New York, New York! · p.m. and adjourn at 2.30 p.m. All members of the Section are welcome to...
Transcript of New York, New York! · p.m. and adjourn at 2.30 p.m. All members of the Section are welcome to...
New York, New York!
A gateway to knowledge: the entrance to the New York Public
located at the corner of Fifth Avenue and Forty-second Street in Manhattan
Editor: Amitava Dutta‐Roy ***********************
Publications Committee Chair: Benjamin Schall ****************************************
The Monitor is a monthly publication of the NY Section of the IEEE, the leading not‐for‐profit technical and professional association in the world dedicated to advancement of technology in the service of humanity. This association of mainly electrical and electronics engineers promotes free exchange of ideas on technology breakthroughs, innovations using existing ideas, research and development between the members who work in academia, industry and government. It has can boast of having more than 407,000 members around the globe organized in ten regions for administrative purposes. By the New Year of this year, almost 167,000 of them either joined for the first time or resumed their membership after a period of lapse! That is impressive by any standard. That is why we say that the IEEE is the largest association of professionals in the world. Six of the IEEE’s administrative regions cover the United States and Region 7 covers Canada. Europe falls under Region 8. This region also includes the African countries, the republics of the former USSR and many countries in the middle and near East (all west of Pakistan and Afghanistan). The Caribbean, Mexico and South America a are grouped under Region 9. The Region 10 comprises of Asia, Australia and New Zealand. The New York Section in Region 1 is one of the largest in the IEEE community and has more than 4,100 members. It presently has local chapters
corresponding to nine of the main technical Societies of the IEEE and three affinity groups. The NY chapters and the affinity groups regularly invite IEEE members and guest speakers with multifarious expertise to give presentations on the latest in technologies. In keeping with the IEEE’s philosophy of serving the humanity these presentations are usually open to the members of the community where we live and work. Usually, most of the presentations also carry continuing education credits (CEU) certified by the IEEE. Please visit http://ieee.org for more information on the history of the IEEE and on how you could join the IEEE. The Monitor serves to disseminate opinions and knowledge not only from the members but also from those who are interested in advancement of technology for our common good. It contains articles, reviews, tales of experiences and calendar of interesting events in the IEEE community and all around the world. New York is located at an important crossroad of the world and the Section members are fortunate to be able to interact with people from many countries and many disciplines who in one way or the other influence the march of technology. We thank you for visiting our site. We hope that it will be informative to you and whet your appetite to join us in one or more of our presentation where you will meet some Section officers and they will welcome you as a member of the IEEE. Perhaps, you will also feel inspired to write for the Monitor. Good reading!
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The following officers of NY Section were elected for the
continuation of the activities of IEEE NY Section in 2011*
We hope that it will be informative to you and whet your appetite to join us in one or more of our presentation where you will meet some Section officers and where they will welcome you as a member of the IEEE.
Section Chair Darlene Rivera Section Vice Chair ‐ Chapter operations Balvinder Blah Section Vice Chair – Section activities Shu‐Ping Chang Treasurer Kai T. Chen Secretary Amitava Dutta‐Roy Senior past Chair Warner W. Johnston Junior past Chair David Horn
*The executive committee of the IEEE New York Section meets nine times a year, on the second Wednesday of every month excepting in the months of February, July and August at Con Edison building on Irving Place x West 14th Street. Unless otherwise notified, the meetings start at 12.30
p.m. and adjourn at 2.30 p.m. All members of the Section are welcome to attend the meetings. However, if you plan to attend a meeting please write in advance to the Section chair Darlene Rivera ([email protected]). Please also notify Paul Sartori ([email protected]) for inclusion of your name in the security list of the building.
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A personal message from the Editor
I feel much honored by the decision of the executive committee of the IEEE‐NY Section to entrust me with the Monitor. Thank you. We will give a facelift to the Monitor and we will do it together. I always wanted to see a Monitor more interesting from technical, informational and social points of view that would be palatable to our readers. However, if we tried to progress in that direction even a tiny bit the Monitor would need more space than what was available in its older 16‐page printed format. Furthermore, the rising cost of printing hard copies and mailing them has been a drain on the Section’s meager budget. Thus, it led to a proposal that the Monitor goes fully online and the Section gives the responsibility to an editor who could spend considerable time making sure of the smooth running of this operation. The executive committee unanimously accepted this proposal. We know that some of the IEEE members will feel inconvenienced by the decision to go only online. However, we do not see any other alternative. Many of the other IEEE publications have also migrated to online editions instead of printing and mailing hard copies; it costs more to subscribers wishing to receive print versions (see your renewal notice). Given the scarcity of physical storage space and the convenience of reading online majority of the IEEE members agrees with the strategy.
