Larry Bowe, Founder and CEO at PureTech Systems, discusses how AI-boosted geospatial video analytics is a cost-effective approach to enhancing perimeter security.

Upgrading security

In today’s rapidly evolving security landscape, perimeter protection systems face increasing challenges, from excessive nuisance alarms to sophisticated intrusion methods.

While many organizations aim to enhance their security infrastructure, the prospect of replacing existing systems or altering established workflows can be daunting.

By focusing on adding or upgrading video analytics capabilities, organizations can eliminate nuisance alarms, optimize resource allocation and maintain their current investment – without the need for drastic changes to user interfaces or operational procedures.

The challenge of nuisance alarms in perimeter security

A significant challenge for perimeter protection systems is the high volume of nuisance alarms triggered by animals, weather or debris.

These alarms not only waste valuable time and resources but also lead to alarm fatigue, where operators may overlook critical alerts amidst the noise.

For example, a 175-camera system generating just one nuisance alarm per camera per day results in 175 alarms that require review.

If an operator takes an average of three minutes to investigate each alarm, that results in 525 minutes or eight hours 45 minutes a day on nuisance alarm management.

That’s more than one entire work shift per day.

Beyond the financial burden, nuisance alarms reduce operational efficiency, delay responses to genuine threats and increase the risk of security breaches.

Addressing this issue is critical for organizations aiming to enhance both cost-effectiveness and security outcomes.

Upgrading video analytics: a targeted solution

Rather than overhauling an entire perimeter security system, organizations can achieve significant improvements by upgrading their video analytics or adding this capability to existing systems.

AI-boosted geospatial video analytics with auto-verification enables cameras to differentiate between harmless occurrences (e.g., wildlife, blowing debris and changing weather conditions) and genuine security threats.

This targeted solution can dramatically reduce nuisance alarms while maintaining the integrity of existing systems and processes.

In one real-world example, a system initially recorded 215 nuisance alarms and 180 valid detections across 178 alarm videos.

After implementing AI-boosted video analytics, nuisance alarms dropped to just one while valid detections were maintained, achieving a 99.5% reduction in nuisance alarms.

This improvement not only saves time and money but also allows security teams to focus on real threats with greater precision and efficiency.

Preserving investments and minimizing disruption

For organizations with established perimeter security systems, the cost and disruption of replacing legacy systems can be prohibitive.

Upgrading video analytics with AI-boosted geospatial video analytics provides a cost-effective alternative that leverages existing infrastructure, such as cameras and sensors, while seamlessly integrating with current user interfaces and operational workflows.

This approach minimizes the need for retraining personnel or redesigning operational procedures, while maximizing efficiency, accuracy of response and ease of transition with limited functional disruption.

Additionally, AI-boosted geospatial video analytics upgrades can be deployed incrementally, allowing organizations to prioritize high-risk areas first and scale their solutions over time.

This phased approach aligns with budgetary constraints while delivering immediate benefits in nuisance alarm reduction and increased threat detection.

Enhancing operational efficiency without sacrificing control

A major advantage of AI-boosted geospatial video analytics is its ability to operate alongside other perimeter security components, such as radar, fence sensors and access control systems.

By unifying data from these devices into a single detection and alarming system, security teams gain a highly accurate perimeter intrusion system with enhanced situational awareness without requiring a complete system overhaul.

The upgraded analytics integrate seamlessly with existing surveillance monitoring systems, maintaining compatibility with current user interfaces and preserving operational continuity.

One standout feature of advanced AI-boosted geospatial video analytics is PTZ Auto-Follow, which ensures that once an intruder is detected, the PTZ camera locks onto and dynamically tracks the target.

This capability keeps the intruder within the camera’s field of view as they move, providing continuous live footage of their location and trajectory.

Security teams gain critical insight into where the intruder is heading, enabling faster and more accurate interception.

This real-time tracking significantly enhances response efficiency, ensuring that resources are deployed exactly where they are needed.

For facilities that prefer not to change their workflows, video analytics upgrades provide the flexibility to maintain established processes while benefiting from advanced detection and verification capabilities.

Organizations retain control over their systems while gaining significant enhancements in efficiency and performance.

Addressing emerging drone threats with scalable solutions

In addition to reducing nuisance alarms, upgraded video analytics can help address emerging threats, such as drones.

AI-driven analytics and radars can detect, track and classify drones in near real-time, complementing existing ground-based security measures.

By integrating these capabilities into the existing infrastructure, organizations can expand their threat detection capabilities without significant additional investments.

The value of cost-effective upgrades

Ultimately, the value of upgrading to AI-boosted geospatial video analytics lies in its ability to balance enhanced security with cost efficiency.

By eliminating nuisance alarms, organizations save time and resources while improving operational focus.

Retrofitting existing systems with advanced analytics minimizes upfront costs and ensures compatibility with current infrastructure, offering a practical and scalable solution for facilities of all sizes.

A key feature of these advanced systems is the ability to output a geographic information system (GIS) map with live intruder tracks overlaid.

Delivered as a standard real-time streaming protocol (RTSP) video feed, this capability allows any existing network video recorder (NVR), video management system (VMS) or other video monitoring system to display real-time intruder movements on a GIS map without requiring integration or additional software.

This intuitive and powerful tool enhances situational awareness, giving operators immediate, actionable insights into the precise location and movement of intruders thereby reducing reaction and response times.

By leveraging this feature, organizations can bring advanced GIS capabilities to their current systems without disrupting their existing workflows or infrastructure.

As security challenges continue to evolve, organizations must adopt forward-thinking strategies that enhance perimeter protection without compromising existing investments.

Upgrading to AI-boosted geospatial video analytics provides a powerful, cost-effective way to reduce nuisance alarms, improve detection accuracy and optimize resource allocation – all while preserving established workflows and operational continuity.

By investing in these technologies today, organizations can safeguard their facilities and ensure long-term success in an ever-changing security threat landscape.

This article was originally published in the special ISC West 2025 March edition of Security Journal Americas. To read your FREE digital edition, click here.