Very high performance DSPs that can enhance urban security are also expected to enhance airport safety.

What if a large, bustling city could seriously enhance people’s safety and security without compromising their privacy?

A combination of silicon-based analytics, ultra-low-power sensors, high-performance video processing and wireless technology promises to go a long way toward doing just that. Consider just a few of the possibilities:

• In the same way that you turn to look in the direction of a loud noise you just heard, a security camera with a smart-audio component can calculate where that crash of breaking glass originated and then rotate to examine the situation. It’s part of what’s called sensor fusion in which the latest digital signal processors (DSPs) fuse sensory inputs in a human-like manner.
• As part of the constant dance to optimize performance, resource usage and power consumption, smart cameras can now switch from standard definition to high def when signs of a crime are detected. Among more than a dozen different high-performance processors TI has released on its KeyStone multicore architecture, in fact, one is optimal for surveillance systems to prevent theft.
• Very high performance DSPs are just starting to fuel the transition of airport radar systems from analog to digital, promising to enhance both runway safety and the ability to identify threats in the air through the use of DSP-based analytics.
• Computational imaging that’s under development will combine input from multiple cameras to produce 3-D results, not only increasing image quality and depth-perception but also enabling a higher degree of automated analysis up front.
• Low-power wireless sensors under development are being initially tested to track patients’ health but will also enable inexpensive monitoring of the condition of bridges, other public infrastructure and hazardous industrial sites.

When it comes to Keystone, TI’s mantra is "multicore entitlement,” providing programmers with the easiest access possible to the power of TI's system-on-a-chip architecture. And when that multicore resource also enhances public safety, then everyone but the bad guys can sleep easier.