We would very much like to make the publication a unique forum of news and ideas truly useful to our members. This calls for an expansion of the scope of the publication. After all, engineers are not isolated individuals but live in communities and interact with their members all the time. My goal will be to make the Monitor more readable and utilitarian by all around us. Certainly, we shall give priority to the calendar of events and news of our Section followed by other news on technology and original articles. However, that should not prevent us from publishing the review of a book, a Web site, a show or a concert that one or more of members living in the tri‐state area may find enjoyable. We would welcome advertisements (e.g., products, courses, events and employment opportunities) from both nonprofit and for‐profit entities, especially from companies who would like to offer job opportunities to engineers. If you run a company yourself or have contacts with the marketing and HR departments of prospective advertisers please spread the news around. As an online publication, space for the contents should not be a problem as long it is well architected and easily navigable. We should also be able to lower the time gap between submission of contents and their publication. It is also our desire to start a Monitor blog so that the members can voice their concerns and opinions and we can post last‐minute “stop press” messages. It will certainly take some months to get up to full speed. Until then please be patient with me.
To achieve these lofty goals I will certainly need your cooperation, continuous vigilance, criticisms and suggestions. I will keep my eyes and ears always open to your feedback.
It is not usual for an editor to show gratitude in the pages of a publication. However, I feel that I would morally fail in my task if I did not thank Mano Mohan Maheshwari and Mohammed Khalid Raza for the encouragement and help. Raza and I talked many times over the Joomla project. I express my thanks to his family who let me intrude upon their privacy at odd times of day and night. Lastly, this first issue of the Monitor would not be up today without the encouragement and patience of my wife Maria Cristina while I worked on the project until wee hours of the morning, day after day.
Thank you all for reading my personal message.
Electric power? It all started with Thomas A. Edison.
Read about the funny side of Edison’s business acumen recorded in the archives of a now‐defunct
museum that Mel Olken discovered
Curt Harler writes about how computer Security systems can detect odd human behavior: Experiments at Ohio State University, Columbus
EDITORIAL
New York, January 2011
The Editor, Monitor
Happy New Year to all of our readers! According to the records at the IEEE headquarters, 1,485 engineers until the end of last year joined the folds of the NY Section. We would like to give a special welcome to the new members joining our Section in 2011 and the members upgraded to become Senior Members, Life Members, Life Senior Members, Fellows and Life Fellows. A Please accept our congratulations for your loyalty to the IEEE and professional contributions to the society. We urge you to participate in our activities and thus make yourself known to other members. You will find many of the meetings of our Section listed in the Monitor calendar of events. You will also find much information, brochures and posters by visiting our Section Web site by logging on to http://ewh.ieee.org/r1/new_york/ maintained so well by our Webmaster Harold Ruchelman. Neither user’s name nor password is required to visit this site.
Furthermore, you will find most IEEE meetings posted at the IEEE vTools Meeting system by logging on to http://meetings.vtools.ieee.org. This site is also open to anybody to view. You do not need user’s name and passwords unless you want to list your own Chapter or Section meeting. We encourage all of you to get familiar with the two sites.
This is the first issue of the Monitor under the new editorship. We have tried our best to post a reasonable appearance. We will still need to work hard on a few more issues of the publication to make it better.
In this activities section, you can read the news of our Section and Chapter activities. We hope that in the months to come all of you will some way or the other will be participating our meetings.
On October 13, 2010, the 2011 officers of the Section were elected by secret ballots. You may find the names of all 2011 elected officers of the Section and the chairs of its Chapters and Affinity Groups in the pages “About Us.” We congratulate Darlene Rivera for being elected as the chair of the Section. She has been most active in the Women in Engineering Affinity Group and last year she was the vice chair of the Section. We have every hope that the Section will prosper under her able stewardship.
