Energy aware multimodal embedded video surveillance

One of the major challenges in embedded system is reduction of power consumption. So far most of the microprocessors provide power saving mechanisms by changing the power operating mode as well as the frequency and core voltage at runtime. One of best methods is the management of available resources and operating systems like Linux define subsystems for power consumption management which require coordination and cooperation of hardware, kernel, and user-space applications, offering power savings options when the CPU is active as well as when it is inactive. In this paper we present a multimodal embedded visual surveillance system for the detection of abandoned/removed objects which exploits a Linux governor to control CPU frequency and operating mode to establish an optimal trade-off between fulfilling the application response time and accuracy requirements and maximizing battery life. To adopt an aggressive power management and to keep the whole system in sleep mode, a pyroelctric infrared sensor is also used to wake up the CPU only when video processing is actually needed.