Start-Up Firm In Hyderabad Develops Distance Monitoring Tool Amid Pandemic

A start-up firm based at the University of Hyderabad (UoH) has developed a tool for monitoring social distancing in a location with large footfall amid the coronavirus pandemic.

MAVEN LABS, a start-up firm based at the Technology Business Incubator (TBI) at the UoH, has come up with the tool - SudRz (Sanskrit, meaning - keen-sighted), the university said in a release.

The tool (a software) has been developed under Project METIS (Medical Engineering Technology Industrial Strategy).

"This tool can monitor social distance in a location with large footfalls by detecting whether the physical distance between people is at least six feet (or not)," the release said.

The tool analyses real-time video streaming from cameras -- like CCTV -- and identifies physical distancing violations using Artificial Intelligence (AI) algorithm between all pairs of individuals, it said.

The distancing violations are conveyed, along with alarm features on the screen, with individuals framed in a box.

IP-enabled cameras are sufficient to implement the system.The tool has an added built-in feature for Facial Recognition using AI, the release said.

The release quoted the Maven AI team as saying that this application is likely to be a one-stop solution for the existing network of CCTV cameras placed at any locations like malls, airports, railway, bus stations, schools, colleges and corporate offices, which can be customised as per industry needs.