Real-time Counting Of People In Public Spaces

Abstract: Real-time people counting is a beneficial system that covers many levels of use cases. It can help keep track of the number of people entering buildings, buses, stores, and other facilities. Knowing such information can be helpful in case of fire emergencies, preventing overcrowding in public transportation and facilities, helping people with social anxiety, and more. The use cases of such a device are endless and can significantly help society’s development. This thesis will provide research and a solution for accurate real-time people counting using two devices. Having multiple devices count the number of people passing through with good accuracy would benefit facilities with multiple exits. Two Coral Dev Boards will be used, each with its web camera. With the help of machine learning, the device will recognize the top of the head of people passing through and count them, which will later be sent to a server that counts the total amount from each device. The results varied between66.7 % and 100 % accuracy, depending on the walking speed. A fast-paced walking speed, almost running, resulted in 66.7 % accuracy. Meanwhile, a regular walking speed resulted in 80-100 % accuracy.