SAFR biometric facial recognition supports ACAP-enabled cameras with edge AI processing

SAFR from RealNetworks has released a new app feature with edge AI processing for the AXIS Camera Application Platform (ACAP), the company announced.

Dubbed SAFR Inside, the feature lowers deployment costs, network traffic and server overhead, and runs on the just-launched AXIS Q1615 Mk III Network Camera. Network cameras equipped with SAFR Inside facial recognition for mask detection and video analytics can keep operation costs and the total cost of ownership low, according to the announcement.

“We are very pleased to bring SAFR Inside to the AXIS Camera Application Platform,” said Reza Rassool, CTO of RealNetworks, in a prepared statement. “Their worldwide leadership and quality products are a perfect fit for our highly accurate, high performance facial recognition platform. We look forward to expanding our relationship into the future.”

The company is already collaborating with a retail grocery chain that has integrated existing IP cameras with SAFR facial recognition for mask detection in multiple locations and connected them to the SAFR Cloud Platform, without having to install servers on-premises. This led to significant up-front cost savings.

“Our customers are always looking for ways to reduce the total cost of ownership when deploying SAFR,” said Eric Hess, senior director product management for SAFR, in a prepared statement. “By bringing our world-leading AI into the camera, we are delivering lower costs and more flexible deployment options for our end users.”

Some of SAFR Platform’s most popular COVID-19 related features are included in the SAFR Inside app, such as generating an audio reminder when people are not wearing masks and reducing viral transmission of the virus through touchless access control systems.

In April, Hess explained in a company blog post that performance accuracy was not affected by people wearing masks amid the pandemic.

“SAFR Inside is the first Axis Application Development Partner (ADP) application to take full advantage of the new AI capabilities of our AXIS Camera Application Platform,” said Robert Muehlbauer, Senior Manager, Business Development, at Axis Communications, in a prepared statement. “With advanced computer vision technology like SAFR combined with the AI enabled AXIS Q1615 Mk III, we see many use cases, including integrated solutions that utilize our IP audio and IP intercom technologies.  We look forward to SAFR Inside running on more Axis cameras and intercoms in the future.”

By the end of July, SAFR Inside version 1.0 will be available at no cost with the standard SAFR license.

Article Topics

AI  |  artificial intelligence  |  biometric identification  |  biometrics  |  biometrics at the edge  |  facial recognition  |  SAFR  |  video analytics