| ONVIF Challenge Winners |
| Written by Lucy Black |
| Thursday, 12 July 2018 |
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The results of the ONVIF Open Source Spotlight Challenge have been announced. The challenge site has details of all the submissions and if you are looking for interesting ways to use security cameras then it's a treasure trove.
As reported earlier this year ONVIF, is a non-profit organization focused on global standards for interoperability of IP-based physical security products, ran a contest asking developers to create open source IP video streaming applications that address global security issues. To qualify for a prize an app had to meet three conditions:
A total of 41 qualifying submissions were received and those that didn't make it to the finals were rewarded with a $250 gift card. What is immediately apparent looking at the submissions on the Spotlight Challenge site, particularly the finalists, is the high quality of the entries. As I noted back in April, given there is $3 billion in annual spending on security devices and ONVIF is responsible for global standards for their interoperability, this is a marketplace where it is worth getting noticed. The contest organizers supplied a template that encouraged a clear exposition and this example of its use comes from 3rd place prize winner Elton Kola who won $2,000 for Open Camera.
As with all the other projects the Get It Now button at the top right takes you to the project on GitHub. Open Camera is a simple application for Android devices that allows users to monitor one or more ONVIF supported IP cameras. The app uses Dropbox authorization, and uses it for storage and as a source to sync between devices. From the app, users can add and delete cameras, view camera streams, capture screenshots and videos and view previously captured media. In second place there's a Rapberyy Pi based project. RPOS Open Source Camera, offers an ONVIF media service that is compatible with Synology Surveillance Station to allow the Pi to be used as a surveillance camera without the need for custom camera files. It can be used with a wide range of CCTV systems and with the ONVIF Device Manager and ONVIF Device Tool.
The winning app, CAM X, submitted by Canada-based developer Liqiao Ying, offers an Artificial Intelligence-based object detection system that utilizes blockchain solutions for sorting information obtained from ONVIF cameras. With just a cell phone, users are offered a serverless solution that can detect 20 objects in real time and 80 object types for better accuracy.
The ONVIF blog post has brief details and links to the other seven finalist projects, each of which was awarded $800. As well as thanking all the participants, the ONVIF judges noted: By using these innovative approaches to create new applications for open source standards such as ONVIF, we are just beginning to explore the possibilities that complete interoperability can bring. |
| Last Updated ( Thursday, 12 July 2018 ) |
