Video-analysis software is getting better at spotting suspicious activity, but a developing market still warrants caution

Like other large seaports, Canada’s Halifax Port Authority has to juggle competing priorities to protect itself against possible terrorist attacks. Its biggest challenge is monitoring the nearly 14 million metric tons of cargo that pass through the facility each year. Security officials must also protect commercial and private boats and numerous container and fuel terminals on the 241 acres of port authority land that surround the water.

It’s financially impossible to hire enough security employees to patrol the entire deepwater port, but managers say they have an effective alternative. They plan to install a sprawling electronic early-warning system that will use video cameras, radar, motion sensors and shipboard Automatic Identification System transponders to monitor the area.

To ease the burden of analyzing all the data those sensors will generate, the system will use video-analysis software that can alert guards if unidentified ships or individuals enter the area.

“The software significantly enhances our ability to detect and therefore deter someone from attempting some form of a nefarious incident,” said Gord Helm, manager of port security and marine operations at the port authority.

The port authority is completing the first phase of a $20 million electronic-surveillance project, which includes a $10 million command-and-control center with a wall-sized screen to display images enhanced by identification and monitoring software from PureTech Systems.

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