SourceSecurity.com RSS - Expert Commentary

Cooled versus uncooled - thermal imaging cameras for long-range surveillance

Mon, 22 Sep 2008 08:00:00 GMT

FLIR Systems' Christiaan Maras highlights the benefits between cooled and uncooled thermal imaging systems.

The demand for thermal imaging to enhance the CCTV environment is increasing markedly. Thermal imaging provides 24-hour, all-year-round, long-range asset and personnel protection. Unlike other cameras thermal imaging cameras require no lighting that may draw unwanted attention to a facility or site. They provide vivid, high-contrast images of intruders even when light fog, smoke, rain, snow, foliage or lack of ambient light may make them difficult to see with the naked eye or with conventional cameras.

Some thermal imaging cameras have a range up to...

Biometrics - a view of the future

Sun, 10 Aug 2008 08:00:00 GMT

Biometric technology has been with us for over two decades, but how will it evolve over the next ten years? John Davies, Managing Director of access control specialist TDSi, looks at the impact of biometrics and considers how future developments might shape the security industry.

Biometrics is quite rightly viewed to be at the cutting edge of security technology. From the very first commercial application of a finger print reader in 1984, we have seen new systems and applications introduced to the market on a regular basis; some are still firmly in the development phase whilst others, like iris and facial recognition, are gradually being introduced into practical installations.

In many ways, it has taken the increased threat from global terrorism and organised crime to create an acceptance of biometric...

Financial focus for security

Wed, 30 Jul 2008 08:00:00 GMT

When it comes to the application of sophisticated security techniques in the banking environment - to keep assets, staff and customers safe and secure - financial institutions are looking carefully at how they can seamlessly integrate advances, such as High Definition CCTV and the monitoring of their cash machines, into their existing infrastructure. Pauline Norstrom, Director of Worldwide Marketing at Dedicated Micros, discusses the challenges.

A key issue for banks is to ensure that the additional security measures can be added without impacting negatively on business operations, including the ability to conduct financial transactions over their IT network. It is a reality today that many banks still will not allow transmission of any video over their LAN (Local Area Network).

High Definition...

Taking a view on Tunnel Smoke Detection

Thu, 22 May 2008 08:00:00 GMT

D-Tec's MD, Ian Moore, explains the importance of smoke detection systems in the early detection of tunnel fires.
Fire in the context of tunnels has been brought into sharp relief in recent years, as a result of a number of high profile tragedies. Most notably the Mont Blanc Tunnel in 1999, which claimed the lives of 39 people. As a result, there has been increasing interest in the application of CCTV cameras in conjunction with video analytics technology, specifically Video Smoke Detection (VSD), to provide vital early warning of accidents.
Effective detection - heat or smoke?
When it comes to fire prevention and safety, road, rail and service tunnels present an extremely testing proposition because of their small cross sectional area. As some modern tunnels can stretch...

Challenges and developments in "intelligent video surveillance"

Wed, 20 Feb 2008 08:00:00 GMT

Security analysts IMS Research have charted a 65% annual compound growth in the video analytics market since 2004 and predict that the sector will be worth £215 million in 2009. Here, Chris Gomersall, Chief Executive Officer of London-based analytics provider Ipsotek, outlines the technology, describes on-site challenges and considers likely developments.
Referred to variously as "intelligent video surveillance" or "intelligent scene analysis", video analytics employs algorithms and vector partitioning to detect unexpected movement or unusual behaviour that may pose a threat to people, property and infrastructure. The software filters and interprets data captured by CCTV cameras in circumstances where a human observer would struggle to assess developments as they arise. The analysis can be performed in real-time or retrospectively in playback for evidential purposes. Real-time messages on...

Specifying IP Video CCTV systems for casinos

Fri, 11 Jan 2008 08:00:00 GMT
Casino operators are among the most pro-active and demanding users of CCTV surveillance. IP Video systems are an ideal solution for this industry, but it's important to specify a well-designed system warns Oliver Vellacott, IndigoVision's CEO.
A quality casino surveillance system is an essential business tool used to resolve gaming disputes, monitor public safety and detect fraud, cheating and theft. The very nature of the gaming environment where patrons and staff intermingle and handle large sums of money demands that the video system delivers the best quality video available in terms of both image quality and frame rates.
An IP Video system that delivers these essential elements also adds other dimensions to the surveillance operation by providing analytical search...

Smart access on campus

Mon, 03 Dec 2007 08:00:00 GMT

Security is now part of the mainstream in day-to-day life at most further education facilities with access control rapidly becoming the fastest growing technology as older, more basic systems are replaced. Marc Handels, Marketing & Sales Director for SALTO Systems Ltd, looks at how security on campus is changing and how access control manufacturers are responding to develop systems to keep pace with their education customers ever more complex requirements.
When it comes to security, access control often as part of an integrated package, is now an essential part of everyone's life on campus from the newest fresher up to the chancellor of the university. It provides a means of authenticating identity, securing valuable assets, retaining important and sensitive information and ensuring personnel security, health and safety. So why do universities need access control as part of their...

