The number of people visiting Tiruvannamalai for Karthigai Deepam festival will be counted for the first time using a technology tool this year.
A video processing tool developed by SASTRA University will be used for this, said M.C. Sarangan, Inspector-General of Police (Technical).
Mr. Sarangan told presspersons here on Sunday that the tool would help count the number of people precisely. Devices would be placed at four or five places along the Girivalam path, he added.
N.R. Rajan, Professor, Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering, SASTRA University who leads a team formed for the task, said the device could be installed at nine places, based on the feasibility, to make it more precise.
“Camera, network video recorder, and a system to analyse the data would be part of the device. The algorithm developed by us could sense vehicles, livestock, and people separately. It can measure the speed of the vehicle. The uniform clad policemen could be recognised and counted separately. Based on the requirement from the police, we can filter their numbers from the total crowd visited. Our analytical tool is better in removing errors in the calculation of crowd than the popular Jacob’s method that employs a technique in which people in a fraction of the total area would be counted and multiplied,” Dr. Rajan said.
Helping missing persons
Mr. Sarangan has said that another newly developed technology tool was to be used for the detection of missing persons in the Karthigai Deepam crowd that would be walking around the hill.
“Of the 39 ‘May I Help You’ booths set up by the police department around the hill, 25 would be networked with specifically designed software. If a person loses his way and approaches these booths, his or her picture and details will be broadcast with booth number on these 25 systems. Monitors of these systems will be visible to the crowd,” he added.
