A biologically inspired smart camera for use in surveillance applications

Biological vision systems are capable of discerning detail as well as detecting objects and motion in a wide range of highly variable lighting conditions that proves challenging to traditional cameras. In this paper, the authors describe the real-time implementation of a biological vision model using a high dynamic range video camera and a General Purpose Graphics Processing Unit. The effectiveness of this implementation is demonstrated in two surveillance applications: dynamic equalization of contrast for improved recognition of scene detail and the use of biologically-inspired motion processing for the detection of small or distant moving objects in a complex scene. A system based on this prototype could improve surveillance capability in any number of difficult situations.