VERNA has many years of experience in designing and implementing video surveillance systems for large enterprises throughout Ukraine. Our team of professionals ensures high quality project implementation, regardless of their scale and complexity.
Using our knowledge and experience, in this article we will look at the key aspects of creating an effective video surveillance system, including the choice between analog and digital solutions, IP camera parameters, network infrastructure, servers and network DVRs, as well as video management systems.
1. Difference between analog and digital video. Advantages and disadvantages
2. IP cameras — selection, parameters, manufacturers
3. Network infrastructure
4. Servers and NVR
5. Video Management Systems
Currently, there are 2 main types of video surveillance systems: analog and IP systems.
Analog systems apply 3 basic video processing standards AHD/TVI//CVI. These standards made it possible to increase the resolution to 2 or more megapixels, and made the analog fleet of camcorders and equipment competitive. The main thing is that it became possible to use existing cable lines, coaxial and single-pair on twisted pairs based on telephony, laid earlier at the facility. Another advantage of these systems -real-time processing of video content, the absence of delays in the transmission of video cameras. Processing takes place on analog-to-digital converters, processors provide only control, but do not load video stream blocks into RAM. Therefore, the processor does not slow down or hang while waiting for load/unload cycles.
But perhaps the main problem of analog systems is noise. Noise is called an unwanted signal that masks a useful component of the signal. It is physically impossible to completely get rid of noise. The deterioration in the quality of the analog signal becomes visually noticeable as the length of the cable line increases, the IP signal you can transmit at least to Mars in the same quality in which it was received from the IP camera. This especially becomes a problem when analog video surveillance is used in production, where there are many sources of electromagnetic interference, or when cameras are located near fluorescent lighting.
In general, analog video surveillance is already becoming a little irrelevant and further we will consider only digital.
Modern video surveillance systems are implemented on the basis of digital processing of video information and IP data transmission systems, which allows you to use the entire modern fleet of switching equipment and local area network and transmit images at any distance without loss of quality. Also, the advantage of digital video surveillance is the possibility of using video analytics to post-process the video stream and identify the scenes of interest to us. IP video surveillance consists of such basic components — cameras, local area network, switching equipment, recording and storage servers, software. Let's go through each of the components and identify the selection criteria.
They have three determining criteria: form factor, distribution capacity, viewing angle width - focal length. Usually for indoors we use different variations of dome cameras as the most compact, for the street we use different types of enclosure cameras as more protected from environmental influences.
The next criterion is the distribution capacity. Here it is important to keep a balance between the need to look at the fine details in the video and the understanding that the greater the bandwidth, the more expensive the camera and generates more traffic on the network and consumes more archive space. Usually we use 2MP and 4MP cameras depending on the need, very rarely with a higher resolution.
Regarding the viewing angle, the most versatile for rooms is the 2.8mm lens, which gives an angle of about 100 degrees. This is suitable when we want to see the entire room with as few cameras as possible, while the distances are relatively small. The exception is the cameras that we use for facial recognition analytics. Here we usually need a close-up of the input group, so we use varifocal lenses tuned to 6-10mm, that is, with a rather narrow angle. On the street, the choice of the width of the viewing angle also depends on the tasks and can be narrow to look at distant objects, or wide to cover a large area and get rid of blind areas.
In our projects we use cameras from manufacturers Hanwa (Samsung), UNV, Hikvision, Dahua, Axis, Bosh, Ajax.
All modern cameras support the PoE standard, which is when power and video are transmitted together over a UTP cable. Therefore, PoE switches have gained wide use for their ease of use. When designing a local area network, we focus on drawings with the arrangement of cameras to optimize the number of equipment and switching cabinets, which reduces the customer's project costs. Digital cameras generate a fairly large data stream, on average it is 4-6 Mbits from each. Therefore, when designing infrastructure, it is necessary to avoid “bottlenecks”, and if possible use a network with gigabit links.
Also, do not forget about the uninterrupted power supply of video surveillance nodes, which in general adds reliability to the video surveillance system that we create. When laying the network inside residential buildings, shopping centers, banks, we use only cable with LSZH shell, which does not support combustion and does not emit toxic substances during a fire. Usually we work with the following switch manufacturers: TP-Link, Mikrotik, Cisco, Utepo, Dahua. We build the local network on Legrand, Commscope, Panduit, Schneider, OK-Net components.
Depending on the size of the project, the number of cameras, special requirements for failure resistance, we choose how and on what to store the archive. In simple cases, it can be 4, 8, 32 channel DVRs (NVR) in various variations. In complex cases, it can be a fail-safe cluster with a separate storage system built on RAID arrays.
Also, the choice of DVR or server depends on what software (professional or free from the camera manufacturer) we will use in the future to control the video surveillance system. We use NVR manufacturers such as Hikvision, UNV, Dahua, Hanwa. In the case of using video servers, it is Supermicro, DELL, HP. Data storage systems - Synology, QNAP, HPE.
Video Management System is a software that is responsible for collecting, processing, managing and analyzing video data from different surveillance cameras. They play a key role in creating a centralized platform to effectively manage a large volume of cameras and provide the ability to access video data in real time and in archive. The main functions of video surveillance management systems are centralized management and analysis of video data.
During the implementation of VMS, VERNA specialists investigate the needs of the project and offer a suitable solution from a reliable manufacturer. Video surveillance control systems allow operators to view real-time video streams from cameras, control their panorama, tilt and zoom, and perform other operations that contribute to effective control over the video surveillance system.
VMS allow you to manage the recording of video streams from cameras on local or remote servers for further analysis, archiving and use. They provide flexible settings for the retention period, backup and protection of video data.
VMS software can integrate with other security systems such as access control systems, fire safety systems, and security alarm systems. This allows operators to carry out more comprehensive monitoring and react to events in real time.
We use VMS systems from leading manufacturers Milestone, Luxriot, Vezha.
Thanks to the experience and quality of implementations, VERNA has become a reliable partner for enterprises in the creation of video surveillance systems. VERNA embedded video surveillance systems work in leading companies in Ukraine.
VERNA has extensive experience in designing and implementing video surveillance systems for large enterprises throughout Ukraine. Our solutions cover a full range of services: from site inspection and specification development to equipment supply, system installation and configuration.
With more than twenty years of experience in the IT systems integration market, VERNA offers proven and effective solutions. Our team of experienced engineers is ready to ensure the smooth operation of video surveillance systems, providing technical support and service at the highest level.
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