The Naval Ordnance Test Unit (NOTU) at the Cape Canaveral, Florida, Air Force Station supports and tests sea-based weapons in a safe environment. The unit also operates the Navy Port at Port Canaveral, supporting submarines and surface ships of the U.S. Atlantic Fleet and of foreign navies, as well as the assets of the Military Sealift Command. The unit's location, which is surrounded by ocean on three sides, poses a challenge for electronic devices to operate dependably due to its corrosive, salt-water environment.
Video surveillance at the Naval Ordnance Test Unit previously consisted of an outdated system using four black-and-white pan-tilt-zoom (PTZ) cameras, a PTZ controller and four black-and-white video displays tied to video cassette recorders (VCRs). The system needed to be updated, and new components had to withstand the corrosive environment.
NOTU turned to Millennium Communications of Melbourne, Florida, a Samsung Strategic Integrator, to design and install a new system. Founded by Angel Echevarria, Millennium Communications has a 10-year history of providing surveillance and two-way radio systems to commercial, hospitality, educational and federal facilities throughout Brevard County. Mr. Echevarria and Mark Soliman, President of Millennium Communications, designed the NOTU system and oversaw its installation.
Millennium designed NOTU’s new system based on Samsung technology for its security and efficiency benefits. Due to the outdated black-and-white cameras, their overall goal was to improve the image clarity. Additionally, the Samsung solution provided automatic pan-tilt-zoom (PTZ) tours and vastly improved video storage capacity.
Millennium opted not to use IP-based network cameras but decided instead on the proven capabilities of Samsung’s analogue technology, which fully met their needs. The new system includes four Samsung weather-resistant PTZ cameras, which capture high resolution images and are protected by integrated housings.
Samsung’s PTZ line of cameras come equipped with features such as 128x wide dynamic range (WDR) and digital image stabilization with a 37x optical zoom lens, and auto-tracking capabilities. These cameras also incorporate Samsung’s Super Noise Reduction to minimise random and fixed noise under low illumination in order to achieve excellent low light performance while reducing digital video recorder (DVR) storage space by as much as 70 percent.
“We knew that the installation at the Naval Ordnance Test Unit required cameras that combined high performance with outstanding value,” said Mr. Soliman. “The Samsung PTZ camera with its integrated housing fit the application well and provided a high-end product at a good mid-range price.”
The cameras at NOTU provide video across fibre-optic cabling to a Samsung DVR/storage system. The Samsung DVR at the NOTU location provides high-resolution real-time recording capability. The DVR provides smart thumbnail and bookmark search capabilities, fast DVD backup (with a DVD writer included as a standard feature) and easy control with intuitive graphical user interface (GUI) and mouse. It can also accommodate up to two internal SATA HDD disk drives.
The Naval Ordnance Test Unit system also uses a Samsung keyboard PTZ controller to provide system compatibility with multiple protocols. Its intuitive keypad, large LCD window and ergonomic design provide for easy operation. The system is monitored locally on base and uses fibre/RS-485 transmission to control the cameras.
The Samsung video surveillance system is one of several security and surveillance systems deployed at the Naval Ordnance Test Unit. Mr. Soliman says the benefits of the Samsung system cannot be easily quantified beyond the “priceless” benefits of security to protect a military dock. Samsung Techwin America's sales and technical support teams have been very responsive to the installation, according to Mr. Soliman.
“Mission critical applications like that of the Naval Ordnance Test Unit clearly demonstrate the performance and value advantages of Samsung technology for high-end applications,” said Frank DeFina, Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing at Samsung. “As we continue to develop new imaging and recording technologies, we are applying them across our entire product line of IP and analogue solutions. The analogue system installed at NOTU is a perfect example of Samsung innovation at work.”