or Zestimate, as they call it ), number of bedrooms, number of bathrooms, square footage and year built.

Requirements for Zillow’s mobile property search are reprinted below:

1. Your device must be able to send text messages to an e-mail address.
2. You need to have text messaging enabled through your mobile service plan.

You can find out more about Zillow Mobile @ Zillow Labs – Zillow Mobile.

A recent CNN report describes a new breed of smart video camera that is being developed by General Electric. The new smart cameras will be able to detect explosives, even under clothing, by monitoring electromagnetic waves that the devices give off. The cameras will also pinpoint faces and detect erratic body movements among individuals in public.

From the article –

It sounds like something out of science fiction.

Researchers at General Electric Co.’s sprawling research center, are creating new “smart video surveillance” systems that can detect explosives by recognizing the electromagnetic waves given off by objects, even under clothing.

Scientist Peter Tu and his team are also developing programs that can recognize faces, pinpoint distress in a crowd by honing in on erratic body movements and synthesize the views of several cameras into one bird’s eye view, as part of a growing effort to thwart terrorism.

“We’re definitely on the cutting edge,” said Tu, 39. “If you want to reduce risk, video is the way to do it. The threat is always evolving, so our video is always evolving.”

You can read the entire article @ Video cameras on the lookout for terrorists.