On the same October 13, 2010, the Life Members Affinity Group also held its election of the 2011 officers. In this activities section we will publish the results of the elections of other Chapters and Affinity Groups as everybody recovers from a festive season of eats and drinks and gives us more information.
This section for activities in this issue also contains a report by Michael Miller, former Section chair and a former editor of the Monitor on the annual award ceremony and dinner of the joint Chapters of the IEEE Power & Energy Society (PES) and Industrial Applications Society (IAS). The event took place on October 13, 2010 at Pete’s Tavern, a landmark eatery on Irving Place, New York.
The credit for the current issue’s cover story goes to Mel Olken, the Section historian who discovered a mine of stories on Thomas Alva Edison, the father of electrical industries, as we know them today, by searching through the archives of a now‐defunct library at Schenectady in up‐state New York. The brief stories contributed by our Olken, the NY Section’s historian are hilarious and show the cunning business acumen of Edison.
We were able to persuade Curt Harler of Strongsville, OH, a scientist, mountain climber, “cave crawler,” and a veteran technology journalist to write about his favorite topic of computer‐assisted security system. His story concerns the system installed inside the campus of the Ohio State University. Harler’s article goes to show how far we have come with the computer science and optical technology in less than thirty years. It is simply amazing.
David Weiss, our former Section chair, reviews a book on the Future of Civil Engineering published by the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) in 2009. Weiss questions some of the assumptions made in the book. However, he writes that the book should open the eyes of all professional engineering societies such as the IEEE.
We also cite two interesting Web sites you can visit. We thank Ken Vought, a former chair of the Section for contributing one of them. This editor while prowling at a computer fair in New York discovered the second site.
There will be many exciting stories in the next issue as well. We will continue to search for interesting items. Matthew Nissan who held many positions in our Section writes about his feelings when his work took him from the hustle and bustle of Manhattan to the relative tranquility of Long Island. He thinks he is an expat. We too miss Matthew. Ken Vought reviews “The Field: The Quest for the Secret Force in the Universe” of Lynne McTaggart, a controversial figure for the scientists. Do not miss the next issue.
In the meantime, browse through our calendar of events page, print and send the attached form to William Perlman with your check to secure your place at our Annual Dinner and Dance, Saturday, February 12. The event will take place in the Hilton Hotel and Towers, Avenue of the Americas x 53 rd Street in Manhattan, New York. Judging by his experience, this editor can assure you that it will be an excellent value for money. Our colleagues at the Section, William Perlman and Ralph Tapino go out of their way to make the annual event, the food, the drinks and the ambiance enjoyable and palatable. Bring your spouse or partner. Coincidentally, it will be a couple of days before the Valentine’s Day. Our event may even be a good present. What are you waiting for?
CONTENTS
NY SECTION ACTIVITIES
PES / IAS Annual Awards Function, October 13, 2010
Reported by Michael Miller*
Every year the PES / IAS New York Joint Chapter honors those awarded Outstanding Engineer, by the Society and the NY Chapter, and to those who have given unstintingly of their time to the Chapter work. Each member accumulated amazing 10, 20, 30 or 40 years of service.
These awards are an indication of the dedication of our members. In 2010 the awards went to:
William Coyne – 40 years of service.
Harold Ruchelman – 40 years of service.
Thomas Hui – 10 years of service.
William McGarrigle – 10 years of service.
The purpose of the Outstanding Engineer Award Program is the public recognition of the professional and technical excellence, major accomplishments, and contributions made by PES/IAS members. Five important criteria characterize two Outstanding Engineer Awards:
1.Outstanding technical contributions to the power engineering profession.
2.Outstanding professional and leadership contributions to the power engineering profession.
3.Significant contributions to the local community representing the power engineering profession.
4.Outstanding contributions in the area of power engineering education.
5.Service to the PES/IAS and/or IEEE.
Dominic Francone received the Outstanding Society Engineering Award and Arnold Wong received the PES Outstanding Chapter Engineering Award.
