Samsung’s largest ever booth at IFSEC 2011, the international security exhibition which took place at the NEC, Birmingham on 16th-19th May, provided Europe’s fastest growing security brand with the opportunity to give hands-on demonstrations of the latest video surveillance products and technologies.
Unsurprisingly, a large number of end-users experts were particularly interested in the Samsung cameras which have an Intelligent Video Analytics (IVA) capability.
“Cameras which incorporate our WiseNet1 and SV-5 and DSP chipsets all feature IVA which provides a powerful tool to ensure that users achieve maximum benefit from surveillance systems deployed for a wide range of applications including car parks, industrial estates, petrol forecourts, schools, hospitals, retail parks, airports and ports,” said James Smith, European Marketing Manager for Samsung Techwin Europe Ltd.
Samsung’s license-free Intelligent Video Analytics (IVA) capability includes optical tripwire and enter/exit direction detection, as well as an Appear/Disappear function to detect the movement of objects. IVA also has a scene change tampering function which creates an alert if, for example, paint is sprayed on a camera lens or there is unauthorised movement of a camera away from its usual field of view.
“One of the cameras which attracted considerable attention was the SNP-5200 1.3 Megapixel high definition network PTZ dome camera, which incorporates a true day/night camera and features a 20x optical zoom lens,” said James Smith. “Despite being competitively priced, it is packed full of features and is ‘bandwidth friendly’ which makes it the ideal choice for a wide range of applications where a high definition PTZ dome is required as part of an IP based video surveillance system.”
The SNP-5200 utilises Samsung’s WiseNet1 DSP chipset, allowing users to gain maximum benefit from the very latest megapixel camera technology, including license-free Intelligent Video Analytics and dual streaming H.264 / MJPEG compression, which provides the option to simultaneously transmit images to multiple locations at various frame rates and at different resolutions.
At the same time, JPEG images of an incident can be attached to an alarm email notification with the additional facility of storing pre and post-alarm images on a camera’s internal SD memory card. What is more, dual Ethernet and BNC connectivity provides an upgrade path for hybrid security systems and allows it to be easily set up using standard test monitors.
Samsung’s DSP chipsets
There is a large diversity of reasons why surveillance cameras are used and an equally large number of different environments where cameras may physically be installed. Recognising that trying to pack every possible function onto a single DSP chipset is not economical or practical, Samsung’s design engineers have developed a series of chipsets each with a set of functions to provide the optimum solution for specific types of applications and projects.
SV-5 DSP
As well as IVA, one of the striking features of the SV-5 chipset is its ability to capture reliable quality images at up to 650TVL colour which is further enhanced by a new powerful Super HAD (960H) CCD.
The Wide Dynamic Range (WDR) technology built into the SV-5 chipset compensates for backlight problems 160 times more effectively than standard BLC by applying an optimum fusion ratio when combining the high speed shutter used in bright areas and the low speed shutter used in dark areas. It carries out a precise analysis of the picture to get detailed information from the dark areas without any saturation from the bright areas.
Cameras incorporating the SV-5 DSP chipset also feature Samsung Super Noise Reduction (SSNRII) technology which eliminates image noise in low-light conditions without creating ghosting or blurring. SSNRIII features “Pattern Matching” to simultaneously reduce noise and maintain the object’s edges in both static and moving images. After removing the noise, a very small 3 x 3 pixel matrix matching system is employed to ensure the scene produced by the camera is perfectly matched to the original image.
There is also the added bonus that this amazing technology can save up to 70% hard disk space on a digital video recorder, whilst maximising bandwidth when viewing the video over a network.
Other key features of cameras equipped with the SV-5 chipset include :
• Super Dynamic Range (SSDR) automatically lightens the dark areas within a scene whilst maintaining the brighter areas at the same level. This ensures that the dark areas become more visible allowing the operator to ‘view’ objects in the shadows.
• Highlight Compensation technology identifies areas of peak white, i.e. excessively bright areas, in the image and neutralises it by inverting them to black/grey. This enables the camera to effectively see past these areas allowing the operator to view previously hidden details.
• Digital Image Stabilisation (DIS) technology that can negate the effects of the camera shaking due to high winds or building vibration.
Cameras equipped with the W-5 chipset also feature privacy masking zones and a fourteen language on-screen display menu.