Scheme Design

Overall Camera Requirements

• A modular hardware configured multiple CCTV camera unit, to enhance the effectiveness, and simplify temporary, rapid or permanent CCTV camera deployment options, suitable for the following environments and applications:
  • Populated open space
  • Non-populated multiple or single attack intruder environments, in
    • Large open spaces, or
    • Close proximity areas

• A camera solution to
  • operate as an unmanned stand-alone camera using Intelligent Moving Camera (IMC) auto-tracking, and
  • be integrated for operator override with:
    • Manned central control rooms, or
    • Mobile observation posts

Coverage required per Multiple Camera Unit

• Where coverage is required in multiple directions at the same time, for example the various directions of a road junction, without the need to install multiple PTZ cameras,
• Be easily configured with the relevant number of fixed cameras to cover from 400m² up to 67,800m² simultaneously with effective automated line-of-sight CCTV monitoring.
• Automatically capture close-up evidence of events to UK Home Office CCTV identification and recognition zoom level guidelines:
  • Daylight monitoring range for situation awareness from 2m up to 200m constantly in any direction from the camera (subject to available ambient light).
    • Recognition evidence from 2m up to 147m constantly in any direction from the camera.
    • Identification evidence from 2m up to 61m constantly in any direction from the camera.
  • Night monitoring range from 2m up to 100m constantly in any direction (subject to available ambient light), or
    • 50m in any direction using black IR.

Certain solutions have the following coverage issues:

• High specification PTZ cameras without IMC technology are unsuitable for intermittently manned or standalone CCTV schemes because they:
  • Do not cover an entire area simultaneously.
  • Pre-set tours are proven to miss close up evidence.

• High specification fixed cameras without IMC technology are unsuitable for standalone CCTV schemes because the number of high resolution fixed cameras required to cover the same area that each IMC would cover is at least 200.
• High specification auto-tracking speed domes are only suitable for close proximity, non populated, single intruder environments, but also encompass complex and lengthy installation and down time maintenance procedures and the resulting high costs of engineers’ return visits.
• High specification megapixel cameras are unsuitable for covering the specified area because they provide up to only 60m recognition evidence with only a 20 degree field of view in well lit areas.
  • Requiring at least 18 cameras to achieve 360 degree coverage, with associated low light, high bandwidth video transmission and high capacity storage problems.

Optical Requirements

• Multiple camera unit to be capable of using any specified PTZ and various high specification fixed contextual view detection cameras to suit specified environments and applications.
• One recommended solution for outdoor open space with low light sensitivity suitable for automated detection under standard sodium street lighting is:
  • Fixed contextual view cameras – Sony Ex-View 1/3” CCD High resolution with 570+ TV lines. Fixed lens 4.3 mm 60° horizontal view, Near IR low light sensitivity 0.005 lux (optional full IR).
  • PTZ BOSCH MIC Series 400 and 500 (with 36 or 18 x zoom) or Pelco Pelco Spectra® IV SE series.
• Zoom levels to be easily adjusted in real-time or pre-programmed for identification or recognition of suspects, or for situation awareness.

Re-deployable or Re-locatable

• Must give flexibility to relocate the entire camera system or parts of it easily with plug-and-play action and without additional new equipment or communications, to follow crime & disorder hot spots whenever and wherever they appear by:
  • Rapidly deploying new camera installations, or
  • Enhancing other existing PTZ camera installations with IMC modules.

Other Considerations

Deterrent

• Solution must perform as though it is constantly “manned” with the PTZ moving intelligently, to provide reassurance to communities of constant protection and a visual long term deterrent to would-be offenders.
• Criminals must see that mechanical pre-set tours are not being used and that therefore they cannot pre-empt the PTZ’s position.
• Criminals must see that fixed contextual view cameras will foil any attempts on diversion/distraction tactics.

Resilience

• Effectiveness of CCTV surveillance must not be adversely affected if there is an equipment or communications fault at the central control room or remote observation post.
• CCTV surveillance to remain operational in the whole area of each camera installation, even if there is a fault on the CCTV network preventing video or telemetry transmission.
• All cameras to continue to be recorded locally.

Data Protection

• The privacy of individuals to be maintained at all times:
• Targets to be selected for close-up recording automatically triggered by specific location and behaviour.
• Audit trail showing when an operator and when the machine is targeting individual people.

Environmental

• Multiple camera unit equipment must be small and light enough to secure onto standard street lighting columns.
• Camera solution to support environmental considerations by minimising the number of cameras, and quantity of street furniture and cabling installed.
• If required area of coverage is greater than what can be covered using 1 or 2 off-the-shelf box cameras, or if size, weight, wind load and cantilever restrictions, prevent the use of such cameras, then fixed cameras should be engineered as a practical, aesthetic and cost effective single camera unit design.