Sometime in the past the Chapter noted the lack of Power Engineering Courses that were being offered in the Colleges within our area. Thus, for the first time in 2006, to promote Power Engineering Courses, the Chapter initiated a program to award a scholarship to anyone in the NY Metropolitan Area taking a accredited Power Engineering Course. The candidate required to be recommended by the Dean of the college and / or his/her academic advisor. Our first recipient was Ms. Patricia Murphy,
from Brooklyn Polytechnic. This year, as in the past years, the Chapter had the pleasure of awarding of the $1,000 scholarship to promote power engineering, we hope that this will also be an annual event at the Chapter.
The Award Dinner was held on October 13, 2010 at Pete’s Tavern, Irving Place, New York.
At this event we thanked our past Chair, Ajoy K. Das, and our incoming Chair, Neil Wiesenthal with an appropriate plaque and a pin respectively.
We remembered the passing of our past Chair, John Michelsen, and our Outstanding Engineer Dominic Francone and honored then with a minute of silence. Dominic left us on August 28, 2010.
Our keynote speaker was Matthew T. Brown, P.E., Project Director at URS and IEEE Senior Member. He has thirty years of experience in the management, engineering and construction of power delivery and power generation projects worldwide. He spoke eloquently on the need for a “clear and concise process one that supports the transformation of our nation’s energy industry and encourages long‐tern investment in our power infrastructure with specific focus on the T&D infrastructure.”
Matthew Brown indicated the challenges we face:
• Better utilization of our power grid. • Development of clean coal technology. • Smart Grid Technology – HVDC • Wind power • Better distribution of gas for power. • Plan for an energy infrastructure. • Creation of the next generation of engineers.
He characterized the current market as:
• Grid reliability concerns, aging infrastructure. • Lack of a U.S. energy bill. • Growth of the renewables that can drive power investments. • Politics and fear. • 2003 blackout issues and their aftermath. • Rising security concerns.
Brown ended on a positive note: “A number of technological initiatives have begun. They provide significant cause for optimism. However they need to be matched by equivalent and coordinated regulatory and social initiatives that would promote and finance project that are of ‘substantial
regional or national significance’”.
The talk of Ajoy Das that followed Matthew Brown’s speech highlighted some recent activities in the HVDC arena.
“With advent of high power semiconductor device and rising demand for green power technology, HVDC plays an important role when long transmission is required,” said Das.
Ajoy Das emphasized the key points:
Market drivers for HVDC
• Anticipated offshore wind power. • AC and DC Comparison Stability. • HVDC system Configurations. • Multi‐converter series and parallel connection. • Conventional AC breakers in parallel with a resonance circuit
and metal oxide varister can isolate the faulty lines. • Solid state breakers comprising a bidirectional switch. • Multi terminal HVDC. • DC ring bus.
It was a most informative session and appreciated by all who attended. Ajoy Das, who is also the Chair of the PES/IAS Awards Committee organized this event and we are grateful to him for his efforts to make it both enjoyable and educational.
*This report was contributed by Michael Miller, Life Senior Member represents the NY Section at the Metro Engineering Society Council (MESC). Miller, now an independent consultant, has been active at the IEEE for many years and was a chair of the Section.
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COVER STORY
On the Human Side...
SOMETIMES A LITTLE LYING HELPS
Mel Olken*
Handling of all things electrical was considered sort of a new art in the late 1880s and only a few knew how to practice it. Those who did were looked upon by the general public almost as mystics who possessed knowledge that reached far beyond the daily experiences of "common folk." On not a few occasions the electricians of the day, even the more respected ones, used their mystical image and pushed the truth to their advantage. We get a glimpse of some of the amusing incidents associated with the implementations of early generating plants and distribution circuits as collected and archived by one John Anderson at the now defunct GE Museum, Schenectady, NY. (Most of the text below is quoted verbatim from the original collection of Anderson.) One such incident may be traced back to the installation of Edison's three‐wire central power station at Sunbury, PA.
