CorridorControl
by Fastcom Technology S.A.

SMACS, the SMart Airlock Control System, is a video-based security hardware and software product designed to secure the passage of persons. In particular SMACS performs singularisation analysis, i.e. ensuring that only one person is present to enter the secure zone.

The main difference between the standard SMACS and the SMACS CorridorControl is that the standard SMACS performs singularisation in airlocks and creates the airlock effect, and the SMACS CorridorControl performs the singularisation when a person is ready to exit via a secure door, and allows the the person to leave if he is alone in front of the door, and if all the supervised corridor is empty.

In this case, the SMACS CorridorControl can supervise automatically very long corridors to control access via a secure door to a secure zone. The SMACS CorridorControl performs singularisation in a local zone (in front of the entrance door) and then allows the opening of the secure door considering the activity in a large supervised area.

Environment
To use video analysis, the environment in which this system is installed becomes very important.
Despite being one of the most versatile singularisation systems that exists, SMACS requires the following factors to be taken into consideration at the design stage: 

Stable lighting - Video-based analysis systems require proper lighting conditions for reliable analysis. In total darkness or dim light no analysis is possible, and strongly varying lighting poses an equal problem. Direct sunlight is to be avoided, as it can saturate the camera image, cast strong shadows, and fluctuate rapidly. If the airlock is made partly of glass it would be possible, if necessary, to make the glass more opaque.

Ceiling height - The principle of SMACS is based on a "bird's-eye view" of the activity inside the corridor. If the camera is too low, not only is it difficult to see everywhere in the airlock, but also a tall person standing under the camera would occupy the whole image. This would not pose a security issue (SMACS would never open the airlock in such a case), but tall people would not be authorised as SMACS cannot be 100% sure that the person is alone.

High-contrast design elements - For high reliability, standard SMACS requires high-contrast elements in the airlock. This allows accurate detection and avoids ambiguity in the case where part of a user's clothing is similar in colour to the airlock walls or floor. In case of the SMACS Corridor, the high-contrast design elements could be a contrasted carpet, fixed on the floor, only in front of the secure door.

Configuration
General

The standard SMACS Corridor configuration is:

  • 2 doors which are controlled by the SMACS (airlock effect, i.e. only one door can be open at a time). Note that 3 doors can be managed by SMACS if necessary.
  • 1 camera above of the secure door which performs the singularisation before allowing the door to open (a request enter to can be used to start the singularisation process).
  • A contrasted floor in the zone where the singularisation is controlled. This contrasted floor could be a carpet with a logo drawn on it.
  • 1, 2, 3, 4 or more (maximum 8) cameras to supervise the entire area of the corridor.

In the following figure you can see a standard SMACS CorridorControl configuration:

Hardware
The hardware configuration of the SMACS CorridoControl is the same as the hardware configuration of standard SMACS, except the frame-grabber which is different. The frame-grabber must be able to manage 4 cameras. If there are more than 4 cameras in an installation, another frame-grabber is required. A maximum of 8 cameras can be used with the same analysing.

Basic SMACS components

  1. SMACS analysing unit (industrial PC)
  2. Power supply cable for the analysing unit
  3. 2 × Termination board of 37 IO signals for mounting on DIN rail
  4. 2 × Low voltage computer cable with 37 pins (DB37), length 1m
  5. Split cable to connect keyboard and mouse to the analysing unit
  6. Dongle USB
  7. SMACS CorridorControl singularisation control software, pre-installed
  8. Windows 2000 Pro-Licence (English version)
  9. Documentation (SMACS Hardware Installation Guide and SMACS Software Installation Guide)

Basic camera components
A camera is part of the SMACS standard equipment and is delivered with SMACS. Its components include:

  1. Digital CCTV camera with integrated power supply 
  2. Wide angle lens
  3. Coaxial cable, length 10m, 75 Ohms
  4. Camera support

Operating configuration
The system SMACS will assure that all of the controlled area is empty when a person requests to enter by the secure door. Once the authorization is send by the SMACS, the door can be opened by the user. At this moment the system does not insure that there is not a second person running very rapidly to the secure zone from another door which joins the corridor, when the identified and authorized person is given access to the secure zone.