Petrochemical industry is ripe for IP

10 Apr 08

The security issues facing petrochemical sites are many, varied and complex. These sites are often highly volatile environments spread out over large areas, and thus require many different CCTV operators to have access to the same images. Necessarily, this demands a flexible and truly distributed CCTV system delivering the very highest quality video every step of the way.

Petrochemical processing plants, refineries and storage and distribution terminals face a myriad of threats and challenges. In terms of geography, as stated the sites cover huge geographic areas, with petrochemicals groups having many such sites nationwide. Environmentally speaking, the processing and storage of highly volatile materials needs to be environmentally controlled. Of course, these sites are also prime targets for terrorist activity.

The size and nature of the sites makes them obvious targets for theft of stored product, plant and materials, too, while breaches of Health and Safety rules can have disastrous consequences and lead to large fines. In the event of an incident taking place, the disruption caused may well have a major impact on the business and the surrounding area. Most refineries and terminals are located on the coast for easy access to shipping, but that in itself creates a more demanding immigration control regime. There’s also a taxation-related problem in that stored product – petroleum, for example – must be accounted for in the event of a spillage or theft.

Meeting the surveillance needs

It’s clear from the security challenges facing petrochemical sites that it’s absolutely essential to have a CCTV surveillance system that can deliver the very highest quality video images from cameras located over large geographic areas.

In addition, the ability for multiple users to access the same footage from different locations – both locally and remotely – is a fundamental requirement. This is exactly what a good, distributed IP video surveillance system will do. Unlike traditional analogue CCTV systems, which would be far too expensive.

The combination of the video management software and the IP network creates a ‘virtual matrix’ which allows video from any camera or network video recorder (NVR) to be switched to any monitor or PC workstation, no matter where any component is located on the network. This provides a flexible and scalable solution. It’s easy and inexpensive to add cameras and other components to any point on the network in the future without any extra cabling.

The leading IP video systems use advanced compression based on MPEG-4 or H.264 which allows high quality video to be transmitted around the network with minimal impact on the bandwidth. This often means that a site’s existing corporate LAN can accommodate the IP video system without the necessity for a network upgrade.

Different people from different departments, located in different offices around the site can therefore view live and recorded video from any camera or NVR via a workstation at their desk. For example, CCTV workstations may be used by security operatives, operational management, Health and Safety and general management.

Measured video performance

Petrochemical plants demand the highest standard video quality. Full frame rate live viewing and review of recorded footage is essential. Any lowered frame rates, dropped frames or jerky stop-start video can significantly hinder investigations that require intense video review.

High quality IP video systems stream and record high-resolution (4CIF) video continuously at 25/30 frames per second (fps), without frame dropping at very low latency. Therefore, PTZ camera control over extremely long distances is achievable. A petrochemical site is a high motion, 24/7 operation, thus the surveillance system needs to be performing to these high standards at all times.

Camera-based, real-time analytics and tools for post-event analysis of recorded footage in the video management software allow operators to use the IP video system for a range of monitoring applications:

• theft and criminal activity – deterrence and detection of theft, acts of terrorism and other criminal activity;

• security perimeter breeches – virtual tripwire and motion detection analytics may automatically trigger intrusion alarms;

• auditing – time-stamped video allows confirmation of site activity, product loss, deliveries and conflict resolution;

• Health and Safety breaches – video clips of incidents can be exported as training aids and to the authorities when evidence is needed;

• vehicle movement – vehicles such as fuel tankers may be monitored for deviation from normal routes or specific roadways;

• operational effectiveness – post-event analysis of plant activity and incidents can help improve processes and procedures;

• access control integration – recording of people and/or vehicle registrations when entering the plant, triggered by normal access control entry or illegal access alarms.

Video recording and offsite replication

The fault tolerance and reliability that petrochemical companies and regulators insist upon must be reflected in their CCTV systems. A good IP video system addresses this with robust hardware design of video encoders and NVRs, alongside flexible system configurations. This provides fail-safe redundancy through means of back-up NVRs, and dual network connections offering zero-point failure systems.

The distributed architecture and NVR solutions of IP video systems allow CCTV footage and alarms to be easily recorded offsite for post-event analysis should a major site incident occur.

IP video solutions vendors typically offer a range of encoding hardware that provide options for a total IP-based system or an analogue/IP hybrid solution wherein existing analogue hardware may be integrated. At the heart of the system is the video management and alarm monitoring software. A secure login workstation allows operators to view and analyse live and recorded video from any camera on the network while also providing a powerful alarm handling environment, duplex audio switching, site reference maps and analytics.

Often, the software is provided licence-free and may be deployed throughout a site at no additional cost. Hardwired or wireless IP networks allow rapid deployment of new cameras for new construction areas or security ‘hot spots’. Any analogue CCTV camera can be connected to the network using transmitter/receiver modules.

Most petrochemical plants are still running analogue systems, whether it’s an analogue video switcher or an analogue input-based DVR solution. IP video systems provide the necessary components to allow a staged upgrade to total IP.

Importantly, this approach also allows a ‘hot transition’ whereby the digital system is installed in parallel with the existing system and no camera feeds are lost while the system is commissioned and tested.

Many IP video solutions can be fully integrated with other security systems such as access control, and consolidate all alarms from these systems within the video management software.

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