But before we get to Sunbury a bit of background history would perhaps help us to identify the “mystics” and visualize the circumstances that led to the hilarious incidents. Think of the Pearl Street generating station, installed in NYC's Wall Street district by Edison that began operation on September 4, 1882. It was a two‐wire system, that is to say electricity "went" on one wire and "returned" on another. A drawback of this approach was the large amount of expensive copper needed at the low voltage of 110 Volts. It was quickly realized by Edison,, and simultaneously by Dr. John Hopkinson in England, that usage of three wires for the conduction of electricity, so that there was 110V between the center wire and each of the other two, could lead to saving of copper. The neutral wire carried little current if lamps were balanced on the two 110V circuits. Exactly this "Edison connection" is used until today, over 100 years later, in all homes. Initial tests by Edison's coworker, William S. Andrews, of this scheme were successful and a new installation at Sunbury, PA was planned by Edison for the spring of 1883.
Andrews and Frank J. Sprague, of the electric trolley fame, were in charge of setting up the dynamos and wiring the town of Sunbury. Edison made occasional visits just to give advice. During one visit, "Andrews told him that people around the town and prespective [sic] customers were asking him a
lot of questions that he couldn't answer. Edison said: 'This is a new business, Andrews. You've just got to lie like thunder!' "[1]. Upon reading the transcript of his recollections at a later date, Andrews commented that, "lie like thunder was perhaps a little too blunt for publication. Better say 'prevaricate.’ ”
The station started operation on the 4th of July, 1883, amidst the usual fireworks. With the exception of only a few glitches it performed well initially, as well as for the next 20 years. However, a week or so after its initiation there was a thunderstorm, during which "a boy rushed into the station and cried out that the city hotel was on fire. Andrews jumped into his coat and hurried down there. He found a large crowd assembled in the rain... When he got inside the building Mr. Andrews saw at once what had happened. The wires that brought the current to the lamps were twisted around the metal [gas] fixture, and... static induced by the electrical storm.. .produced snappy sparks and flashes greatly alarming the proprietor and the house guests. The trouble passed after a little, and after assuring the customer, Mr. Andrews went back to the station.
"The next day the proprietor of the hotel called upon him to take out all the wires. 'I couldn't have an occurrence like that of yesterday repeated.' He said. 'Take out the wires.' 'Just a minute,' replied Mr. Andrews, 'let me have a serious word or two with
you. That was a very serious electrical storm yesterday. You do not realize it perhaps, but the lightning struck this building, and if it had not been for those electric wires in here, you would have nothing left this morning but a heap of ashes. Those sparks you saw were the lightning passing off to (the) ground, and the wires carried it away.' He was very much impressed. 'Do you really believe so? Well, if that's so we'll let the wires stay in a little longer.' And stay in they did." Edison's instructions to lie paid off. Prevarication saved the day.
On another occasion, also in the 1880s, William Potter, an "expert" with the Thomson‐Houston Company, was sent to troubleshoot a power generating plant in Durham, SC. The trouble was quickly detected and one evening when Potter and the station operator were in the station,"….in walked the president of the local gas company. He announced his identity, and then, with scarcely a warning, he pulled a pistol out of his hip pocket and began flourishing it toward the dynamo, which was running steadily, emitting a few blue sparks and spits of blue flame as was often the way with dynamos in those early days. 'I've come here to see the machine that's going to put me out of business,' he declared, 'and I'm going to do something to stop it.' Then he seemed about to fire his pistol at the dynamo. Mr. Potter, astonished for a moment, instantly exclaimed; 'Have a care there! If you want to shoot up that electric dynamo, you can do it, but your first bullet will cause a streak of lightning to
come out of that machine and strike you on the spot. If you even point that gun with its metal, toward the dynamo, you may make it spit lightning. Don't go near it with your gun. You can't fool like that around an electrical machine.' The gas president looked bewildered, but just at that moment the dynamo gave forth a bigger blue spark than usual, and it was quite enough for the visitor. He hastily jammed the pistol back in his pocket and got out the door."[2]
Sigmund Bergmann was not above the Edison tactic of pushing the truth a little. He had worked for Edison in Newark in the early 1870s, making telegraph instruments. In 1880 he set up his own shop to make electrical equipment at 108 Wooster Street in NYC, and eventually made the bulk of Edison's electric lamp sockets, switches, meters, etc. during the 1880s. Bergmann's shop was in a building with other renters, all supplied (generated?) power by common shafting from a central steam engine. Edison provided Bergmann with a dynamo to test the fixtures and this dynamo was connected to the common shaft. Soon after the dynamo's installation, "some of the other tenants complained that their power was falling off, so the owner of the building, suspecting that the dynamo might be the cause, called on Bergmann and told him that he would raise his bill for steam power on account of the extra load entailed on his [steam] engine by the new electrical machine. Bergmann offered strenuous opposition to this, and told the owner that he could show him how little power the machine absorbed. Having thrown off the belt, he pointed out that the armature ran in air touching nothing and adding, 'Try it yourself, you can turn it easily with one hand!' The owner did so, and was unwillingly convinced that he must look elsewhere for the leak in his power!" [2] As a word of explanation, it can be pointed out that a dynamo must be up to speed and have electrical current in its field winding before it will extract power from the steam engine. This was a fact well known to Bergmann but not to the uninitiated. Again, prevarication saved the day.
