Case Study Software-Based AI Video Analytics Trial
Icomera combined its technology and expertise with Glimpse Analytics and South Western Railway (SWR) to trial an advanced, software-based AI video analytics solution to monitor train occupancy levels in real-time.
SWR has offered its passengers a way to travel safely and confidently post-pandemic by leveraging the power of Icomera’s X-Series wireless Internet connectivity & applications hosting platform & Glimpse Analytics' advanced CCTV analytics software.
About SWR
Reassuring Passengers Post-Covid
Operating over 1,500 services each weekday across the network,
As passengers gradually return to public transport after
SWR employs more than 5,000 employees and provides
experiencing considerable uncertainty, transport operators are
commuter inter-urban, regional and long distance services to
looking for the most effective ways to improve passenger
passengers in South West London and southern counties of
confidence and journey experience while minimising the spread
England and Island Line services on the Isle of Wight, as well as
of Covid.
providing connectivity to the ports and airports in the region.
As with other aspects of the industry’s post-Covid recovery,
As well as commuters and business travellers, SWR transports
giving passengers added certainty about their journey is best
leisure travellers across the region, to many tourist and heritage
achieved through digitalisation - specifically by enabling
sites, and the numerous major sporting and social events that
passengers to monitor the occupancy of trains in real-time, using
take place along the route every year.
their digital devices. The ability to effectively gauge occupancy levels inside vehicles makes it easier for passengers to choose less crowded
About Glimpse Analytics
environments to travel in, ensuring that they are safely socially distanced throughout their journey.
Glimpse is a global leader in analytics and insights for the
Glimpse Analytics to develop an innovative proof of concept,
physical world. By
connecting
their
industry-leading
Computer
Vision
Technology with existing CCTV infrastructure, Glimpse is able to deliver powerful business data and unparalleled insights from every corner of any environment in Real-Time. Processing over 50,000,000 points of data every day through their innovative video analytics platform, Glimpse's technology is used by over 300 of the world’s largest organizations across retail, travel, hospitality, and real estate, to improve safety and security, drive operational efficiencies, automate tasks & enhance customer experience.
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To see how this use case could be realised, SWR selected
leveraging the power of Icomera's onboard hardware platform.
An Exciting Collaboration Between Global
A Timely Trial
Technology Leaders In April 2021, Icomera began an exciting collaborative test pilot Glimpse's onboard software connects to existing video surveillance cameras to capture, analyse, and report occupancy data in real-time in the form of a RAG (Red/Amber/Green) status. Passengers can see how busy individual train carriages are at any time via station information screens, a downloadable app, and SWR's website - effectively helping passengers maintain
with Glimpse Analytics and SWR: A trial of an industry-first software-based system that uses AI to provide real-time vehicle occupancy information.
"The tests offered an exciting proof of concept showing how Icomera's technology can be leveraged to go beyond Wi-Fi..."
social distancing and avoid overcrowding. The software runs natively on the same Icomera X-Series
The trial, which took place on SWR’s Desiro fleet, travelling from
wireless connectivity platform already used to support other
London
systems, such as Passenger Wi-Fi. With no need for additional
Weymouth was particularly timely, as travel restrictions had
hardware, the video-based passenger counting solution can be
begun to ease, and the railway maximised efforts to allow
installed
customers to travel with confidence again.
'over
the
air'
quickly
and
efficiently,
offering
to
Basingstoke,
Portsmouth,
Southampton,
and
considerable time and cost savings compared to similar
The tests offered an exciting proof of concept showing how
solutions.
Icomera's technology can be leveraged to go beyond Wi-Fi and
Analytics information collected from onboard video feeds is
offer a host of operational and safety benefits to transport
converted to metadata and fed back to software integrated into
operators and their passengers.
the transport operator's back-office system. Passenger privacy is
To measure the system's accuracy, SWR monitored passenger
protected, as all data collected by the system is fully anonymised
numbers on the bank holiday weekend of May 2021, which saw
and footage is not recorded or stored. delivery of over 1 Gbps of
the highest number of passengers on board since the COVID-19
net throughput (data speed) to the train as it passed through
pandemic struck.
telecommunications operator Tele2’s 5G cellular network in Stockholm’s central station, as well as other telecommunications operators’ LTE (4G) networks.
Safe Journeys for Passengers, Smart Metrics for Operators
The ability to effectively gauge occupancy levels inside vehicles makes it easier for passengers to choose less crowded environments to travel in, ensuring that they are safely socially distanced throughout their journey. For transport operators, understanding passenger travel patterns and volumetrics in the post-COVID world is also vital for managing timetabling and fleet planning. The video-based passenger counting solution is installed 'over the air' quickly and efficiently.
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Transport operators can capture and analyze real-time passenger occupancy from each carriage, across their entire fleet. Analysing passenger occupancy throughout the day also makes it possible for transport operators to assess peak travel times and plan their timetables accordingly.
By knowing exactly how many passengers are using each train carriage at any given time, transport operators can provide a safe, socially distanced service for their passengers - A vital step in improving the passenger experience and confidence during the pandemic.
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What SWR say: “We know that there are lots of things that feel uncertain at the moment, that’s why we’re doing all we can to help make travelling with us as smooth and safe as possible.
In addition to helping maintain social distancing, and improving customer comfort and convenience, we hope to use this enhanced information to inform decision making in our control room, and further improve the punctuality and reliability of our services.” Peter Williams Commercial Director, SWR
What Glimpse say: "The advantages our ground-breaking AI technology can offer to operators and passengers are numerous. We can improve onboard passenger safety with a solution installed quickly and inexpensively, with no need for on-site visits in most cases.
Our tried and tested analytics system can also be used to monitor passengers' adherence to safety measures (for example, wearing face coverings), offering extra peace of mind." John Price CEO, Glimpse Analytics
What we say: "As passengers return to public transport, they will look for reassurances regarding their personal safety and quality of experience. The ability to effectively monitor ridership numbers in real-time provides this reassurance, tying in perfectly with our mission to make public transport a safer and more attractive option.
This pilot with Glimpse demonstrates how Icomera technology can be used to deliver applications that offer passengers journey certainty, while delivering considerable operational benefits to transport operators."
Peter Kingsland SVP UK, Australia & Asia, Icomera
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ICOMERA Odinsgatan 28, 411 03 Göteborg, Sweden T +46 31 799 21 00 sales@icomera.com