28 Nov 2015 While any valuable art collection, whether it is paintings, sculptures or other art, is to be seen and admired, they also represent a high security risk for the owners or the borrower, as some can be extremely valuable. Theft or damage can have severe financial consequences for the museums owning or displaying them, not only from an insurance perspective, but also from the potential damage to its reputation.

There is a method of alerting security staff if an artwork is being touched or tampered with by detecting hands or any objects too close to it. OPTEX’s laser scanner can create customised vertical detection areas, like a virtual shield matching the size of the asset (up to 20/30cm precision). The REDSCAN sensor will detect any object breaching that virtual shield and can trigger an alarm, voice warning or activate CCTV.

REDSCAN covers large areas

As REDSCAN covers a large area (30m radius) an entire wall can be protected with only one scanner, and detection areas can be set up to protect a specific zone containing the works of art. By using the day/night settings (available with REDSCAN SH), the detection areas can be set differently to suit the time-specific need, to protect particular assets that may be targeted more at particular times during the day or night, for instance or the whole wall at a museum’s closing time.

The intelligent laser sensor is also ideally suited to detect any intrusion into the building itself – through the roof, the windows, the façade or any other possible entry point.

The ability of the sensor to create virtual layers of detection horizontally and vertically makes it well suited to protect any part of the building: the horizontal layer is ideal for detecting people on a flat roof or entering through the ceiling; and the virtual wall will cover the façade detecting anyone attempting to climb onto it.

The laser technology works in any lighting conditions including in complete darkness, providing the exact X&Y coordinates to give the exact position of any object detected. REDSCAN is already integrated with most VMS and PSIM platforms and can trigger cameras to follow the targets through pre-set positions.