As more commercial buildings, industrial parks and business campuses offer new amenities to corporate tenants, one of the growing intelligent amenities that many are looking for is video surveillance.
When it comes to Broadband Connectivity, video surveillance becomes another facet to deal with in reviewing what intelligent amenities capabilities are available in commercial real estate as well as which ones need to be bought and installed. (See Chart 1)
Organizational expenditures on security cameras and digital storage devices have grown as both the public and private sectors rely more on video surveillance and monitoring as a way to keep track of corporate and government assets. Many times, you don’t get what you pay for or you pay too much for the capability you need. Cameras can get expensive just from the sheer amount you need to buy for an application.
The use of surveillance cameras to secure commercial areas has been growing and growing. A typical casino has well over 1,300 cameras strategically placed to watch patrons and premises. A museum like the Chicago Museum of Science & Industry has over 300 cameras and digital storage devices. Even municipalities have been installing video cameras in high-crime areas on different street corners.
If your organization is dependent on this type of capability, are you getting your money’s worth when it comes to selecting the right equipment? Unfortunately, some “experts” are using the wrong metrics to measure competing camera capabilities. Many look for features that are meaningless in comparing quality, longevity and overall service.
Are your facilities experts talking to the right people when it comes to camera and video storage purchases?
Don’t fall for any vendor or system integrator that trumpets the tired phrase of “We have Best Practices in our design approach”. “Best Practices” are a constant moving target and change with the weather. When it comes to many types of broadband connectivity and video technology, what was a great guideline last year could be totally obsolete this year.
Beware of getting last year’s solution to handle this year’s problems and don’t settle for something that works for Company X down the street. When it comes to video surveillance and security monitoring, the “one-size-fits-all” approach does not work.
What are you trying to monitor and protect? A door? An asset (generator, pump, floodgates) Some type of activity or a lack of activity? All of these factor in to the type of camera and capabilities you will need.
There are many features and options to look at when buying cameras for security. You might buy a six Mega-pixel camera, but it is only as good as the lens that it has. Some consumers buy cameras based on its advertised Mega-pixel rate only to find out that the lens cannot provide the “capture” of the resolution that the processor itself can handle.
Most of today’s cameras are rated at 30 FPS (Frames Per Second) but some are actually 60 FPS. Forget the Frame Rate, crisp resolution is more important. Did you know that if you go to a movie theatre, the movie that you are watching is only 24 frames per second?
30 FPS is overkill when it comes to security cameras and capture rates. Instead of 30 FPS it is recommended to have 5-7 frames per second and get the resolution crisper. Three tips for better use of security cameras in various applications:
- Control the Frame rate (slow down the frames per second)
- Adjust the resolution (crisper images)
- Adjust the aspect ratio
There are many other criteria to look for when buying a total video surveillance system. Besides the quality of the lens and capture rate, you should look into picture quality and color accuracy, operation in low-light situations, innovative design (feature capability) and reliability (what is the MTBF? (Mean Time Between Failure), how is the camera built? (does it use cheap plastic gears? Can it withstand extreme temperatures – both hot and cold?).
As more video surveillance using IP cameras gets installed, more traffic gets pushed onto the internet and the need for broadband connectivity becomes critical not only in major metropolitan areas but in any areas that Intelligent Business Campuses are being developed.
* CARLINI-ISM : Video surveillance is becoming a greater tool as the cost drops for both cameras and storage media, not to mention network costs.
Email the writer:
j.carlini@alrroya.com
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