Prelims: Current events of National and International Importance | Technology
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Ahmedabad police to use AI-based system during Rath Yatra to avoid stampede.
- It is still in the development stage, and has yet to be named.
- It will calculate the density of people in a particular area of spanning certain square metres and determine, based on yet-to-be-decided parameters, if a stampede is imminent or not.
- Based on the results of this system, alerts will be sent out to officers to disperse crowds to avoid a stampede.
- The system will use thermal imaging and pixel-counting to count the occupied and unoccupied areas of a particular space.
- Main functions - Real-time monitoring - AI-powered CCTV cameras will continuously analyse video streams in real time.
- Crowd density estimation - Algorithms will calculate the number of people in a given area.
- Thresholding - Pre-defined threshold values for crowd density will be established. When the detected density crosses these thresholds, it will trigger an alert.
- Anomaly detection – It can identify unusual crowd behaviour, such as sudden surges in movement, unusual clustering patterns, fallen individuals, and aggressive movement.
- Alerting authorities - Upon detecting a potential stampede risk, the system sends immediate alerts to security personnel or control rooms via LCD displays, GSM messages or other communication channels.
- Predictive analytics- Advanced systems will use time-series prediction models to forecast crowd behavior and dynamics based on historical and real-time data, helping anticipate potential bottlenecks or overcrowding.
- Reinforcement learning - Algorithms can learn from past incidents to suggest optimal crowd flow routes and alternative evacuation paths during emergencies.
- Challenges
- Limited accuracy
- Computational complexity and cost
- Data privacy and ethical concerns
- Integration with existing infrastructure
- Human intervention remains crucial
- Defining thresholds
Reference
The Indian Express | AI-based system to avoid stampede
