Abstract
Over the years, overcrowding and difficulties in crowd control have resulted in a number of fatal accidents during the Hajj. Despite many efforts and improvements for roads and footbridges, ensuring the safety of pilgrims continues to challenge especially with the annual increase of the number of pilgrims. The challenge has attracted many researchers who provided several methodologies for crowd monitoring and estimation of its density. This paper proposes to extend an earlier monitoring effort done by the same authors to develop a decision support system allows for close monitoring and control of crowd movements. It incorporates data acquisition and processing via several thermal cameras deployed as sensors at strategic points on Nafra (Arafat to Muzdalifah) access roads. The sensors are linked to an analysis module, which in turn measures crowd flow and density in real time. When crowds become too dense, an alarm is triggered according to different density levels. At this point, the integrated decision support system generates different alternatives to the controllers in order for them to take the appropriate actions. The paper illustrates the proposed system component. It also describes the architecture of each component as well as the architecture of the entire system. The system can contribute to provide complete safety for crowds during the Hajj event that attracts millions each year. [Mohamed O. Khozium, Adnan G. Abuarafah, and Essam AbdRabou. A Proposed Computer-Based System Architecture for Crowd Management of Pilgrims using Thermography. Life Sci J 2012;9(2):277-282]. (ISSN:1097-8135). http://www.lifesciencesite.com.44