North European Airport Opts for Networked CCTV Surveillance Solution
by Telindus NV

AIRPORTS ALL OVER THE WORLD ARE CONSIDERING WAYS IN WHICH TO MEET THE CHALLENGES OF INCREASED PASSENGER AND FREIGHT TRAFFIC, AND THE REQUIREMENT FOR IMPROVED SECURITY. THESE CHALLENGES COME AT A TIME WHEN AIRPORTS ARE FOCUSING ON MAINTAINING CONTROL OF COSTS WHILST INCREASING EFFICIENCY AND PRODUCTIVITY.

It is therefore of no surprise that most airports are evaluating and adopting new technologies to enable them to meet the challenges of today while at the same time putting into place an infrastructure that will aid in addressing the challenges of tomorrow. In the early 1990’s one of Northern Europe’s largest airports embarked upon a project to upgrade and improve airport security and in particular CCTV surveillance. One of the key objectives was to look at how security and IT systems could be integrated to minimize procurement, operational and maintenance costs.

KEY REQUIREMENTS

  • Security system to run over a large local area network providing

                 > Resilience
                 > Lower operations and maintenance costs
                 > Marketing leading technology

  • To deliver a fully integrated security & surveillance solution over the medium to long term

  • Mature networking technology able to deliver guaranteed QoS (Quality of Service) – ATM (Asynchronous Transfer Mode) backbone network chosen

  • Video equipment to have ATM interfaces to connect to ATM backbone

  • Dynamic connection and switching of many cameras and monitors for key applications:

                  > Perimeter fencing
                  > Airlock access
                  > Automatic alarm switched video

  • Restricted connectivity, i.e. users can only have access to certain video streams but different agencies might need to see the same video feed

  • Use of many different types of camera (PTZ – Pan /Tilt /Zoom)

  • Interface into bespoke systems

  • High system availability and redundancy

  • Scalability and flexibility

The solution

CellStack Systems provided its market leading video codecs and integration software products.

The system was designed to provide the OC (Operations Centre) with a pro-active monitoring system. Alarm panic buttons have been located on each of the check-in desks and wired back to a CellStack Expansion box in a remote wiring close, along with the video from the JVC dome cameras. Using a scripted control system running on a CellStack Systems control unit, the OC are automatically shown high quality, low latency video images of the check-in desk should an alarm button be activated and are able to react using real-time full motion high-resolution images. As the alarm buttons are backlit using an LED, the operator is able to see the OC handling the alarm by different flashing sequences on the LED - thereby allowing the operator some security in knowing that the OC was actually attending to their problem.

Using the ATM multicasting functionality, selected video streams are also sent to the airport storage facility, without impacting on the network loading. CellStack System’s video codecs were selected due to their ability to provide high quality, low latency video images and also because they enable the operators to control cameras as if they were connected to a traditional analogue system. Video transmission latency times are critical in Pan/Tilt/Zoom (PTZ) operations because of the time taken to complete the operator’s hand to eye coordination.

In addition to check-in CCTV surveillance there was also a requirement to monitor a number of ‘airlocks’ located around the airport terminal building to provide positive identification of all airport personnel moving from landside to airside.

A combination of CellStack video codecs and control systems, coupled to the quick connection set-up times of the Cisco ATM switches, enables operators to see who is passing through the ‘airlocks’ in real-time.

When wishing to pass airside, airport personnel swipe their card through a card reader. This information is passed back to the access control system, which verifies that person has access rights and retrieves a stored image of that person onto a PC screen. The access control system then makes a video connection that displays a real-time high quality image of that person on the adjacent TV monitor so that the operator can confirm that it is the legitimate owner of the card who wishes to pass. If suspicious, an audio connection can also be made so that the operator can speak directly to the person to confirm relevant details.

Further projects

CellStack Systems have also been successful in supplying further equipment to be used to monitor the airfield perimeter and a number of terminal aprons. The final solution for this part of the project has not yet been finalised, though it is likely that Ernitech cameras will be used around the airfield perimeter because of their superior optical performance, and these cameras will be fed back to CellStack Centauri hub locations.

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