Calipsa: A zero-effort way to reduce false alarms
Southern Monitoring has always been at the forefront of security technology, so we are excited to partner with Calipsa to bring you the next generation of security monitoring.
Embedding Calipsa in Southern Monitoring systems will enhance our partnership with you in the following ways:
- More attention on true alarms. Filtering false alarms from your sites allows operators to act quickly on your alarm activations that matter.
- Highly accurate identification of true alarms and filtering of false alarms means a high level of confidence when a threat is posed to your client.
- Continuous learning by the technology means that accuracy improves even more with time.
“Artificial intelligence is the future of video monitoring, and the benefits that Calipsa will bring to our installer base and their clients are really clear. We’re looking forward to launching with Calipsa and bringing our installers along with us on this next part of our journey.”
Stephen Lord, General Manager of Southern Monitoring
Transform your video monitoring efficiency
Calipsa is the gold standard in false alarm filtering, using artificial intelligence to filter common alarm triggers such as tree movement, animals and weather. The result is that your clients’ security systems will be able to benefit from Calipsa’s ability to ‘learn’ about false alarm triggers from their cameras and ensure the monitoring operators only react to genuine incidents.
Even better, because Southern Monitoring can add Calipsa analysis at an ARC level, no additional development work is needed by the installer to get the benefits. All you need to do is sign up for the add-on service and we will implement it for you.
True or false alarm? Finally, a solution.
False alarms have long been the bane of our industry, causing customer irritation, unnecessary site visits, and inundating monitoring services. The growth in CCTV video monitoring has increased the volume of true alarms, but has also brought with it a growth in false alarms which can often be damaging. In many cases problematic cameras end up being switched off, which everyone can agree is an unsatisfactory solution.
A team of data scientists from Cambridge, UCL and Imperial Universities realised that the security industry was ready to use artificial intelligence to solve our age-old challenge – accurate identification of both true and false alarms.
They developed the Calipsa system which studies images pixel by pixel and uses deep learning to identify the main causes of true alarms while also filtering out distractions. Calipsa analysis is now used on tens of thousands of cameras worldwide, and is recognised as the market leader in video analytics.
How Calipsa works
Calipsa uses machine learning to detect and classify people and vehicles – the main causes of true alarms – and focus on these at pixel level. It can also identify other background elements of the image such as trees and buildings, and filter them out.
By doing what humans cannot – tracking millions of data points at once – it can make intelligent decisions about which situations are genuine threats, reducing the number of false alarms. This filtering also releases monitoring operatives from reviewing harmless situations at your sites and enables them to focus on escalating actual security breaches.
The technology is extremely accurate but also continues to improve as the tech continues to course-correct, learning from every new camera added.
What is less well known is that the identification of true alarms using Calipsa is also extraordinarily accurate. Our end-users want crime prevention, and correct identification of true alarms is a vital part of that.
Installation
Calipsa is an analysis tool that can be used with most existing CCTV feeds. As a result, it needs no new hardware or cabling on-site and can be configured remotely. Calipsa works with all major camera brands, meaning that you can offer your customers additional security with no need for site visits and manual set-up.
There’s more…
Southern Monitoring’s partnership with Calipsa will bring even more features for you to pass on to your customers:
- Camera health checks will send you a notification if there hasn’t been a signal from a camera in 24 hours, allowing better camera management.
- Areas of the camera view can be masked to filter out elements that cause false alarms. The alarm will only be triggered by incidents in the unmasked areas of the image. So rather than spending time on-site moving detectors or arranging for trees to be cut back, you can get your detectors focused on what matters.
- Site scheduling means camera feeds off can be turned off in unmonitored hours, reducing alarms triggered by normal activity.
- Mark cameras as PTZ in the system to allow for video loss in a moving camera.
Calipsa and you – what are the benefits?
Artificial intelligence is transforming CCTV installation and maintenance. By working with Southern Monitoring and Calipsa, your business can stay at the leading edge of technology, and provide an even better service to your customers.
The key facts for your clients are:
- Calipsa has been proven to significantly reduce false alarms, meaning fewer call-outs to manage false alarm issues.
- It also identifies true alarms, allowing for better crime prevention.
- End users are happier with the service and less likely to switch off problematic cameras.
- No new hardware or cabling needed. Calipsa is installed remotely, with a quick turnaround and pass rate for sites on soak test.
All these benefits improve your margins, increase your clients’ security and leave you with more time to focus on growing your business.