A collaboration architecture for distributed smart surveillance systems based on DoDAF 2.0

Smart surveillance systems have dramatically evolved over the recent years due to the availability of affordable sensing technologies, media processing discoveries and advanced networking capabilities. In third generation of surveillance systems, the distribution of surveillance capabilities over different sites has extremely boosted the complexity of such systems. As a result, managing alerts and responses that serve as a building block for collaboration among different parties has become very challenging in distributed surveillance system setting. The aim of this research is to propose an effective mechanism for establishing a strong collaboration among distributed smart surveillance systems regardless of the heterogeneity of their platforms. The proposed mechanism is demonstrated in the form of a generic Enterprise Architecture that utilizes DoDAF 2.0 to represent the development of Architectural Descriptions for supporting an accurate and complete integration and interaction among distributed smart surveillance systems. The development of Architectural Descriptions proposed in this research will facilitate an appropriate management of alerts and responses for improved situation awareness.