【2020 Application Example】 Nuclear Power Plant Calling It Quits: Elevating Importance of Smart Safety Management
Plant safety is a crucial aspect of industrial security. Currently, many surveillance cameras are used in conjunction with manual monitoring by security personnel to provide information. However, manual monitoring has its limitations. Implementing an AI system to assist in detecting abnormal behaviors and facial recognition can significantly aid security personnel by covering blind spots in manual monitoring.
Located in Shimen District, New Taipei City, the Jinshan Nuclear Power Plant is nestled between mountains and the sea, boasting picturesque scenery. However, this first nuclear power plant in Taiwan is entering its decommissioning phase and will soon become a part of history. With the decommissioning process underway, numerous external contractors will be entering and exiting the complex, complicating access management. The need for continual safety monitoring of external construction to ensure nuclear safety is critical. Additionally, although the Lungmen Nuclear Power Plant is currently mothballed, it still contains sensitive areas and requires a reduction in staff presence, thus prompting an urgent demand for smarter safety management.
With assistance from the Taiwan Nuclear Level Industrial Development Association, the AI team at the Institute for Information Industry aims to tackle the issues of safety and occupational safety at the Jinshan Nuclear Power Plant with minimal staffing. Based on interviews, the technology needs identified for AI implementation at the plant include personnel access control and safety monitoring of personnel and the plant area.
Facial Recognition AI Solves Two Major Challenges: Personnel Access Control and Plant Safety Monitoring
For personnel access control, a facial recognition system is deployed at the nuclear power plant. Utilizing the uniqueness of human faces and AI's high recognition rate, the effectiveness of the plant's personnel access control is enhanced. In terms of personnel operations and plant safety, an abnormal behavior detection system is also deployed. This system utilizes AI to recognize abnormal or dangerous behaviors from the postures of individuals captured by surveillance cameras, promptly providing feedback to safety personnel for action.
Selected by the Institute for Information Industry, the solution from Wantech Intelligent Sensing (abbreviated as Wantech) focuses on developing facial and posture recognition functionalities. After several discussions with Wantech, Google's Facenet and Posenet algorithms were chosen for implementation. Facenet, requiring only 128 dimensions per face image, achieves optimal performance with just a few photos, making it particularly suitable for building industrial-grade facial recognition systems. Posenet, used for motion detection, transforms data via a Data Processing Unit (DPU) into a format suitable for machine learning algorithms—Support Vector Machine (SVM)—for binary classification of human postures into falling or not falling categories.
Utilizing Visual Pages for Clear Management Interfaces
The user interfaces for both systems are implemented using Python's web framework Flask, which provides web services adaptable across different operating systems, achieving a cross-platform purpose. The Glasses App is developed using Unity to access web data.
In recent years, advancements in AI technology have increasingly incorporated facial recognition into safety management. The unique characteristics of facial features eliminate the risks associated with RFID forgery and offer higher accuracy compared to other biometric recognitions (fingerprints, voiceprints), complete objectivity devoid of personal bias, easy system setup and maintenance, and fully automated operations requiring no additional manpower. Undoubtedly, incorporating facial recognition into safety management systems can significantly enhance the safety factor of the plant while reducing management complexities.
▲ Body Posture Recognition Operating in the Laboratory
Taiwan has four nuclear power plants, bearing significant management costs. Continued implementation of AI technology solutions can not only reduce labor costs but also significantly enhance the effectiveness of safety management.
「Translated content is generated by ChatGPT and is for reference only. Translation date:2024-05-19」