The increasing number of mass events, such as music festivals, sport events, or fairs, poses new challenges for the quality of safety concepts and requires an optimization of safety management. Horrible examples (Hillsborough 1989, Bergisel 1999, Loveparade 2010, etc.) show, that ensuring the safety in mass events is highly complex and difficult task. A fundamental bottleneck is the availability of a comprehensive and up-to-date overview of the situation as a basis for optimal decision making.
Novel potential for such a safety management lies in the synergetic use of terrestrial and airborne optical acquisition systems and in a flexible multi-sensor network including mobile communication, WLAN/Bluetooth localization, section counting, mobile video and audio sensors and the “human sensor”. Near real-time analysis and fusion of the multi-modal data enable human behaviour analysis and simulation based prediction to detect critical situations. On this basis counter measures can be triggered. A huge problem is that most of the time this basic data is not available in near real time.
Therefore, novel technical solutions in the field of multi-sensor data acquisition and fusion are a focus within MONITOR. Intelligent solutions for data management enable a data representation tailored to the customers’ needs and optimized to aid mobile security personnel. The user interface also allows interactively changing crowd properties and calculating a prediction to observe the consequences.
Overall, the project MONITOR allows the generation of an innovative common operational picture and enables enhancing situational awareness based on objective and up-to-date data.
Due to a strong involvement of essential users within the design phase, it is ensured that results of MONITOR will meet real world needs. The resulting modules will be evaluated and the following steps to transfer it into a technically mature system as well as still open research issues will be evaluated.
MONITOR builds upon the previous KIRAS projects EN MASSE and EVIVA, where basic scientific developments and analyses were conducted. In those projects prototypes have been worked out for airborne video acquisition and analysis for human behaviour studies (EVIVA) as well as a multi-sensor network for human flow studies (EN MASSE). The sensor network will be enriched using wifi technology, including improved algorithms for evaluation of mobile communication data, plus a simulation based short term prediction. The scientific focus is on computer vision techniques, multi-sensor data fusion and short term prediction. A co-operation is planned with the German aeronautics and space research centre in frame of the project VABENE++ (2014-2017) which also leads to a reduction of development risks of highly scientific parts within MONITOR.
Project leader
DI Alexander Almer, JOANNEUM RESEARCH Forschungsges.mbH, DIGITAL
Project partner
DI Helmut Schrom-Feiertag, Austrian Institute of Technology GmbH; Mobility Department
DI Mario Schwaiger, Spintower KG
Ing. Richard Feischl, IFR
Mag. Herbert Wagner, Wagner Sicherheit GmbH
Cooperation partner
Bundesministerium für Landesverteidigung und Sport
Bundesministerium für Inneres – BM.I; Sektion I
Bundesministerium für Landesverteidigung und Sport, Landesverteidigungsakademie
Contact
DI Alexander Almer
JOANNEUM RESEARCH – DIGITAL – Institut für Informations- und Kommunikationstechnologien
Steyrergasse 17, 8010 Graz, AUSTRIA
Tel.: +043 316 876 1738
Mobile: +043 699 1876 1738
Fax: +043 316 876 1720
E-Fax: +043 316 876 9 1738
E-Mail: alexander.almer@joanneum.at
Internet: http://www.joanneum.at/digital
