At the Port of Portsmouth, one of the south coast’s main ports for passenger and freight traffic, the legacy analogue video surveillance products – Sprites, from Dedicated Micros – were beginning to fail. Instead of repairing or replacing the faults, which took ever more time and money, the Port decided to upgrade, to an IP platform, for a unified, better-connected view of the entire site.
A new IP video management platform would need to provide connectivity and control of the analogue cameras within the passenger terminal and 50-acre site. A new system would need to allow for eventual expansion for a further two buildings that the Port had planned: a proposed new Cruise Passenger Terminal; and due to Brexit, a Border Control Post for animal and chilled foodstuffs.
These buildings would be some distance from the main terminal building, but would be connected by a fibre link. Both buildings would have to be fully IP in terms of cameras and connectivity. A central control room and servers would continue to be based at the passenger terminal, but the full command and control of all the security cameras, including the new IP cameras, would be in the new buildings. Legacy CCTV equipment to be integrated into their updated system was: four 16 channel DS2 DVRs (digital recorders) and about 64 analogue cameras.
Crucially, a new VMS system would need to allow access and viewing over the Port’s intranet; which uses a network of iGel thin client terminals. These are then connected to a series of large, centralised servers which would require various levels of user-operator access. The Port would also want to burn footage to CD or other media for evidential purposes. Furthermore, the requirement to reuse current monitors operating with VGA connectors was a serious thought.
The UK manufacturer Redvision chose to install a server based VMS1000 video management system. This, powered by Digifort software, powers Redvision’s PTZs, including analytics on pre-sets and the control of lights, wipers, washers, and telemetry. Due to the need to integrate the Port’s legacy cameras into the new system, VMS1000 was chosen because it offers customers an intuitive, server-based control system, with no annual maintenance fees. It maximises the functionality of the X-Series PTZs and VEGA fixed cameras and is designed to integrate with over 300 other CCTV brands. This enabled the re-use of the Port’s legacy CCTV cameras into the project. The new system encoded analogue cameras, with the inclusion of new cameras and technologies, such as 4MP, 8MP and 12MP cameras and the use of the H.265 compression method. The initial configuration provided licences for 64 channels with an option for the Port to expand to a further 64 channels, meaning that when the two new buildings were complete, they would be fully connected to the security system.
The system also uses Artificial Intelligence and Deep Learning to recognise people, vehicles, and objects and how they behave. It can set up a virtual fence and employ traffic management (speed filter), track objects, loitering, missing objects, abandoned objects, vehicle counting and people counting. The system can raise an alert if people, vehicles and/or objects of interest appear in the scene, as well as recognising a person with a gun, if a person is not wearing a helmet or has no PPE. It can even show when people are too close together and not observing social distancing rules. These alerts could be configured and customised to the Port.
Whilst the Port’s iGel thin client system allowed for operator CCTV viewing from anywhere on the Port’s network, there also was a requirement for a dedicated two monitor client viewing position in the main Port Control room. Hence the installing of a client PC with a dual head graphic card designed for 24/7/365 operation. A rugged commercial grade USB powered VMS1000 keyboard with joystick was provided for operator control. Redvision’s technical team pre-configured, built and tested the system ahead of final install. This involved VMS programming, camera set up and display configuration. Pre-configuration and system testing also involved integrity checks to ensure the proposed new VMS1000 would work with the Port’s intranet iGel thin client network.
The IP VMS1000 system was configured to interface with the 64 analogue cameras, most of which were connected through up-the-coax (UTC) cabling with a smaller number connected via RS485. To convert the analogue signals, Redvision deployed multiple BBV 16 way CTi converters which were then looped out to mirrored 16 way encoders.
As the CCTV is critical to the Port’s operation, so it was key that any potential IT issues or problems were anticipated and ironed both before and after install. By working with the Port’s IT and CCTV staff, Redvision were able to understand what was required, which enabled the transition from analogue to the VMS1000 platform.
