WO2010081200A1

WO2010081200A1 - System and method of aerial surveillance

Info

Publication number: WO2010081200A1
Application number: PCT/AU2010/000040
Authority: WO
Inventors: Trevor George Natt
Original assignee: Flyneye Pty Ltd
Priority date: 2009-01-15
Filing date: 2010-01-14
Publication date: 2010-07-22
Also published as: AU2010205905C1; AU2010205905B2; AU2010205905A1

Abstract

A method and system of aerial surveillance, particularly directed towards detecting and recording evidence of speeding vehicles. An aerial surveillance unit, such as a gyrocopter, is utilised to record a video feed of traffic over a designated thoroughfare. The speed of at least some of the vehicles is determined, and if a vehicle is found to be travelling over a designated speed limit, a continuous video of the speeding vehicle is recorded which includes evidence of the speed of the vehicle and a clear view of an identification means on the vehicle.

Description

SYSTEM AND METHOD OF AERIAL SURVEILLANCE

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The invention relates to a system and method of aerial surveillance, and more particularly to a system and method of aerial surveillance of motor vehicles to identify S vehicles which are involved in traffic infringements or other criminal activities.

BACKGROUND ART

. [Mere reference to background art herein should not be construed as an admission that such art constitutes common general knowledge in relation to the invention ]

Identifying speeding vehicles on a motorway or highway can be difficult,O particularly from ground level where visibility is typically limited to the next selection of vehicles in front or behind a surveillance point.

Furthermore, it is difficult to gauge the relative speed of a moving vehicle coming towards or away from the surveillance point without using a speed detection device, meaning many non-speeding vehicles are often scanned and checked. Due to theS difficulties in assessing the speed of vehicles coming towards or away from a ground surveillance point, it may occur that the speed of a non-speeding vehicle is read when there is an adjacent speeding vehicle, and by the time the^'speed of the adjacent speeding vehicle is read it may have slowed down. Alternatively, there is the chance that a speed may be ascribed to an incorrect vehicle out of a number of vehicles, only one of which may be speeding.

Fixed photographic speed cameras are known to be used to automatically photograph speeding vehicles at particular points from which speeding tickets can be issued. However, the location of such photographic speed cameras can easily be remembered, and devices such as a GPS can even warn a driver of the location of the photographic speed camera, meaning that a potential speeder will likely slow down to avoid getting a ticket.

Due to these disadvantages of ground based vehicle speed surveillance, it is known to have aerial surveillance which can identify speeding vehicles easier, as well as covering greater areas of traffic from a single aerial vehicle. Once a speeding vehicle is identified, the aerial surveillance unit typically notifies a ground vehicle to engage and/or pursue the speed offender. Such aerial vehicles are typically helicopters, due to their flexibility in the air (e.g. being able to remain stationary, or track a vehicle at a slow speed), but fixed wing aeroplanes can also by used. It is a disadvantage of aerial surveillance that it is very costly and required substantial resources, meaning it is often underutilised. Furthermore, aerial traffic units do not sufficiently gather and log proof of a traffic speeding offence, meaning that they are usually only used as a screening mechanism to find potential speeders for ground support to pursue.

The system by which the majority of conventional speed camera devices function is by monitoring the position of a vehicle passing a device at two times which are a predetermined period apart, calculating the distance travelled in that time from the position monitoring in order to calculate the speed of the vehicle, comparing the calculated vehicle speed to the speed limit in that portion of the road, and capturing a still image of the rear of the vehicle and hopefully identifying details of infringing vehicle.

It is an aim of this invention to provide a system and method of aerial surveillance which overcomes or ameliorates one or more of the disadvantages or problems described above, or which at least provides a useful alternative.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

According to a first aspect of the invention, there is provided a system for detecting and recording evidence of a speeding vehicle, comprising: an aerial surveillance unit recording a video feed of traffic over a designated thoroughfare; determining whether a vehicle in the video feed is travelling over a designated speed limit; and if a vehicle is found to be travelling over the designated speed limit, recording a continuous video of the speeding vehicle including evidence of the speed of the vehicle and a clear view of an identification means on the vehicle.

