Framework for a Cloud-Based Multimedia Surveillance System

The new generation of multimedia surveillance systems integrates a large number of heterogeneous sensors to collect, process, and analyze multimedia data for identifying events of potential security threats. Some of the major concerns facing these systems are scalability, ubiquitous access to sensory data, event processing overhead, and massive storage requirements—all of which demand novel scalable approach. Cloud computing can provide a powerful and scalable infrastructure for large-scale storage, processing, and dissemination of sensor data. Furthermore, the integration of sensor technology and cloud computing offers new possibilities for efficient development and deployment of sensor-based systems. This paper proposes a framework for a cloud-based multimedia surveillance system and highlights several research and technical issues. A prototype surveillance system is also designed and analyzed in the context of the proposed surveillance framework. The paper finally reports that cloud-based multimedia surveillance system can effectively support the processing overload, storage requirements, ubiquitous access, security, and privacy in large-scale surveillance settings.