Demystifying video analytics - is "intelligent" now a dirty word?

Mon, 19 Nov 2007 08:00:00 GMT

Edward Troha, Director of Marketing for ObjectVideo, questions the actual intelligence of some video analytics packages.
While roaming the halls of the seemingly endless stream of security and surveillance trade shows, have you ever asked yourself if all of the devices and software and solutions that claim to be "intelligent" really are? No way. Perhaps the more important question is "what can you do today to most effectively educate yourself on the fact and fiction of video analytics?"

Let's begin with a definition. There are three important criteria that will enable you to determine if a system, device or solution is truly intelligent:

First, it must be an application of artificial intelligence; specifically, computer vision. This is important because computer vision, the science of teaching a computer to see, is the basis for all truly...

Holistic Security – completing the picture

Thu, 18 Oct 2007 08:00:00 GMT

Nicolas Richter, Head of Security Products for Siemens Building Technologies, looks at the increasing importance of integration in the security market.
In trying to identify the greatest driver in the security market at the moment, I would have to say integration (some might use the term interoperability but I will discuss this later). If you look at intrusion, for example, it is no longer just intrusion, particularly in the commercial sector. The access control system operates during office hours but then out of hours, yes, you have the initial intruder detection, but then perhaps CCTV sending live images for alarm verification down a secure network to an alarm receiving centre which co-ordinates the response. The increasing involvement of service providers in the security equation, particularly telecommunications and energy companies, is helping to push this trend for integration, not only within security but also beyond. ...

Axis Communications considers the future for the security industry

Wed, 05 Sep 2007 08:00:00 GMT

SourceSecurity.com took the time to catch up with the CEO and President of the company that invented the network camera more than 10 years ago, Axis Communications, to ask him whether the era of IP-based surveillance had arrived and what obstacles remain in the way of more widespread adoption.
SourceSecurity.com: Do you think IP-Surveillance has finally come of age?
Ray Mauritsson: Yes and it is not just Axis saying this. You only need to look at the growth of sales of the network video market to see the evidence. IMS Research's latest report gave growth figures for the network video market in the region of 40% globally and our own network video sales slightly exceed this figure with 45% growth in 2006. CCTV market...

Where there's smoke and wire, thieves perspire: applications of artificial smoke systems

Mon, 23 Jul 2007 08:00:00 GMT

In his previous article, Matt Gilmartin of Concept Smoke Screen introduced the... well... concept... of artificial smoke as a defence against burglars. Here he explores the practicalities of the technology and introduces us to a few of its many applications.
Originally, security fog systems were exclusively a means of preventing loss through burglary, and were utilised only in the manner described in my previous article. But advancements in technology (partly fuelled by ever-growing demand) have resulted in a multitude of choices as to how systems are employed.
Burglar alarms
Currently 95% of the systems installed will be in an anti-burglary role. In these cases, a simple...

Video analytics - understanding their limitations

Wed, 04 Jul 2007 08:00:00 GMT

In this article, Oliver Vellacott, CEO of IndigoVision, warns against setting too high an expectation for what video analytics can deliver.
Analytics will detect 'suspicious movement' from people walking along a street. Analytics will detect terrorists walking round a hillside a mile away. Analytics will pick an offender out from a sea of faces. These are just some of the misconceptions about analytics today. Was there ever a technology that was so 'over-promised and under-delivered'?
No. The reality is that analytics are still very much in their infancy. Expectation management is at the heart of the issue - being realistic with end users about what can be achieved. The fundamental problem is that as humans we do these tasks without even thinking about...

Moralise, berate and stare: CCTV doesn't talk...?

Tue, 30 Nov 1999 08:00:00 GMT

"You, in the black jumper. Put that traffic cone back where you found it."
A reasonable statement. But slightly unnerving if spoken from the heavens at a great volume. Just as John Reid would like it.
"Talking CCTV" - a system allowing control room operators to speak directly to those being watched - is the new black, the must have for the latest season of surveillance. Making its way to a council near you.
The system, Reid says, is a sensible means of dispelling such antisocial behaviour as littering, gangs congregating and drunk and disorderly behaviour. In his textbook case - an example he cites from the talking eye's trial run in Middlesbrough - a yob on an isolated street drops a chip packet on the floor.
"Warning," a voice booms out. "You are being monitored by CCTV. Pick up the chip packet."
The yob looks around, confused...