Solutions Supply and Support

No part of the specified solution must infringe on any valid patent, due to risk of losing product support and infringing goods being recalled.

Operational

Auto-tracking capabilities

• When the camera is not being operated manually, events to be automatically detected and captured to close-up evidential quality, no matter what field of view from the camera installation it takes place in:
  • Automation to be pre-programmed with surveillance profile schedules to take account of local knowledge of the areas and times of day or week at which crime usually occurs, but also to continue to monitor areas where other crimes could occur.

• Automated Multiple Event Management
  • The PTZ camera to automatically switch accurately between specified numbers of particular events if they occur at the same time and in various areas around the camera installation, and to continue to track all suspects’ locations no matter if they speed up, slow down or change direction.
  • The camera to be easily programmed with any number of 1-3 levels of surveillance priorities for close-up evidence from the PTZ camera, based upon particular activities and locations.

Certain solutions have the following limitations:

If a high specification speed dome auto-tracking camera or the highly trained operator is already following an event, all other activity outside of the PTZ’s field of view will be missed.

Locally Stored Recordings

• There must be an option for video from all cameras to be digitally recorded locally to the camera for up to 30 days, using 2 terabytes hard disk specified for 100% 24/7 duty cycle, for primary evidential use and central control room backup storage. All recordings must:
  • Be in JPEG format at full PAL or NTSC resolution images, up to 25 fps for PTZ, and contextual view evidence up to 4 fps of each close-up event.
  • Be recorded to recognised UK Home Office approved time-stamped, water-marked, bit-for-bit check summing and encrypted to ensure authentication and data privacy.
  • Permit rapid Interrogation of the locally stored digital video using X264 real-time IP video streaming.
  • Download locally stored video using digital formats MPEG or H264 to be played using common open source movie players.
  • Download recorded evidence from all or selectable numbers between 1 to 6, of each IMC’s fixed contextual view cameras recordings, including its PTZ, as a single file to be played all together using proprietary UK Home Office approved court evidence digital viewer
  • Include a bit-for-bit locally stored evidential recordings seize process for emergencies.
  • Have capability for moving locally recorded key evidence into secure evidence locker local to the camera.

Camera Maintenance

• Camera solution to encompass automated software-to-software watchdog services with simple hardware module swap out processes, to ensure low maintenance downtimes
• End user and their chosen 1^st and 2^nd line support to receive immediate and direct 3^rd line support from manufacturers via secure encrypted high speed broadband internet connectivity, with dual connection for resilience.
  • Option for this connectivity to be securely enabled and disabled under the control of the end user.

Manual Override

Mobile Observation Post

• Ability to manage these camera installations outside of the central control room. For example, during intelligence gathering or emergencies.
  • Using wireless 3G, WiFi or local LAN access.
    • Https TCP/IP secure web browsers to watch all live contextual view cameras, control the PTZ, interrogate recordings local to the camera, schedule surveillance profiles, and prioritise crime hot spots.
  • Using multichannel COFDM.
    • In addition to the above TCP/IP working, all live cameras must also be viewed and recorded remotely in real-time full D1 resolution at 12 frames per second.

Integration with Central Control Room

• Scheme Design
  • Camera solution must be compatible with all major brands of central control room equipment using any recognised communications medium. E.g. Fibre, WiFi, COFDM, etc.
  • Cameras solutions internal processor to be used as a multichannel codec for controlling, streaming and recording all cameras at the control room, to avoid purchasing additional single, or multichannel, or PTZ data control codecs, so delivering a more cost effective product which is easier to install and relocate.

• Operational
  • Central control room CCTV operator must be able to take control of the PTZ in a standard way at any time.
  • Operator must have the ability to manage each PTZ with OSC in the normal way but also have the ability to easily modify/schedule IMC surveillance profiles.
  • Operator following a live event with the PTZ camera must have the option at the same time to also watch and record any one of the multiple camera units contextual view cameras to see what else is happening in the whole area.

• Evidential
  • In addition to central control room recording, all evidence (both wide contextual view and PTZ close-up) to be stored locally to the camera, but be accessible by the central control room equipment using its familiar user interface and digital IP transmission, thus:
    • Reducing the need to store contextual evidence centrally, so reducing communication costs, and
    • Providing backup storage in addition to central control room.
  • A “Smart Search” capability to significantly reduce post-event video interrogation time, i.e. using contextual wide-view camera images meta tagged to rapidly locate specific areas where close up evidence is required.
  • Once locally stored recordings have been identified as evidence, they can be stored in the central control room, or local evidence locker.

• Further advanced options
  • Maximising the video wall performance by switching to show only cameras with events of interest.
  • Providing automated audio/visual alerts for event detection based upon activity and location.