How Can Video Analytics Help Improve Access Control Data?

July 24, 2020

Information is power. The Internet of Things (IoT) and advancing technologies bring opportunities to increase productivity and optimize operations through greater connectivity and information sharing. But the prevalence of interconnected devices means businesses have access to more data than ever before. Therefore, leaders need to find efficient ways to extract the right information and make the best business decisions to keep businesses running at optimal levels. Video analytics can help.

How Can Video Analytics Help Improve Access Control Data?

Access Control Events and Metadata

Although access control may not seem to benefit as much from an analytic layer as video surveillance, the opposite is true. Any event coming from an access control system could — and should — be viewed as potential analytics metadata to a video management system (VMS). Conversely, an image of a person coming through an entry point (and identified through the system as an alert) is metadata that a VMS can communicate to an access control system. For example, what if a person jumped a subway turn-style without scanning a metro pass? This is an event analytic the access control system can use to see how many people presented a valid subway pass versus the number who did not. Now that we’ve outlined how these metadata events can provide value in both systems, we consider what types of VMS events can be used with access control systems. Here are some use cases:

• Tailgating: People counting tied to a VMS shows two people going through a door in rapid succession, but the physical access control system (PACS) only shows a single access grant. This is called tailgating. The access control system can receive this event from the VMS, which the PACS system records as a possible tailgating event, and compares it to its access grant system. If there was only a single access grant, it can flag it or alert an administrator, who can then forensically use both systems to see who the first entrant was, and perhaps also who tailgated, and then take appropriate steps.
• Lockdowns: In the shadow of COVID-19, one might use occupancy data from a VMS to trigger a lockdown of an area, and not permit new entrants until the occupancy drops below a certain threshold. This could be used for classrooms, stores with electric doors, subway platforms, hospitals, and other environments looking to control access levels.
• Access control verification: The PACS system registers an access grant, and requests an image from the camera pointed at that door from the VMS at a specific time. The access control system logs all of this so that audits can be performed to make sure the person with the credential is the person who should have the credential. This could also be used with facial recognition by a VMS to compare the person’s employee photo with the image captured by the VMS to analyze the likelihood that it’s the same person, and then alert if there’s suspicion it isn’t.
• Access denied logging: The PACS system denies access, and requests an image of the event from the VMS. This would allow the PACS system to log images of all access denied, and would allow the VMS to do a search for all video images or clips associated with access denied events coming from the PACS system.

Combining Access Control with Video Analytics

Video analytics and access control are great security solutions independently, but are even more effective when combined to enhance monitoring. Over the coming years, we can expect to see an uptick in use cases that emerge from combining these two systems together. Not only are access control solutions fully integrated with today’s video management systems to provide full situational awareness, but there is also a growing trend toward integration with human resources departments and data integration. As we move forward, the new uses will be defined by the organizations that use them most: the end-user.