Moving beyond access control: a glimpse of the future

Tue, 30 Nov 1999 08:00:00 GMT

In this article, SourceSecurity.com speaks to newly appointed MD of HID Global, EMEA, Anthony Ball, about trends and developments in the access control industry.
SourceSecurity.com: What are the key factors influencing the security industry, and particularly access control, in the near and medium term?
Anthony Ball: I believe security will need to be more ‘customer-aware' than ‘technology-aware.' The development of products will need to be very much end-user driven. Manufacturers will have to take care not to overcomplicate security.
Security should be like buying a new computer today: you plug it in,...

Security Smoke Systems

Thu, 19 Apr 2007 08:00:00 GMT

In the first of two articles, Matt Gilmartin of Concept Smoke Screen introduces the idea of using artificial smoke as a final - and telling - barrier against burglary, and explains the basics behind this wildly under-reported technology.
Around twenty years ago, a dramatic increase in the amount of smash-and-grab and "ram-raid" style burglaries made it apparent that for a lot of premises, the three layers of "conventional" security measures were no longer enough:
Physical security (bars, grilles and access control protection) tended to raise the level of violence employed to gain access to the building. Thieves employ angle grinders, skill saws, Land Rovers - anything to gain fast access to their targets. This obviously raises the capital loss suffered by the victim.
Intruder alarms were ignored by this style of criminal as the average break-in is finished and...

Physical security - a guide for Internal Auditors

Fri, 16 Feb 2007 08:00:00 GMT

In this article, Mike Bluestone considers the challenges facing internal auditors in light of the recent scourges of terrorism, binge drinking and drug use, and proposes eight principles of security.
Internal auditors are inevitably engaged in an ongoing challenge to uncover intellectual wrongdoing of varying kinds. The 'fail-safe' measures practised and implemented by them frequently reveal failings and intentional wrong doing - by employees and others - in both the public and private corporate sectors. In many instances, the findings they uncover and the subsequent action taken can result in the survival of a business that may otherwise have been struck a deadly blow, as a result, for example, of an attempted fraud, negligence or sheer incompetence.
What is sometimes not always appreciated however, is the increasing need for internal auditors to also focus on the physical...

Is CCTV really a crime prevention solution?

Tue, 30 Jan 2007 08:00:00 GMT

Simon Hall examines the problems of retrospectiveness and poor observation inherent in CCTV systems with manned control rooms. Artificial intelligence (AI), he contends, could be the answer.
We are living in a time in human history where the words ‘security' and ‘prevention' are becoming synonymous. There exist a new wave of criminals, expert in new forms of weaponry and destructive technologies and more insidious and more ingenious in their designs. This frightening reality has created frustration with what many see as a widespread tendency to use CCTV as a source of retrospective video evidence.
Both the NSW Crime Prevention Division in Australia and the United Kingdom Home Office have recently cited academic reports to this effect. Global demand exists for a new level of intelligence in CCTV, one that can play a reliable and preventative...

Migrating to IP Video

Thu, 07 Dec 2006 08:00:00 GMT

Dr Oliver Vellacott, CEO of IndigoVision, outlines how investment in existing CCTV systems can be safeguarded when migrating to an IP Video solution.
The IP Video market is growing rapidly, having been accepted as a mature technology with a field proven record. IP networking of CCTV, access control and intruder alarms will eventually penetrate the majority of the market - it has too many cost and performance advantages not to do so. But what does this mean for legacy systems? How can a business take full advantage of this emergent technology without throwing away existing investment in installed systems?
This article sets out to clarify some of these issues, but first it's important to understand the benefits of IP Video systems.
IP Video Technology
The advantages of IP Video...

People, processes and potential

Thu, 19 Oct 2006 08:00:00 GMT

Martin Roberts of NICE Systems discusses current and future security challenges of processes, people and technology.
The political, social, business and technological environment is changing the mandate of the modern Security Manager. Recent events have placed security firmly in the spotlight and are forcing everyone from the board down to ask the following questions: Do we have the security processes, people and technology in place to meet current and future challenges? And how can we improve?
With the barriers between IT and security coming down, and as organisations recognise the cost savings and broader business benefits that can be made by merging security and IT onto a single network, it is clear that IT has a part to play in the ‘solution', but that too has an impact on the people and the way they do things.
Camera chaos and managing the information overload
The...

Wireless IP video

Wed, 20 Sep 2006 08:00:00 GMT

Oliver Vellacott, CEO of IndigoVision and Ronan Smith, CEO of Wavesight discuss the many advantages that wireless technology brings to IP Video Solutions
In the last decade there has been a massive growth in the use of license-exempt radio technology to carry data, voice and video across networks, moving away from the traditional cable route.
Inside many organisations, wireless technology is being deployed as extensions to traditional wired infrastructures - e.g. wireless access points connected to the existing network, where cabling would be too costly. Externally, wireless Ethernet bridging is being used to extend networks across buildings several Kilometres apart.
Increasingly, this technology is being seen as highly complementary to IP Video and the two are often rolled out together.
Ease of deployment
The rapid deployment of wireless is a major benefit, from a time and cost...