When the going gets tough: focus on outdoor surveillance
17 Dec 09
Phil Doyle, managing director of Axis Communications UK & Ireland, looks at the factors to consider when specifying a secure and resilient outdoor surveillance and how to ensure excellent image quality and reliability…
Unlike indoor locations, where most variables can be held within narrow and predictable ranges, outdoor locations strain video surveillance equipment to its absolute limits.
In those tough operating locations constantly exposed to wind, rain and wide variations in temperature, or those where tampering and vandalism are ever-present risks, the need for cost-effective video surveillance that meets the customer’s needs regardless of outdoor conditions is imperative.
Outdoor security is essential for many businesses, with the outdoor perimeter of a site often representing an important security gateway.
Outdoor security systems provide the first view of visitors, intruders or other members of the public, providing the most time to react effectively, if needed.
Future-proof
End users are looking for systems that provide clear video surveillance, regardless of where the camera is located or the climate it needs to operate in, and site owners need a secure, future-proof investment without hidden costs.
With crime on the rise, property owners are realising they need to review their surveillance requirements to protect their properties.
In fact, IMS Research, a supplier of market research for the electronics industry, believes that robust, efficient outdoor surveillance is becoming more and more important to security professionals and is forecasting long-term double digit revenue growth for applications that require outdoor surveillance, particularly public area surveillance and perimeter protection.
For many industries, from education and government to industry and retail, outdoor surveillance is just as essential to their overall security picture as the indoor system, often, more so, with organisations relying on overview surveillance, perimeter protection, facial identification and license plate recognition.
Special demands
Each outdoor application has special demands, but successful video surveillance demands suitable image quality and equipment reliability regardless of conditions, as well as cost-effective installation and user-friendly operation.
It takes a very robust camera to withstand the differing weather and lighting conditions faced in the average external installation.
An outdoor camera needs to be able to cope with the full assault of the weather – from freezing snow storms to dusty, hot conditions – and as they can often be located in difficult to reach places, reliability is key as maintenance or replacement can be expensive, time-consuming and difficult.
Maintenance also often requires specialist equipment, which is not likely to be easily – or cheaply – accessible.
If the right type of camera is not used, exposure to the elements will quickly damage the camera and severely impair image quality, and poor lighting conditions and extreme weather conditions will inevitably hinder the image quality you are relying on.
A robust solution
Outdoor security solutions are required to provide optimal performance in spite of the tough conditions they are forced to operate in.
From extremes of weather and temperature, humidity dust, vibration, corrosive environments to acts of random vandalism – those systems that fail to live to deliver on performance when faced with these conditions can pose an extremely serious security risk.
Changes in the natural environment must also be taken into consideration. For example, trees can grow very quickly and block the intended field of view – which is why a comprehensive site survey before installation is essential.
Image quality
It’s not enough merely to be able to operate in harsh conditions: cameras also need to deliver high resolution image quality coupled with high frame rates – very important when dealing with fast-moving subjects and varying lighting conditions.
High image quality is especially important in applications where it is important to be able to clearly identify people and vehicles such as car parks, train stations and airports.
Constantly changing light conditions are the norm for outdoor surveillance installations, from one minute to the next and from brightest daylight to darkest night.
These factors and others such as shadows and fast-moving objects can also adversely affect the effectiveness of the security camera. Security cameras need to be able to cope with all levels of lighting, utilising infrared technology at night and iris control in bright sunlight to ensure exceptional image quality at all times.
Weather
In many outdoor surveillance situations, cameras are likely to experience certain amounts of adverse weather.
Outdoor surveillance equipment must be designed with these factors in mind, and built with the ability to withstand the toughest conditions.
It is important to prevent water ingress by using an Ingress Protection (IP) rated housing to ensure that the equipment does not suffer water damage. IP ratings are given to outdoor surveillance equipment to communicate their resistance to water and dust.
Tampering and vandalism
By their very nature, surveillance cameras can be unpopular with individuals who don’t wish their actions to be monitored.
It’s therefore important for cameras to be able to fend off attempts to disable them – with vandal-resistant design, hardened casings and active tampering alarms.
It also helps to use equipment that is unobtrusive in design, diverting attention away from it.
Ease of installation
While image usability is one of the most important considerations when choosing an outdoor security camera, the needs of the security consultants and integrators must also be kept in mind.
The need to be able to competitively install, commission and support the systems you’re recommending and selling is an undeniably important issue.
An outdoor surveillance solution needs to be easy to install, saving time and resources, whilst being resilient and producing excellent image quality.
It is important that cameras are positioned so that their view remains unobscured, and often this means that they are installed in difficult to reach places. They also need to be resilient in order to avoid tricky and expensive maintenance costs.
Whether a site needs five cameras or five hundred, installation is critical and often costly. Outdoor network cameras are often placed in difficult areas such as high up on walls, ceilings or poles.
In large-scale systems with hundreds of cameras, all time-savings during installation significantly reduce the system cost. The easier the installation and configuration - the bigger the benefits to both customer and installer.
Some Axis examples
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All organisations have their own specific needs when it comes to outdoor surveillance. From sports stadiums to council public space surveillance deployments the need for clear images, ease of installation and durability remains the same.
Breckland District Council has recently announced that it is updating its public space surveillance system with a new network video-based system from Axis in a bid to help reduce crime and incidents of anti-social behaviour in the region.
All cameras will be deployed in the five market towns which make up Breckland and are designed to withstand harsh weather conditions and be tamper proof while providing optimal performance at all times. The cameras are tamper proof, able to move extremely fast with improved zoom capabilities, and offer excellent image quality, even in poor light conditions.
Another example of an organisation using outdoor-ready cameras from Axis is the Ursus district office of Warsaw in Poland. Axis partner ZUT Projekt was struggling to develop an outdoor surveillance system for a park in Warsaw.
They needed cameras that could survey a large area, yet be discreet enough for approval by a landscape architect. As the park was located near to a housing estate, there was also a distinct threat of theft and vandalism of the equipment.
The cameras needed to be robust enough to withstand this as well as the demanding Polish temperatures and adverse weather conditions Five cameras were installed on specially designed and constructed pillars which conformed to the requirements of the surroundings. The cameras were subtle and at the same time protected from vandalism and breakage.
The Government of Extremadura, Spain is also using outdoor-ready cameras from Axis as part of a new webcam initiative designed to provide a boost to tourism and community in the area. The regional network of cameras offers real-time, Internet-transmitted images of 119 towns and 10 protected natural sites.
The cameras allow for high image quality and were implemented using the existing network – resulting in major financial savings. Images captured by these cameras were of such high quality that they have even been used by TV stations for weather reporting.
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