DW Spectrum Object Detection Tags

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Affected Roles: All Users

Related Digital Watchdog VMS Apps: DW Spectrum IPVMS

Software Version: DW Spectrum v5.1.5.39503

Last Edit: September 13, 2024

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Advanced Object Search

DW Spectrum’s Advanced Object Search feature empowers users with the limited ability to search previously recorded video footage, specifically for different vehicle types and people.

This article will outline how object detection works and how to use the Advanced Object Search feature to search archived DW Spectrum video for objects.

Supported/Affected Devices:

DW Blackjack® Servers
DW Blackjack® Ai Servers

Deep Learning and Object Detection

DW Spectrum’s Advanced Object Search feature uses object-based analytics and a deep learning inference engine to create pattern recognition and object identification.

This is an improvement over previous analytic engines that rely primarily upon recognizing changes to pixels in an image, which limited the engine to relying upon motion detection and running the risk of create false-positive detections from scene changes like moving shadows or outdoor foliage in windy weather.

Object-based analytics, however, uses inference engines which work well in different lighting conditions. This is due to the engine being trained to recognize objects across a wide range of conditions such as angle, lighting, environmental influences, etc. The metadata that is generated by the engine is then analyzed and can be used as tags when searching footage for objects to identify shapes and figures in recorded video.

Object Search Feature in DW Spectrum Client

Availability of the Objects tab in the DW Spectrum Client varies depending on the analytics plugin type that is installed for the System and the user's permission level. You can find the Objects tab at the top of the Notifications panel (right panel) within the DW Spectrum Client.

The camera must be open and viewed in the viewing area to discover newly detected objects. When an analytics plugin is enabled, newly detected objects will appear as tiles, which can be selected for filtering by clicking on the “Any Type” filter.

Previously detected objects stored in the archive will also appear as tiles. However, while having the camera record is not required for the analytic engine to discover objects, detected objects that have not been recorded to the archive will be lost after closing the DW Spectrum Client.

Detected objects are outlined by bounding boxes that can be seen in the thumbnail that appears when hovering over the tile. The color used for bounding boxes can vary between object types and analytics plugins. Some analytics plugins allow the bounding box color for object types to be customized.

Object Search Tags & Filters

Digital Watchdog is often asked about what tags can be entered when using the Advanced Object Search feature. The analytic engine uses the annotated data sets that are generated by the analytic engine to create metadata tags and to recognize object attributes. These attributes are typically recognizable details that security personnel are trained to observe – such as people, their clothing, vehicles, and various identifying traits such as the paint color of said vehicles.

From the Objects panel, users can enter metadata tags (see list below) that are used to classify tracked objects into the Search box to filter matching results found by the analytic engine.

Specifying the approximate time of the footage, specific cameras, or regions of interest (area) will help to further narrow the search results.

The object filter can be used to search for a specific object type, but will otherwise use the "Any type" option by default.

The IVA AI Server Plugin object tag selection options are as follows: Bag, Bicycle, Car, Cyclist, Motorcycle, Person, Truck, and Van.

Use the Search field to search archived footage through object types and object text attributes (e.g., color, make, travel speed, etc.). IVA AI Server Plugin selections are as follows:

Color Codes - Black, Blue, Brown, Green, Grey, Red, White, and Yellow.
- Detailed color search of a Person’s clothing can be done with the following selections.
  - “Top Color” =
  - “Bottom Color” =
Objects - Bag, Bicycle, Car, Cyclist, Motorcycle, Person, Truck, and Van.

Search Field Syntax

When using Object Search in the DW Spectrum Client, the following syntax can be used:

Two-word search terms will provide search results for both search terms together and separately.
An asterisk (*) can be used in any position to any number of symbols.
A question mark (?) can be used to substitute a single character.
A hyphen (-) can be used in front of the second search term to search for lines containing the first term but not the second one.

Selecting a Search Area

When using Object Search, users can further narrow the search parameters by selecting a search area.

While viewing footage, click on the “Select area” filter toggle and draw a box within the viewing window around the area that the search should be focused.

This method can be helpful if you know the general area where the desired event that you are looking for has occurred.

Advanced Object Search Tags

Users can use the Advanced Object Search feature to delve deeper into using the analytic engine. It still offers the same capabilities as if using the Objects panel, but provides a larger viewing area and a dedicated search window.

To use Advanced Object Search, select the Objects tab in the Notification Panel and click the Advanced button.

In the Advanced Object Search menu, you can actively view a preview clip of selected video as specified by your archive search.

In addition to using the general Object Search parameters, users can manually select an Object Type from the prefabricated list or manually enter metadata tags into the search box.

After locating the desired video clip has been located, click the Show on Layout button to add the selected archive footage to the current video Layout. If such video will be added, be sure to save the changes to the Layout for quick access.

DW Analytic Engine Object Examples:

DW Cameras (Ai/IVA)