Idis Global: How Latest AI Video Metadata and Investigation Tools Save Time and Stress in Control Room

The data-handling bottleneck in any video surveillance system is the human brain – people are brilliant at cognitive tasks that require experience and intuition, but poor at processing large amounts of data.

So, while your control room operators may be irreplaceable when it comes to reviewing and assessing footage, making snap decisions, and managing responses, even the most experienced personnel can become tired, lose attention, or be distracted.

Even assuming they are well-trained, highly motivated, and at the start of their shifts, they will still only be able to handle a limited amount of visual data at any given moment.

And with that human limitation comes potential risk.

Growing Burden of Video Data

The data burden is also growing, as it has become increasingly practical to extend video coverage to ensure complete domain awareness, target camera entrances and other vulnerable and sensitive areas, and to store footage more cost-effectively. Cameras have improved in their ability to see further and across wider areas in higher definition, regardless of lighting conditions and environmental challenges. There are also many more of them, particularly on large sites, around perimeters, and in organizations with multiple sites.

Additionally, a common justification for video system investments and upgrades is that they enable organisations to offset upfront equipment and installation expenses by reducing costs through the redeployment of officers.

However, when security headcounts decline, it further increases the burden on operators.

Activity Surge

Without support, control room teams can become overwhelmed in various situations, including rapid succession of events, simultaneous events, surges in activity, or a major incident. Risk doesn’t wait in line until security and safety teams are ready to deal with it.

The problem is that these are precisely the moments when real-time video surveillance should deliver its ultimate benefit and ensure golden opportunities aren’t missed by preventing situations from escalating, deterring criminal activity, or efficiently supporting security teams to target incidents that have already occurred with a rapid and appropriate response.

Technology fixes

Among leading manufacturers, there is a continual focus on developing solutions that are easier to work with and help operators cope with high-stress incidents without being overwhelmed. This focus is one of the drivers behind the current rapid evolution of AI video analytics solutions.

We are seeing many new AI video technologies designed to help surveillance teams do more with less, be more accurate, tireless, and consistent, and focus on what they do best: informed decision-making and responding to alerts.

For example, one of the most recent and essential innovations is A-Cut, introduced by Korean video surveillance leader IDIS.

Locating Crucial Scenes

A-Cut is designed to overcome the challenge of locating crucial scenes, featuring objects or people of interest, among vast amounts of video footage. It automatically extracts the best representative image of any target object or person, crops the image, and presents it in a way that makes it easy for operators to find.

By simply clicking on the cropped image, the operator is automatically taken to the precise moment in the recorded video stream when the object last appears.

With this user-friendly capability, A-Cut provides operators with immediate access to key events, significantly accelerating incident verification. Each cropped image is indexed as a searchable visual moment, allowing for rapid identification of persons or objects of interest across video footage, tracking of movements, and the quick formation of an accurate picture of a sequence of events.

Advanced AI Search Tools

The cropped images become even more powerful search tools when combined with IDIS AI Search functions powered by IDIS’s highly accurate deep learning engine. Every cropped image is classified into three categories: people, faces, and vehicles.

To make tracking even easier, A-Cut combined with AI Search also identifies object attributes and allows filtered searches – for example, searching for people by age and gender, by clothing colour, or whether they have accessories such as glasses, hats, masks, or bags; or searching for vehicles by colour or type.

The aim is to support security operators in responding more quickly to potential threats, allowing intervention at an earlier stage, says Dr. Seong-Jin Yun, Head of R&D Center, Advanced Technology Division, and SVP, IDIS.

“A-Cut technology will prove invaluable in a wide range of monitoring applications,” Dr. Seong-Jin Yun says. “Whether you’re safeguarding public spaces, overseeing retail operations, or managing security at sensitive facilities, A-Cut delivers unmatched speed, clarity, and control—helping your team retain comprehensive situational awareness and respond quickly and appropriately to a security threat or safety incident.”