According to a second aspect of the invention, there is provided a method for

• detecting and recording evidence a speeding vehicle, comprising the steps of: recording a video feed of traffic over a designated thoroughfare from an aerial surveillance unit; determining whether a vehicle in the video feed is travelling over a designated speed limit; and if a vehicle is found to be travelling over the designated speed limit, recording a continuous video of the speeding vehicle including evidence of the speed of the vehicle and a clear view of an identification means on the vehicle. Preferably, the aerial surveillance unit is a gyroplane. The aerial surveillance unit may be a Seabird Aviation SB7L-360A, or other suitable light aircraft that meets Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) requirements for commercial use.

The video may be recorded digitally or in analogue, and no limitation is meant thereby. However, preferably the recording will be a digital recording using standard compression algorithms and storage systems.

The designated thoroughfare is typically a motorway or highway, and may have markings painted thereon to assist in determining the speed of vehicles from the aerial surveillance unit. For example, the road may have markers painted periodically (e.g. every 100 metres and/or every 1000 metres) and the period of time it takes a vehicle to travel that distance may be measured. Such markers may be in the visible light spectrum, or may be only detectable by, for example, an infra red camera. Preferably, the recording means has a built-in timer to accurately time a vehicle over a known distance. The speed of the vehicle may be calculated automatically or manually and may involve other mechanisms other than timing a vehicle over a set distance. For example, the speed of the vehicle may be determined using radars, lasers, trigonometry, or other means, and no limitation is meant thereby.

Preferably, the speed of a vehicle will be calculated automatically. An indicator, such as a light, buzzer and/or video warning, may be provided to issue a notification when a speeding vehicle has been found. One manner of calculating the speed of a vehicle is that described above namely to monitor the position of a vehicle at two times which are a predetermined period apart, calculating the distance travelled in that time from the position monitoring in order to calculate the speed of the vehicle. The system can then compare the calculated vehicle speed to the speed limit in that portion of the road designated thoroughfare.

Preferably, the identification means is a vehicle number plate. However, the identification means could also be any other suitable means including an electronically readable element. Preferably, the speeding vehicle is recorded and monitored for at least l km of road travel. The camera may automatically track the vehicle, or may be manually tracked. The aerial surveillance unit may also have to track and/or follow the vehicle to ensure an adequate uninterrupted recording of the continuous video. Preferably, the camera is high resolution so that a numberplate of a vehicle may be clearly read and recorded from the aerial surveillance unit. Furthermore, the camera preferably has an optical and/or digital zoom that can enhance the visibility of the identification means without disrupting the continuous video. Should an obstruction to an identification means be present, preferably the aerial surveillance unit will manoeuvre in a position where a second identification means can be recorded whilst continuously recording. For example, where the identification means is a number plate, if a tow bar/ball obstructs a rear number plate, the aerial surveillance can navigate to record the front number plate without disrupting the continuity of the recording.

Preferably, the continuous recording may occur over a set portion of the designated thoroughfare. For example, as a vehicle enters the set portion of the designated thoroughfare, the recording may be triggered to commence and the recording may continue until the vehicle leaves the set portion of the designated thoroughfare. Once the system has typically calculated the speed of the vehicle, the system may then either delete the recorded footage or retain the recorded footage depending upon whether the vehicle has infringed the speed limit or not.

The continuous video is preferably stored. The continuous video may be utilised as evidence to an offender that their vehicle was found to be speeding in a limited area. Upon recording/evidencing a vehicle speeding, the recorded data may be sent to an appropriate law enforcement agency to issue a ticket to the owner of the speeding vehicle.

The continuous video may be made available to be ordered by an alleged offender to provide evidence of their vehicle being found speeding. Ordering the continuous video may or may not incur a charge, but preferably a charge is incurred when ordering the video. When ordered, the continuous video may be distributed digitally, or may be sent on a DVD or video tape. In a 100km/hr speed zone, it is envisaged that the continuous video will cover the vehicle travelling at least lkm of the thoroughfare and last at least 40 seconds. Upon reviewing the continuous video, the alleged offender may be provided with the option to pay a fine and/or dispute the allegation. Such actions are preferably conducted by systems already in place for traffic related offences.

Preferably, the aircraft simultaneously records in real-time at least some of the following: a map of the location being recorded, the time, the date, the direction of travel, GPS co-ordinates, and/or the speed at which the vehicle was calculated to be travelling. This may be recorded and added to or embedded into the video recording (e.g. overlaid, or separately to the video feed), or may be recorded and stored as separate data (which may also subsequently be overlaid).

