26 March 2010

Vancouver Island’s leading fashion focused shopping destination has invested in an IndigoVision integrated IP Video security system, in what is believed to be the first mall in Canada to deploy a surveillance solution with 100% IP cameras. The 93-camera system, which covers the public areas inside the mall as well as the car parks and surrounding areas, was designed and installed by IndigoVision’s Approved Partner Laser Star Systems Ltd in partnership with Hoffman & Company Security Management Consultants Inc. “One of the benefits of the new surveillance system is that it has helped us create an excellent partnership with local law enforcement,” explains Barry Greening, the centre’s Operations Manager. “Due to the exceptional quality and easy accessibility of the video, the local police force has shown an increasing interest in recorded footage from the system. They often analyse the system to see if ‘known individuals’ have been in an around the mall and have used exported evidential video in a number of investigations.” When planning for the new surveillance system the shopping centre realised that an IP networked solution was the future of video security and ensured budget was made available for IT projects that would support the required network infrastructure. This forward thinking in combination with IndigoVision’s low-bandwidth technology allows the IP Video system to share network resources with access control, HVAC, Voice-over-IP and general IT traffic. One workstation with four monitors running ‘Control Center’, IndigoVision’s Security Management Software, is used in the central control room to monitor and analyse live and recorded video. Commenting on its use Greening said, “It is remarkably good and inherently intuitive. The site plan is amazingly simple and easy to use and you can just drag and drop cameras into view. The ability to synchronise cameras and quickly access historical video is invaluable to us and the local police. IndigoVision also took on board our ideas for new features and included them in a future release of the software free-of-charge!” All cameras are continuously recorded for a minimum of 30 days using IndigoVision’s Windows Network Video Recorder (NVR) software running on a custom built iSCSI server with 26TB of Raid 6 storage. IndigoVision’s class-leading compression technology in combination with a unique feature called Activity Controlled Framerate (ACF) helps reduce the overall storage requirement. ACF, which is built into IndigoVision’s IP cameras, has been deployed on a number of cameras located in hallways and storage areas. When the scene is inactive the camera streams video at a lower framerate and instantaneously ramps to maximum configured framerate when motion is detected. This feature is also enabled on many cameras based on time of day, e.g. when the centre is closed. A combination of 26 PTZ and 67 fixed IndigoVision IP cameras were installed inside and outside the mall. The fixed cameras are Power-over-Internet (PoE) compliant allowing them to be powered from the network. This helped reduce the overall installation costs as only a single CAT-6 cable was required to connect the camera to the network. Mayfair is now considering using the surveillance system for more than just security. Retailers are increasingly harnessing the power of high-quality video for marketing purposes. This can be an invaluable tool for analysing merchandising and promotions and monitoring the total number and movement of customers visiting the centre and individual stores.

Vicon’s 35x SurveyorVFT domes, which have been a highly popular choice among installers and system integrators since they were first introduced in 2004, have been upgraded to deliver even higher quality video. All 35x SurveyorVFT domes, including standard indoor and outdoor, impact-resistant and pressurised housing versions, now utilise Progressive Scan technology which offers a higher quality video image than interlaced video with better vertical resolution and no visible flicker. Two modes are offered, “normal” for average to high-motion video and “high sensitive,” for low-motion video. Additional new features include Digital Noise Reduction to improve picture quality in low light environments by digitally sampling the video image and removing excessive noise that interferes with image clarity. When adjusting for white balance within the camera’s set-up menu, there is a new Special Mode which allows for further adjustment based on the lighting source. As fluorescent and conventional lighting affect video differently, this special mode allows the users to capture video with the most visually pleasing white balance. In addition to manual focus, the new cameras offer two auto-focus settings. Fast auto-focus is preferable under most conditions but a slow auto-focus option is offered to better accommodate high-motion video. Vicon’s SurveyorVFT camera domes continue to offer four on-board transmission options i.e. IP/network, fibre and twisted pair as well as conventional coaxial cable providing real flexibility when designing a CCTV system design using domes. The TCP/IP network module offers direct-to-network, high quality digital video for recording and viewing on any ViconNet workstation or Kollector recording platform.