Identity Authentication Management (IAM) in IP Video Systems
One of the reasons that IP Video systems are becoming increasingly popular for CCTV surveillance is the flexibility that a network solution can provide. System components and video display workstations can be located at any point on the network. This allows users to access live and recorded video from anywhere on the network, whether it is in a security control room or on a manager’s desk. The implementation of Identity Authentication Management (IAM) is therefore fundamental to ensure the integrity of IP Video systems.
IAM is implemented in the system’s video management software. This software is at the heart of an IP Video system and manages the display of live camera feeds from the network, handles the recording to Network Video Recorders (NVRs) and provides a suite of tools for analyzing recorded video. Video clips can be exported from the software for evidential purposes. The issues of IAM also extend to the authentication and protection of these exported clips.
IP Video CCTV and H.264
The latest video compression standard, H.264, is a major development for IP Video systems. Barry Keepence, CTO of IndigoVision, explains what’s behind the standard and the benefits it brings. H.264 is the latest official video compression standard, which follows on from the highly successful MPEG-2 and MPEG-4 video standards and offers improvements in both video quality and compression. The most significant benefit for IP Video systems is the ability to deliver the same high-quality, low latency, digital video with savings of between 25% and 50% on bandwidth and storage requirements. Or to put it another way, deliver significantly higher video quality for the same bandwidth.
H.264 is a video codec (compressor and decompressor) standard. A video codec is designed to compress and uncompress digital video in order to reduce the amount of bandwidth required to transmit and store the video. This is needed as the raw data rate of uncompressed CCIR601 active digital video (720x480 pixel 4:2:2 video at 30fps) is in excess of 158Mbps – over 300 times the capacity of a 512kbps ADSL connection and only just over one hour recording on an 80GB hard disk... more
IP Video - Meeting the Needs of the Transport Industry
Oliver Vellacott, CEO of IndigoVision, describes how IP Video is offering the transport sector unique solutions to its surveillance needs. IP Video is providing the CCTV industry with a unique set of tools for solving today’s surveillance applications. This is particularly true in the demanding transport sector where IP Video is providing many solutions that are not technically possible or economically viable with traditional analog CCTV systems. The many features and benefits of IP Video can be best highlighted by looking at a number of field-proven case studies.
Munich is one of Europe’s fastest growing airports with nearly 30m passengers expected through its two terminals in 2006. In accordance with new EU regulations all airport employees are required to undergo the same security checks as passengers when entering the secure airside area, Munich Airport undertook a security reconfiguration of its staff access points. This included scanners, security arches and CCTV surveillance, for which Munich airport chose IP Video technology... more
Video Analytics - Understanding their Limitations
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 it. We read license plates and recognize faces totally subconsciously. It may have taken us years of learning during childhood to acquire these skills, but the fact is that we take them for granted. Computers, on the other hand, lack even the basics of visual intelligence. They can perform some video analytic functions reliably, but often only by severely constraining the application. Qualification is everything, and setting the end user's expectations is absolutely vital... more
Migrating to IP Video
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. The advantages of IP Video can best be highlighted by looking at the disadvantages of analog CCTV... more
IP Video Overview
The IP Video market is growing rapidly, having been accepted as a mature technology with a field proven record. IP Networking of security systems will eventually penetrate the majority of the market – it has too many cost and performance advantages not to do so.
The advantages of IP Video can best be highlighted by looking at the disadvantages of analog CCTV. In many ways traditional coax or fibre based video systems are limited. Installation costs over large areas are prohibitive and the number of monitoring stations is limited due to the investment required to replicate costly switching infrastructure. The analog matrix is the component that provides control room flexibility for analog CCTV systems, but this too cannot be easily expanded without adding new hardware and it is location dependent. Therefore overall scalability, i.e. the cost of expansion, is poor. Even though the introduction of DVRs has improved the recording capabilities of analog CCTV, these too are limited. They have to be physically installed near the analog matrix, and frame rate and image quality is often compromised. Businesses want a single, scaleable, integrated solution which provides high-quality video surveillance across any number of their offices or sites – this is what IP Video delivers... more
High Quality IP Dome Cameras
IP Video technology is now firmly established as a mature technology that brings significant benefits to CCTV surveillance applications. To complement this, the growth in dedicated IP cameras has also been significant. However, unlike traditional analog cameras where performance can easily be compared, IP cameras present a different proposition.
An IP fixed camera or dome is a single integrated unit that contains the camera itself, codec for video compression and transmitter/receiver for the network. All that is needed to connect the camera to the network is a single CAT-5 cable and local power, or just the cable if Power-over-Ethernet (POE) is implemented. IP Cameras enable simple and easy deployment of network CCTV systems... more
DVR vs NVR – Digital Video Recording for Enterprise Systems
First came the camera and monitor, closely followed by the Video Cassette Recorder (VCR), recording one video stream to a 3-hour tape at 25 frames per second and often triggered by an input device (raid button in a bank, for example). Technology then brought us the multiplexer, which allowed several streams of video to be recorded onto the same tape and separated out into discrete, viewable streams on replay and the time-lapse VCR which enabled the dropping of frames and in so doing permitted a 3-hour tape to be used over much longer periods, albeit at the cost of lost information.
The rapid development of video compression algorithms (JPEG, MJPEG, MPEG-4, etc.), computer processing speeds and a rapid reduction in data storage costs then gave rise to the DVR. This you could consider as being the functionality of a multiplexer together with a computer disk for storage in place of tape, all housed in the same box together with some additional ports for connectivity.
The DVR provides a convenient, if limited, replacement for the multiplexer + VCR combination and provides non-linear access to recorded material usually selected by camera ID, time and date. The consistency of quality of recorded material will in general be higher than that obtained with analog tape although the actual quality achieved may or may not be better, depending on the compression algorithm and individual configuration... more
