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Large-scale video networks are becoming increasingly important for a wide range of critical applications such as video surveillance, monitoring of disaster zones and traffic, elderly care, tracking people and vehicles in crowded environments, and providing more realistic images for consumer electronics and entertainment. In most of these applications, multiple sensors such as video cameras, infrared (IR) or range sensors gather data from various view points, which is then sent to a central processing unit. There is no intelligent processing of the data locally at each camera, and the monitoring stations, staffed with humans, generally store and observe multiple video streams with very limited automatic processing. Many fundamental problems need to be solved before these networks can be used effectively.
The development of automated techniques for aggregating and interpreting information from multiple video streams in large-scale networks in real-life scenarios is very challenging. Research in video sensor networks is highly interdisciplinary and requires expertise from a variety of fields. Examples include sensor networks, video analysis, cooperative control, communications, sensor design, and graphics. However, these disciplines have their own core sets of problems, and it is not easy for researchers to focus on problems that require advanced knowledge from multiple areas. This interdisciplinary workshop will bring together leading researchers from these different areas for an in-depth discussion on the future challenges and research directions in camera networks. The objectives of this workshop are to address critical interdisciplinary challenges at the intersection of large scale video camera networks and related disciplines. We will discuss issues pertinent to the problem: (a) Distributed Embedded Cameras and Real-time Video Analysis, (b) Distributed Video Sensing, Processing, Fusion, and Control, (c) Distributed Video Communications and Wireless Networks, (d) Distributed Video Understanding and Simulation/Graphics, and (e) Educational Opportunities and Curriculum Development. The workshop will identify research avenues and provide recommendations, which will be widely disseminated via internet and through IEEE and ACM conferences.
