AI video analytics use case
Restricted-zone monitoring with AI video analytics
Short answer
Restricted-zone monitoring is video analytics that continuously watches a defined area, such as a hazardous machine zone, high-voltage area, tank farm or prohibited walkway, and alerts whenever a person, or optionally a vehicle, is present in it during active hours. It keeps prohibited zones clear without relying on someone watching every screen.
How restricted-zone monitoring works
Operators draw one or more zones on each camera view and set the hours each zone is active. Object-detection models find people and vehicles in every frame, and the system checks whether any detected object is inside an active zone, typically using the position of a person's feet on the ground.
Unlike motion detection, which reacts to any change in the zone, AI detection only alerts when a person or vehicle is actually present.
In OrionAlerts
In OrionAlerts, the AI runtime reads decoded frames from the same video engine that records the cameras, so detection runs on the streams you already record rather than on a parallel feed into a separate analytics appliance. Inference runs on the on-site Nebula OS node with GPU acceleration, and each event is written to the same record as the camera and site it came from. Alerts reach the dashboard, mobile app and email.
What affects reliability
Detection quality depends on the scene as much as the model. These are the factors to check during site survey and pilot.
- Zone drawing: zones should follow the real boundary on the ground as the camera sees it, accounting for perspective.
- Camera placement: the whole zone, and the floor within it, should be visible.
- Occlusion: machinery and structures inside the zone can hide people.
- Lighting: hazardous areas are often poorly lit at night and may need supplementary lighting.
What you need
No camera replacement is assumed. A typical OrionAlerts deployment needs:
- Existing IP cameras that expose video over ONVIF, RTSP or a supported vendor SDK. Compatibility is confirmed per camera model during solution design.
- An on-site Nebula OS node with GPU acceleration, sized per deployment to the channel count and the detections you run.
- Camera views that actually cover the area to be monitored, with zones and schedules defined for each rule.
- Optional: Orion Cloud for a central view of alerts and health across multiple sites, without uploading raw video.
Where it is used
This use case commonly applies in the industries below. Each industry page covers the risks, detections and modules that matter for that kind of site.
Solution
Which solution it belongs to
Restricted-Zone Monitoring is part of AI Vision & Real-Time Alerts: turn live video into real-time AI alerts for safety, intrusion, PPE, and operational events.
Explore AI Vision & Real-Time AlertsFAQ
Restricted-Zone Monitoring: common questions
Can different zones on one camera have different rules?
Yes. Several zones can be drawn on the same camera view, each with its own schedule and the object types it should alert on. For example, one zone can alert on any person near a machine at all hours, while another alerts on vehicles in a walkway only during shifts.
Is restricted-zone monitoring only for security?
No. It is widely used for safety as well as security, keeping people out of hazardous machine areas, high-voltage zones, tank farms and vehicle routes. The same zone can serve both purposes, with alerts going to security after hours and to EHS supervisors during working shifts.
Where do restricted-zone alerts go in OrionAlerts?
To the OrionAlerts dashboard, mobile app and email, for the teams configured for that site and zone. Each alert carries the camera, site and zone it came from, with the video clip attached, so the responder can see who entered and decide how to respond.
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Plan this use case for your sites
We will review your camera views for this use case, scope the deployment for your sites and show it in a live demo.