Bergmann and Co. grew rapidly and moved to a large building on the northwest corner of 17lh street and Avenue B during October of 1882,". . .and Mr. Edison reserved the entire top floor for his personal use as a private laboratory... The business of Bergmann Company was carried on successfully and profitably for many years..." until he "finally sold out to the Edison General Electrical Company in 1889, and about 1896 Mr. Bergmann went to Germany, where he established the Bergmann Elektricitats Werke in Berlin."[3] He was also involved with the formation of the Union Electricitats Gesellschaft (Electrical Society). Being a good mechanic and especially a good business man, all his endeavors flourished. Bergmann died in Berlin at 76 years of age on July 7, 1927.
[1] Interview with W.S. Andrews, Hammond File C‐135, Hall of Electrical History, Schenectady Museum Association, Schenectady, NY. [2] Hammond File J‐454, HOEH. [3] Hammond File E‐18, HOEH.
*Mel Olken is a Life Fellow of the IEEE, the Editor-in-Chief of Power and Energy (a publication of the IEEE PES). He has been associated with the IEEE in various capacities is now the Historian of the IEEE NY Section.
COMPUTER SECURITY
COMPUTER SECURITY DETECTS ODD HUMAN BEHAVIOR* SYSTEM SEES TROUBLESOME PATTERNS BEFORE THEY BECOME PROBLEMS By Curt Harler** Researchers at The Ohio State University, Columbus, have developed a campus security system that actually views and analyzes the way people move around the campus. It “remembers” typical traffic patterns in certain areas of campus and it spots anomalies. It will flash on a person weaving erratically: is that person having a stroke, drunk, or lost? Why did another person stop and stand behind a tree that most walkers move quickly past? Although the system is deployed today – and has been since Fall 2009 – when it is fully functional, the Ohio State application promises to give campus security the control and global view that most central security stations can only dream about. It will work in most locations: corporate office parks, college campuses, or public areas. Security officers demand a high‐resolution security camera that works quickly and accurately. They add on niceties…a big, wide‐angle view that makes it easy for security to know exactly where they are located on the screen and helps them identify problems before they become crises. To top the wish list, add fast, accurate cameras that pan to a particular trouble spot. Ohio State’s smart system does that and more. The system – a mature version that actually works but still is being improved — scans views of thousands of people and identifies potential problems – people who may be intruders or intoxicated or just lost. Since most have a habit of doing the same thing at the same time – say enter a building at 8 a.m., or move purposefully toward a parking deck at 5 p.m. – the computer looks for unusual behavior. “The system uses activity analysis and behavior analysis,” says James W. Davis, Ohio State professor of computer science and engineering. He developed the system and now is expanding its capabilities. “If I am interested in a particular individual or aggregation I can push that individual into the program and get a value of how typical their activity pattern is,” Davis explains. The longer the
system runs, the more astute it becomes. The system does not know what problem the person presents – only that they are acting abnormally. “We care what you do, not who you are,” Davis says. “We are not trying to replace the human at the desk. But for a security guard trying to follow 100 cameras, this detects the onset of abnormal behavior and allows security to intervene,” Davis says. GETTING THE BIG PICTURE Security cameras pan, tilt, and zoom (PTZ) and rotate 90 degrees up/down. However, when security looks through these cameras, they get only a tiny "soda straw" view of the world. And as they move the camera around, they can easily lose a sense of where they are looking within a larger context. In OSU's system, cameras take snapshots from every direction. The result is a seamless panorama, used to create a 360‐degree, high‐resolution view. Cameras choose the closest view to the incident. “For this we have to know the height of the building (to the camera mounting station) as well as the latitude and longitude,” Davis says. They build a “3‐D” line from the camera to the spot of the incident. “Originally, we used an X‐Y grid on the ground. But we found that often more than one camera can view a location and there is a difference between a camera on an eight‐story building versus a three‐story building,” Davis explains. “On the ground, there is nothing to tell you the zoom level needed.” That pushed them to develop the 3‐D view analysis. There are many situations – say a mall or a plaza ‐‐ where multiple cameras cover the same area. “Security simply has to click on the ground near a door or building and the system will find the nearest camera. All it takes is one mouse click and the system does the rest,” Davis says. Where multiple cameras have views of an area, it will offer views from all. Perhaps one camera aims at a suspect running away; a second camera on the opposite side of the quad is likely to get a full‐frontal view