Atypical Visual Display for Monitoring Multiple CCTV Feeds

Abstract

Despite advances in surveillance technologies, security and command and control (C2) centers still rely strongly on human operators to detect critical events. Human factors-such as cognitive workload and limited attentional capacity-have been shown to affect operators' ability to detect critical incidents. The current standard surveillance environment comprises a large screen layout that simultaneously displays multiple camera feeds. Although having access to all sources of information at once seems intuitively appealing, there is ample evidence to suggest that it can, in fact, lead to poor detection performance. We propose a design solution that is based on principles grounded in cognitive psychology and user experience design.One key objective is to test empirically whether an atypical design pattern that is consistent with serial cognitive processes induces better performance than the current standard surveillance environment. Three variations of the alternative display pattern will be tested by comparing their effects on detection performance within a surveillance microworld.

See no evil: Cognitive challenges of security surveillance and monitoring.

“…Often the number of CCTV cameras to be monitored exceeds the available screen space, meaning that operators need to switch between camera feeds at regular intervals rather than having all viewpoints available at any one time. One recent paper combining Cognitive System Engineering and User Experience Design considered how best to display all this available information and proposed three new designs to optimize the surveillance interface (Pelletier, Suss, Vachon, & Tremblay, 2015).…”

“…Often the number of CCTV cameras to be monitored exceeds the available screen space, meaning that operators need to switch between camera feeds at regular intervals rather than having all viewpoints available at any one time. One recent paper combining Cognitive System Engineering and User Experience Design considered how best to display all this available information and proposed three new designs to optimize the surveillance interface (Pelletier, Suss, Vachon, & Tremblay, 2015). Although there is perhaps an assumption that displaying all information at once is best (there then being the chance that attention could be captured in the periphery if something significant is happening), the authors suggest that this type of organization does not necessarily work in synchrony with the human’s natural mode of processing.…”

The CSSS Microworld

“…Due to this high visual load, operators prefer the use of spot monitors that allow them to focus on one feed at a time (Stainer, Scott-Brown, & Tatler, 2013). Alternative display configurations, based on the serial display of multiple live CCTV feeds, have recently been proposed (Pelletier, Suss, Vachon, & Tremblay, 2015; see Figure 5). These alternative interfaces can be implemented in the CSSS microworld, allowing for comparisons between traditional multiplex displays and alternative display formats.…”

I spy with my AI: The effects of AI-based visual cueing on human operators’ performance and cognitive load in CCTV control rooms

“…On this point, assistive computer vision technology, which automatically highlights events that need inspection, would be beneficial. Additionally, the development of interfaces that display video feeds to facilitate the process of monitoring and switching between multiple feeds during a surveillance task can decrease operators' cognitive demands (e.g., Pelletier et al, 2015). Therefore, it is imperative to investigate the added value of such assistive technologies and -because such systems still necessitate a human element-their effects on operators.…”