COSMOS: A lightweight coastal video monitoring system

The use of video systems for coastal monitoring purposes experienced a huge development over the last years. The main aim of this work is to present a new lightweight video monitoring system (COSMOS) that has been developed to target several key characteristics including portability, low-cost, robustness and easy installation. These characteristics were accomplished through the use of standard IP surveillance cameras and in-house developed software to correct the relative large distortion induced by the use of cameras with non-metric lens.This monitoring system has already been successfully tested in several coastal and estuarine sites with different objectives, illustrating its versatility and wide range of applicability. Research efforts are being made so that these systems can provide reliable real-time beach state indicators turning them into a key element in what concerns coastal hazard warning systems.

► This work describes a new coastal video monitoring system (COSMOS).
► System targets portability, low-cost, robustness and easy installation.
► System software is freely available over the internet.
► The system has been successfully applied to a wide range of coastal environments.