of the suspect and maybe a face shot. Once a computer screen displays a particular view, operators can click a mouse anywhere within that view, and the camera will PTZ to that location for a live shot. Or, security could draw a line on the screen to track a particular route‐‐a certain street, for instance. The system view is similar to Google Earth. The operator uses the standard joystick to point and zoom in on an image. Using ortho‐photographs (for explanation see the author’s note below), the operator can get close to the action. In many cases, the operator might not know where the image is – or, might want to access a camera that gives a particular view. With the OSU system there is no delay. Software drives the camera over the entire image, stitching together a series of images in a seamless panorama. The view is not the typical rectangular image but a fish‐eye view.
“This detects the onset of abnormal behavior and allows security to intervene.” – James Davis, Ohio State University
“Usually, a new security operator has to figure out the scene and stitch it together in his head,” Davis notes. “This gives one, single image.” Conversely, the operator might know which building has a problem – but not recall which of the dozens of cameras in the array will give the best view. A simple click on the map’s panoramic image – say on a doorway – will drive the program to the camera that covers exactly that spot. These are not fuzzy images – the computer provides 1000x1000‐pixel high‐resolution output. EXPANDING THE VIEW Currently, there are seven such cameras on OSU’s Columbus campus. They are standard Pelco Spectra III Series Domes and Spectra IV PTZ units. The cameras are compact and need little space for housing them. There are more than 500 cameras currently serving the campus. Davis hopes to continue to incorporate all of his research cameras into the main security network. The camera stations have a mix of Pelco and Bosch devices. Davis’s system can work with Sony cameras as well. The software is Windows XP‐based and runs on Dell computers. Davis chose to go with a hardwired, rather than wireless, interface for two reasons. First, on the busy campus, interference could be an issue. Second, all the cameras in the buildings already are networked. While Davis’s initial system is analog, they digitize all of the analog video and put it on their IP server. A DVR records images from all of their cameras so security can pull the DVR shots for review. All video moves via a USB video connection. Working with Davis in his laboratory are one doctoral student Karthik Sankaranarayanan, whose studies are funded by the National Science Foundation, and a pair of grad students, Matt Nedrich and Kevin Streib. Davis says they have fairly good algorithms for normal behavior of people when they are in a specific area. The Davis team is still working on the algorithms for abnormal behavior. “We have models of common pathways,” he says. Once they have worked out the abnormal behavior patterns, they will move to the next level, group behavior. MOVING AHEAD Analysis of group behavior – the interaction of individuals or groups of people – will be the next big challenge. “We are trying to fit groups versus non‐groups into the algorithm,” Davis says. If the system detects a single individual walking alone at night, it should flag it as a problem. Most people walk in groups of threes or fours at night, given that option. A single person could be heading
for trouble. Or, that single person could pose a threat to others. The system can spot that situation and follow it to a resolution. While the system does not “know” what the situation might be, it does know that something unusual merits watching. “If the system sees a group of three people and an individual moving in the same area, the system should set an alert. If they come together, it will automatically track the scene,” Davis says. While it still has a long way to go, the system is up and working in sections of the Ohio State campus. “The State of Ohio is encouraging the development of the system,” Davis says. A grant from the State has allowed them to do further work. In addition, the Air Force Research Lab also supports Davis’s work. The next challenge Davis sees is tracking in a dense crowd. “That’s not yet ready for prime time,” he says, noting the difficulty of tracking a person who goes behind a truck to reappear elsewhere in the scene; or, when the camera sees a person from the front at one moment and from behind – where the view is quite different – the next. Still, the Ohio State system has solved a number of the basic problems to answer the growing concerns many parents and students have for campus safety. The system gives law enforcement a chance not only to corral the bad guys but also to help good people who are having medical emergencies or appear lost on campus. Author’s Note
An orthophoto is an accurate, uniform-scale representation of the Earth's surface, having been adjusted for PTZ and topography, etc. In short, it has no distortion the way most photos or images do. In this case, it is as "real" a view as one can get without any distortion due to the lens or any other mechanism of the device that a distant view can give to an image.