In order that the invention may be more readily understood and put into practice, one or more embodiments thereof will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Figure I A illustrates a plan view of a road with two vehicles thereon.

Figure I B illustrates a plan view of the road with two vehicles thereon illustrated in figure I A a time period later.

Figure 2 illustrates a flow chart of a system in accordance with an embodiment of the invention.

DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Illustrated in figures I A and I B is a plan view of a two lane one-way road with two vehicles 10 and 20 thereon. The plan view is indicative of the view an aerial surveillance unit would have when tracking and monitoring traffic over a designated thoroughfare. In order to determine the speed of a vehicle, markers 30, 40 may be placed on the road designating a set distance. The time a vehicle takes to travel the distance can be measured and an average speed over that distance can consequently be determined. The known distance between the markers is usually far enough apart to be recorded easily, such as I kilometre. At l OOkm/hr, a typical speed limit, it takes a vehicle 36 seconds to travel a kilometre which is considered to be a suitable, and likely maximum, time required - to determine the speed of a vehicle.

With reference to figure I A, vehicle 20 is seen at the first marker 30, and the time at which it crosses the first marker 30 is recorded (or, a timer/counter is initiated at this point). Vehicle 10 has already passed the first marker 30, and the speed of this vehicle may be determined separately or simultaneously, in which case the time it crossed marker 30 would have also been recorded. A time period later, as illustrated in figure I B; the vehicle 20 can be seen at the second marker 40, In order to determine the average speed of vehicle 20 over this distance the distance between markers 30 and 40 is divided by the time it took the vehicle to travel the distance. For example, if the markers 30, 40 are l km apart and it took the vehicle 30 seconds (or 0.00833 hrs) to traverse the distance, the average speed of the 5 vehicle over that distance would be approximately 120km/hr. Over the same time period, vehicle 10 has not moved as far and is approaching the second marker 40. The average speed of vehicle 10 over the distance can be calculated once it has passed the second marker 40. However, it is clear from the two figures that vehicle 10 will have a lower average speed as it is taking longer to traverse the distance between markers 30, 40.

10 Although a suitable method of determining the average speed of a vehicle is described above, this is to be considered as an example only, and is not to be regarded as limiting. It is a simple, and cost effective method, but is restricted to measuring a vehicles speed over a set distance only, and lacks real-time speed measuring of vehicles. It is therefore envisaged that other speed determining means may also be employed as are

15 known in the art.

As illustrated in figure 2, once the speed of a vehicle has been determined, it is possible to detect whether any of the vehicles were speeding over a designated speed limit. If a speeding vehicle is not detected, then the recording and speed determining process continues until a speeding vehicle is detected. Although illustrated as discrete steps in 0 figure 2, it is envisaged that the recording and determining the speed of a vehicle, as well as detecting if a speeding vehicle is present, occur simultaneously and continuously until a speeding vehicle is detected.

Upon detection of a speeding vehicle, the aerial surveillance unit records a continuous video of the vehicle including evidence of the speed of the vehicle, and at leastJ one view of an identification means, such as a number plate, on the vehicle. In order to obtain such a video the aerial surveillance unit and/or camera may need to be manoeuvred as appropriate. Furthermore, it is envisaged that to clearly identify the vehicle identification means it will be necessary to optically or digitally zoom in on the identification means of interest. Should a number plate be partially or fully obstructed, e.g.0 a rear number plate by a tow bar, the aerial surveillance unit and/or camera are manoeuvred to record (continuously) a second number plate, such as the front number plate. In addition to the video recording, other information is gathered and recorded simultaneously. Such information preferably includes at least a selection of the following: the time, the date, the direction of travel, the name of the thoroughfare, a map, GPS readings, distance travelled, and the calculated speed of the vehicle (e.g. real-time, moving average, or overall average).

It is necessary to have a continuous video so that there is no doubt that the vehicle identified is the one speeding. If there are discontinuities, there remains the possibility that a similar looking vehicle may have been tracked and therefore it is possible that the vehicle considered to be speeding is different to the identified vehicle.

