A London, UK startup called VCA Technology has announced the beta release of its Linux video analytics software suite for TI Davinci SoCs that combine RISC and DSP cores. The VCAsys software will see widespread use in cameras integrating UDP Technology's IPE042 digital media processor module, VCA says.

(Click for larger view of UDP's NVC100-STBA Video Stabilizer)

The VCAsys software is said to perform intelligent analysis of motion, supporting applications including intrusion detection, vehicle monitoring, abandoned-object detection, people counting, loitering detection, camera tampering, and failure detection, says VCA. The VCAsys tracking engine “eliminates the complicated setup associated with other video-analytics software,” claims the company. Instead of requiring algorithm parameter settings, the software is said to automatically adjust to new conditions.

VCA Technology does not yet appear to have a website, but the company refers potential customers to its hardware partners TI and Korea-based UDP Technology. As of yet, UDP has nothing on its site about the IPE042 module, but VCA points to a TI Europe page that describes a UDP-manufactured, DaVinci-based NVC100-STBA Video Stabilizer (pictured above). The device will apparently be the first to use the IPE042 module with embedded VCAsys software. UDP will include IPE042 in its cameras and standalone video units, as well as offer the module to other camera manufacturers, says VCA.

UDP's NVC100-STBA uses VCAsys software to help stabilize video images (Click to enlarge)

The IPE042 module and VCAsys depend on the TI DaVinci TMS320DM6446 system-on-chip (SoC), which is becoming something of a standard in the video surveillance industry along with other DM64xx processors. Other IP camera designs based on TI DM64xx chips include Nuvation's IP Camera, the Nexdome DragonFly, and the eInfochips IPNetCam. Meanwhile, Nuvation's new McVFE reference design is intended to work as a video “front end” to a decoder based on TI's TMS320DM6467 SoC.

Because TI's DM6446 supports Linux (MontaVista Linux, to be specific), the cameras can run a web server for remote camera operation, says VCA, and customers can create their own Linux applications. A $2,000 digital video evaluation module (DVEVM) is available from TI for its DM64xx SoCs, with MontaVista Linux, application programming interfaces (APIs), the DaVinci Codec Engine, and numerous multimedia codecs, including MPEG-2 and H.264 transcoders.

Stated Geoff Thiel, CEO of VCA Technology, “In highly intelligent cameras offering compressed video stream and analytics, a DSP is mandatory because of the considerable signal processing that must take place, and the digital media processors based on DaVinci technology have become the de facto standard platform for video analytics.”

Availability

The beta release of VCAsys is expected to be available to its hardware partners this month, with the full release due in January, says VCA Technology. More information on the UDP products may eventually appear on this UDP page covering its IP surveillance products. More information on the UDP NVC100-STBA Video Stabilizer may be found in this TI Europe PDF.

 
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