Editor’s note
An extended version of this article was published in ACUTA eNEWS, Vol. 39, No. 11, November 2010(http://www.acuta.org/wcm/acuta/pdf/new1110.pdf. Founded in 1972 ACUTA or the Association of College and University Administrators (ACUTA), the organization has broadened its scope and is now known as the Association for Communications Technology Professionals in Higher Education. It has maintained the earlier acronym ACUTA. A related article can be found in New York Times: Computers That See You, Read You and Even Tell You to Wash, Steve Lohr, Sunday, January 11, 2011.
________________________________________________________________ *The author of this article Curt Harler is a Cleveland, OH-based freelance writer with extensive background in security, telecommunications and computer networking. Harler earned his B.A. in journalism and B.S. in science from Penn State University, and M.S. from Ohio State University. Formerly, he was the editor of Communications News. His hobby is climbing and cave trekking between writing assignments. Curt Harler can be reached at [email protected] or 440-238-4556.
BOOK REVIEW – MISSING FILE ??
WEBSITES YOU WOULD LOVE TO VISIT
By Amitava Dutta‐Roy
The Internet is fascinating. We wish we had the time to see and know everything that is available free online. But family members, colleagues, friends and friends of friends send links that can be annoying, entertaining and informative. Our colleague Ken Vought, a former chair of the Section sent a link that shows a video clip of a technician climbing up a transmission tower some 1768 feet high. Even just looking at the clip, I feel giddy. (If you suffer from vertigo do not look at it.) I wonder how many of us, the engineers, especially those who deal with broadcast technology know how dangerous the job of a technician is. The link is: http://www.liveleak.com/e/07b_1284580365.
Computing search engine
Many of you may have used the math program known as Mathematica. It is the brainchild of Dr. Stephen Wolfram, professor of physics, mathematics and computer science at the University of Illinois. He developed this extraordinary software to solve mathematical and statistical problems and it is sold commercially. What a business acumen this scientist has! The venture made Dr. Wolfram a rich man. Now he offers (free) the services of a search engine that not only searches but also computes before presenting the results to you. You can frame all sorts of questions on: orbits of
geostationary satellites, happenings in the world on a certain date or ratio of GDP of Norway over that of the U.S.A. Try it out at: www.wolframalpha.com. There are many visual examples that will whet your appetite.
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In general, feature articles should not be more than 1500 words long. The reviews could be around 500 words. If you wish to include photographs, make sure that they are no more than100kB each in size. We will generally accept a maximum of three photographs. Drawings are welcome though the author should discuss in advance about the size and the number of drawings with the editor.
All material intended for publication in the Monitor should reach the editor by the seventh day of each month for inclusion in the issue of the following month. To maintain a high degree of professionalism and impartiality all material submitted for publication may be subject to
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Amitava Dutta‐Roy, Editor Benjamin Schall, Chair, Publications Committee
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The Monitor will soon move to a new platform. For this reason, we want to keep minimum features in this issue. Hopefully, during the next two months we will be able to give the readers the opportunity and space to leave comments and thread those comments in a chronological manner. We will be able to make the Monitor a practical forum for our members and our communities. In the meantime, if you should need to contact the editor for leaving comments or desiring to contribute an article, a review or a photograph please write to a.dutta‐[email protected]. Thank you!