At Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, CCTV transmission at five aircraft service and maintenance hangers at King Khalid International Airport is by unshielded twisted pair (UTP).
Mohammad Amin Almatt of Modern Buildings Group says: “We planned to use CCTV images from the system for a variety of roles, including security, health and safety and fire/smoke detection, via the use of Video Smoke Detection (VSD) units, so the quality of video we required from the cameras was of great importance.
“Employing a traditional coax based system at the site would have proven very costly, time consuming to install, and would have meant that an individual fused spur power outlet would have been needed at each of the 25 internal and 10 external camera locations. This would have added significant supplementary costs in equipment and installation time. Additionally, camera locations ranged from 200m to 1Km in end-to-end transmission distance to the on site control room. Employing coax over these distances would have been detrimental to the camera image quality in this mission critical system.”
Using NVT Power, Video & Data (PVDTM) technology, the Modern Buildings Group engineers were able to provide each camera in the system with low voltage power, transmit fibre-like quality to the control room, and provide camera telemetry – all via a Cat5 UTP network contained within each hanger’s structure. From here, a 25 pair Cat3 UTP backbone is then used to transmit images from each hanger, back to the centrally located equipment and control room.
Protecting the perimeter of each hanger, Pelco Spectra PTZ dome cameras with UTP outputs are on the exterior corners of each hanger. Camera images are used to monitor the hanger environment for any possible unauthorised entry, and to ensure health and safety procedures around the hanger are adhered to.
Within each hanger, Spectra Mini Dome cameras are mounted in four equally spaced positions along an interior wall. Each Spectra Mini Dome is equipped with a UTP video output that allows direct connectivity to the UTP cabling network and transmission back to an NVT NV-4PS10-PVD 4-Channel Power Supply Cable Integrator Hub. Each NVT Power Supply Integrator Hub is located at a secure point within each hanger and provides a 1 amp/channel power supply for each of the hanger’s four cameras, alongside pass through video and telemetry data – all via each hanger’s Cat5/Cat3 UTP network cabling infrastructure.
Exterior cameras are linked via Cat5 UTP to a centrally located NVT NV-16PS10-PVD 16-Channel Power Supply Cable Integrator Hub, which also provides individual power supply and pass through video and telemetry data to the control room.
“Powering cameras via the UTP connection was a great advantage,” says Mohammad Amin Almatt. “It ensured that we kept control of all aspects of the installation and did not have to rely on third-party electrical installers to provide fused spurs for each camera point. This also presented a significant installation cost-saving that we were able to pass on to our customer.”
UTP transmission
Camera signals are transmitted to the on-site control room via a 25-pair Cat3 backbone, where they are received by two NVT NV-1672 16-Channel DigitalEQ Active Video Receiver Distribution Amplifier Hubs in the equipment/control room. Employing NVT’s latest DigitalEQ technology, the NV-1672 is a 16-channel active (amplified) hub that allows the transmission of real-time monochrome or colour video for distances up to 1,6km (one mile) using UTP cable – well within specification of camera infrastructure at the airport, the furthest of which is 1Km from the control room. The DigitalEQ receiver hub continuously and automatically conditions each video signal, compensating for cable attenuation, wiring polarity, ground loops, and voltage transients, independent of video signal content. This DigitalEQ provides the makers claim the best possible image quality right from the moment of connection – all of which were of advantage to the Modern Buildings Group engineers whilst installing and commissioning the system. Mohammad Amin Almatt says: “Utilising the NVT NV-1672 hub with DigitalEQ technology meant a smooth, error-free and rapid installation process for our engineers. Via simple cable connectivity, we were able to consult the intuitive LED indicators on the hub’s front panel to instantly diagnose both power and video connectivity for each channel. Had we used a traditional coax transmission method or powered each camera locally via a dedicated fused-spur, we would not have enjoyed such simple and instantly accessible connection diagnostics, which could have resulted in an protracted installation period.”
In addition to on-site monitoring and recording via the latest control and DVR technology, the high-performance images are also monitored by electronic Video Smoke Detection software. VSD was developed to overcome the difficulties encountered in environments where traditional forms of smoke and flame detection are considered to be ineffective or impractical, such as the aircraft service hangers. False alarms could be frequently created as a by-product of everyday on site processes. To overcome this, the Riyadh system uses VSD technology that analyses live CCTV camera images – using video analytics to detect the unique movement of smoke via the behaviour patterns of each pixel in the video image.
NVT and VSD
“This is why a consistent quality of image is so important at the hangers,” explains Mohammad Amin Almatt. “Using NVT technology we were able to provide both the DVR and VSD devices with conditioned, interference free video. Thanks to the continuous and automatic conditioning of the video signal via the NVT DigitalEQ™ technology, the image quality remains consistent and unaffected by changing conditions, such as interference levels or changing lighting conditions – critical for these types of video analytic packages. This again removes the need for any further image adjustment and eliminates another potential source of false alarm.”
If the unique graphical signature of smoke is detected within the video image, the VSD system can automatically release fire doors, sound alarms and provide speech evacuation commands through the PA system – all whilst alerting an onsite fire response team that consists of five separate fire stations with specialist fire fighting vehicles.
“The system’s performance is proving a great success,” concludes Mohammad Amin Almatt. “We have provided an innovative electronic surveillance solution that fulfills multiple roles within the unique demands of the aircraft service environment. Thanks to our expertise and NVT technology, we were able to deliver a reliable, high-performance and cost-effective CCTV solution to our customers at King Khalid International Airport.”
About the site
Located 35 kilometers (22 miles) north of Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, as part of a comprehensive airport complex that includes three terminals, a control tower and two parallel runways, the five specially equipped hangers are used to carry out repairs and scheduled maintenance on a variety of international and national airlines’ aircraft.
With over 10,000 sq. metres of floor space each, the five service hangers can cater to aircraft as large as the latest Airbus A380, Boeing 747-400, or multiple single-engine light aircraft. Assisting the provision of effective health, safety, fire prevention, and security procedures at the massive complex, an NVT-based CCTV system has been specified and installed by the Modern Buildings Group.
