Integrated Video alarm: New competitive advantage

The use of video verification, before dispatching the alarm to the corresponding authorities, is beginning to be included in many countries' legislation.

Without detriment to that, private security businesses also accept the fact that they can't continue to spend money on the dispatch of private surveillance vehicles when 90% of alarms are false.

The evolution of the systems has had 2 stages to date:

1-      Alarm systems with signal reports in digital format without image.

2-      IP video systems, of the webcam type, video server or DVR that we use via SOFTGUARD SG VIDEO and that allow the video verification of alarm in an automated way, with wide compatibility.

But technologic evolution, predictable in this tendency, offers VIDEO ALARM equipments, integrating the image with the conventional alarm system signal.

Some time ago, we introduced SOFTGUARD compatibility with RSI VIDEOFIED equipments, absolute pioneers in this field.

Now, with great pride and confidence that we are always a step ahead. It is the second system that is totally integrated with SOFTGUARD and allows the immediate reception of the image that generated the panel alarm at the central station.

PIRCAM transmits the images and events to the panel in wired or wireless form. This  panel brings a communicator via dual GPRS/IP, which will transmit the information to the SOFTGUARD system.

The connection licence between these innovative equipments is totally free of charge for SOFTGUARD users with a service plan and active updating. If you haven´t implemented the SG VIDEO module in your SoftGuard system, ask a commercial representative for advice.

COMPLETE ARTICLE ABOUT VIDEO ALARM AND ITS IMPACT ON THE MARKET

We are writing about a historic change in the evolution of alarm systems. The timeline will have a milestone clearly marked in 2010 as the year in which a radical change has taken place: from now onwards, alarms will be able to see.

PARALLEL STORIES

Alarm systems have been improved and have incorporated features that have adapted them to the complex scenarios of the demand of a society with security problems. But in this evolution, analysts only recognize a great milestone that took place at the beginning of the 90’s. At that time, alarm panels stopped being based on discrete electronics and started to incorporate microprocessors. These components allowed modern panels to store information and programs and process instructions, that later made it possible to communicate signals and event data to the alarm receiver stations in high level protocols, among other strategic functions.

Tracing a parallelism, security video systems have also evolved when, in the mid 90’s, IP technology arrived, to replace Vhs tapes and multiplexors by digital videorecorders (DVR), hard discs and IP Megapixel cameras.

However, up to these last months, these worlds have evolved without a direct connection. On one hand, microprocessed alarm systems connected to alarm monitoring central stations by different communication links and, on the other hand, digital image monitoring systems via Internet, which have been related by the new techniques in videoverification.

Last generation software to centralize and manage alarms like SoftGuard ® provides a fusion of the benefits given by these 2 worlds, one of signals and one of images, into one intellegent management that meets the benefits of both systems.

As technical standards get adapted to the new alarm video verification reality and its noticeable decrease of false alarms dispatched (from 85% to 30%), leading manufacturers have launched products that revolutionize the market deeply and change the rules of the game once again.

ALARMS WITH A VISION OF THEIR OWN

In a new milestone within its developing history, the alarm systems are now able to process own images received form their sensors and send them to monitoring stations equipped with SoftGuard SG-VIDEO for the cotrelation to event shootings with signals processed by SG-MONITORING.

This new technology can be explained from the origin, from the stage of acquisition of data in the sensors.

Typically, the kinds of detectors used in basic installations have been the PIR and the magnetic opening sensors. Additionally, crystal breaking sensors are used. These ones use audio or vibration analysis technologies or fotoelectric barriers. So, the idea is that these sensors keep on being the way they are, but in order to perform their function, they incorporate small video cameras, sensitive to infrared illumination and some IR illuminators to allow visibility in absolute darkness.

From now on, its internal processor has the ability to record camera images and discard them on a permanent loop except in the case of the PIR sensor detecting movement. In this case, the coincident image in time will be protected in memory and sent, together with the report of sensor shooting to the receiving station.

By means of this process, a sensor alarm control with the most accurate detection of images when the event has taken place can be obtained. This apparently simple procedure, comprises a new way of understanding monitoring and business.

DRAWING NUMBERS

The use of VIDEO ALARM as a detection, processing and reporting system is causing 75 out of 100 received events that are reported to authorities or own answer to stop being reported. Thus, valuable resources, human and non-human are not always required.

The economic savings due to this mechanism are so great and important that it could simply change the business revenue positively.

COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIES

The modern panels and sensors of this new VIDEO ALARM generation apply all the modern communication mechanisms, in a remote or local way. Many of them, as the ones we have presented as an absolute novelty at INTERSEC SEGURIEXPO 2010, allow a 100% local wireless application, that is to say, not even a simple wire among the panel, LCD alphanumeric keyboards or icons ones, PIR-CAM sensors, and conventional sensors. At the same time, panels can report a third technology monitoring: Ehernet IP by ADSL or another internet connection, by cellular GPRS or by conventional telephone line as a backup.

This means that we are able to set installations that are much more efficient, eliminating at least 75 out of 100 alarms that we used to dispatch and now, we are doing so without the need of using wires, six times faster than we used to do it with a conventional installation and multiplying the productive force of our installation team.

ADDED VALUE

More advances get to these last generation panels, adds advanced features such as on-board SD card. With this card all images coming from all the sensors with camera (PIR-CAM) are recorded to be requested later from the control center. Having date-time camera filters it makes it possible to accurately verify what set off the alarm.

Some of these equipments already incorporate simple video sequences instead of individual images for alarm moments, allowing a before and after alarm moment view.

In conclusion we can say that a new world of options and possibilities is beginning and those developing it first will gain better business in the most profitable high-tech tecnology sectors.

Nowadays we are living in a world full of public insecurity and these highly efficient solutions open doors for companies that want to be a step ahead of the competition.

DANIEL BANDA

CEO

SOFTGUARD TECH CORPORATION

 http://www.softguard.com