Once a continuous video of the vehicle has been recorded, including both evidence of the speed of the vehicle and at least one clear view of an identification means on the vehicle, the system continues looking for speeding vehicles. This is illustrated in figure 2 at point 50. At some stage, typically after the aerial surveillance unit has landed, the video(s) are sent to a traffic offence ticket issuing office. The traffic offence ticket issuing office may then review the videos and, if sufficient evidence has been collected, issue a speeding ticket to the owner of the identified vehicle. The owner of the vehicle can then either pay the ticket, request the video. The actions of issuing a ticket and/or disputing a claim are similar actions to, if not the same as, those when a standard fixed photographic speed camera system detects and records a speeding vehicle. Where the owner of the identified vehicle is not the person driving the vehicle when it was speeding, the same procedures applied for a photographic ticket offence are undertaken. For example, the owner of the identified vehicle may have to prepare and file a statutory declaration saying they were not driving the vehicle and/or include who they believe was driving the vehicle.

If the owner of an identified vehicle wishes to request a video, it is sent to the owner either electronically (e.g. over the internet) or on DVD. There may be a charge associated with this action which the owner of the identified vehicle or the person subsequently identified as the driver may bear.

The foregoing embodiments are intended to be illustrative of the invention, without limiting the scope thereof. The invention is capable of being practised with various modifications and additions as will readily occur to those skilled in the art.

Claims

CLAIMS:

1. A system for detecting and recording evidence of a speeding vehicle, comprising: an aerial surveillance unit recording a video feed of traffic over a designated thoroughfare; determining whether a vehicle in the video feed is travelling over a designated speed limit; and if a vehicle is found to be travelling over the designated speed limit, recording a continuous video of the speeding vehicle including evidence of the speed of the vehicle and a clear view of an identification means on the vehicle.

2. A system according to claim 1 , wherein the recorded continuous video is recorded and stored digitally.

3. A system according to claim 1 or 2, wherein determining whether a vehicle in the video feed is travelling over a designated speed limit comprises timing a vehicle over onr or more predetermined distances.

4. A system according to claim 3, wherein the predetermined distances are indicated on or near the thoroughfare.

5. A system according to claim 4, wherein the predetermined distances are indicated by painting markers the predetermined distance apart.

6. A system according to claim 5, wherein the markers are painted in a paint that primarily reflects infrared light.

7. A system according to any one of claims 3 to 6, wherein timing a vehicle over a predetermined distance is automated.

8. A system according to claim 7, wherein the system further comprises indicating when a speeding vehicle has been found.

9. A system according to any preceding claim, wherein recording the continuous video comprises tracking of vehicle(s) detected to be speeding.

10. A system according Io claim 9, wherein the tracking of vehicle(s) detected to be speeding is automatic.

1 1. A system according to any preceding claim, wherein the identification means is a number plate.

12. A system according to any preceding claim, wherein one or more of the following are simultaneously recorded: a map of the location being recorded, the time, the date, the direction of travel, GPS co-ordinates, and/or the speed of vehicle(s).

13. A system according to any preceding claim, wherein the aerial surveillance unit is a gyrocopter.

14 A method for detecting and recording evidence a speeding vehicle, comprising the steps of: recording a video feed of traffic over a designated thoroughfare from an aerial surveillance unit; determining whether a vehicle in the video feed is travelling over a designated speed limit; and if a vehicle is found to be travelling over the designated speed limit, recording a continuous video of the speeding vehicle including evidence of the speed of the vehicle and a clear view of an identification means on the vehicle.

15. A method according to claim 14, wherein the step of recording continuous video comprises recording the continuous video digitally.

16. A method according to claim 14 or 15, further comprising the step of storing the continuous video.

17. A method according to any one of claims 14 to 16, wherein the step of determining whether a vehicle in the video feed is travelling over a designated speed limit comprises timing the vehicle over one or more predetermined distances.

18. A method according to claim 17, wherein timing the vehicle over one or more predetermined distances comprises automatically timing the vehicle as it travels over or past painted markers on or near the thoroughfare.

19. A method according to any one of claims 14 to 18, further comprising the step of indicating when a speeding vehicle has been found.

20. A method according to any one of claims 14 to 19, wherein the step of recording a continuous video of the speeding vehicle comprises tracking the vehicle.

21. A method according to an one of claims 14 to 20, further comprising simultaneously recording one or more of the following: a map of the location being recorded, the time, the date, the direction of travel, GPS co-ordinates, and/or the speed of vehicle(s).

22. A method according to any one of claims 14 to 21 , wherein the aerial surveillance unit is a gyrocopter.