Conveyor Belt Human Detection Using Thermal and Color Imaging
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Solution Overview
Problem
Publicly accessible baggage conveyor belts at airports pose safety and security risks due to lack of direct monitoring, leading to accidents and unauthorized access, with existing systems struggling to accurately distinguish humans from other objects and prevent false alarms.
Innovation Solution
A system utilizing thermal and color imaging devices to detect humans on conveyor belts by analyzing heat intensity distribution, edge features, and color histograms, with multiple cameras and algorithms working together to reduce false positives and ensure accurate detection, triggering alerts or stopping the conveyor belt as necessary.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If thermal imaging devices are used to detect humans on conveyor belts, then detection accuracy is improved, but false positive rate increases due to hot bags emitting heat similar to humans
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines thermal imaging devices with color imaging devices to create a multi-modal detection system. The thermal camera detects heat signatures while the color camera captures visual appearance. By merging the data from both sensors, the system can distinguish between hot bags and humans more reliably, reducing false positives while maintaining high detection accuracy.
Solution Approach 2:
The color imaging device acts as an intermediary that provides additional information to disambiguate thermal detections. When the thermal camera detects a hot object, the color camera's visual data serves as a mediator to confirm whether it is a human or a hot bag, thereby reducing false positives caused by thermally similar objects.
2Reliability
If multiple imaging devices and algorithms are used to reduce false positives, then detection reliability is improved, but system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The detection system is segmented into distinct functional modules: thermal imaging module, color imaging module, processing unit with multiple algorithms (heat distribution analysis, edge detection, color histogram analysis), and control unit. Each module performs a specific function, making the complex system more manageable and maintainable while achieving high reliability through coordinated operation of these specialized components.
3Reliability
If the system monitors all areas of the conveyor belt, then safety coverage is improved, but processing time increases due to large image sizes and multiple analysis algorithms
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary filtering using edge detection and color histogram analysis before applying more computationally intensive heat distribution analysis. By pre-identifying potential regions of interest using faster algorithms, the system reduces the amount of data requiring detailed analysis, thereby maintaining comprehensive safety coverage while reducing overall processing time.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
Effectively reduces safety hazards and security breaches by accurately identifying humans on conveyor belts, minimizing false alarms and ensuring the secure operation of baggage handling processes.
Implementation Method 1
A sensor array in the imaging device may be a thermal sensitive array
Implementation Method 2
A color image of the scene may further be acquired using a color imaging device
Data Source
AI summary
A system for detecting a class of objects at a location, for example humans on a conveyor belt. A thermal camera may be used to detect objects and to detect the variance of the heat distribution of objects to classify them. Objects detected in an image from one camera may be detected in an image from another camera using geometric correction. A color camera may be used to detect the number of edges and the number of colors of an object to classify it. A color camera may be used with an upright human body classifier to detect humans in an area, and blobs corresponding to the detected humans may be tracked in a thermal or color camera image to detect if a human enters an adjacent forbidden area such as a conveyor belt.