Issue link: https://securitytechnologyexecutive.epubxp.com/i/690996
40 SECURITY TECHNOLOGY EXECUTIVE • May/June 2016 www.SecurityInfoWatch.com VIDEO SURVEILLANCE include retail stores, shopping malls, airports, parking lots, casinos, sports facilities, warehous- es, seaports, manufacturing facilities and any other application where it is important to provide a high degree of situational awareness by con- tinuously monitoring people as they enter and move throughout an area of interest. The intro- duction of panoramic cameras has provided end users with the potential of covering larger areas of interest with fewer cameras while reducing overall costs for the cameras, camera power and maintenance. When looking to deploy a panoramic camera, many options should be taken into consider- ation. Paying very close attention to the details of the surrounding conditions, e.g. lighting conditions, distance to object and available mounting options will play a major role in selecting the appropriate camera. Panoramic cameras come in a variety of models with vari- ous strengths and weaknesses. Panoramic Single Lens The panoramic single lens or "fish eye" cameras can be an economical choice to achieve 360° of coverage and are frequently deployed in office lobbies convenience stores and directly above cash registers. These cameras can also be mount- ed on a wall resulting in a 180° field of view. One panoramic single lens camera can now be installed in lieu of multiple standard IP camer- as resulting in an improved, unobstructed field of view. As a result, cost savings can be realized through the reduction of camera infrastruc- ture requirements including cable, switches and power, reduced technician time for camera set up and programming, and a reduction of camera licensing requirements. One potential area of concern when install- ing single lens panoramic cameras in lieu of multiple IP cameras would be the potential reduction of system resilience by creating a single point of failure. In more critical appli- cations, this can be addressed by augment- ing panoramic single lens cameras with a few strategic standard IP cameras to cover sensi- tive areas. T his combination of panoramic and standard IP cameras may provide a bet- ter solution where a both a high level of situ- ational awareness and a high level of reliability is required. Panoramic single lens cameras also produce a spherical "fish eye" image. This image must be corrected to provide a usable image for viewing. The process of correcting the image is called "de-warping" and can be accomplished at the camera, or by using specialized software at the video management system headend to de-warp once the video has been transmitted. De-warp- ing at the video management system allows the user to go back in time to view the entire scene in its original form and the ability to pan tilt and zoom within the entire 360° view. Another advantage to de-warping at the video manage- ment system is that it will allow multiple users to view the same image concurrently. However, de-warping at the camera allows the end user to create virtual views similar to those provided by standard IP cameras. The views may be changed by using pan tilt and zoom commands which can introduce latency issues similar to what is experienced with mechanical pan tilt and zoom functions. Finally, de-warping at the camera does not allow the ability to go back in time and view the entire scene in its original form. Multi-Sensor Panoramic Dome Multi-sensor panoramic cameras feature multi- ple fixed megapixel sensors with standard lenses installed within a single dome enclosure. This multi-sensor camera configuration provides an undistorted image so de-warping is not required. However, because we are dealing with multiple sensors viewing a single scene, special circuitry is still required to combine or "stitch" the infor- mation into a single usable view. Like the pan- oramic single lens camera, there is only one camera to install and one cable to pull. However, About the Authors: Brian Dusza, PE, CPP is a Senior Director, Consulting Services for Securadyne Systems LLC Marshall Amarantes is Director of Solutions Engineering for Securadyne Systems LLC, Marshall The most common panoramic camera designs consist of either a single camera with a 180° or 360° extreme wide angle lens or multi-sensor cameras that include multiple camera sensors and lenses in a single enclosure that are ceiling mounted.